special Forms of Restlvcncss. 237 



pidity seldom avails much ; and the above plan of pro- 

 ceeding is nearly sure to make matters worse and con- 

 vert a terrified animal into a vicious one. For whether 

 the anguish the poor horse endeavors to escape from 

 has its seat in the hind quarters or in the head and 

 neck, severe bitting is sure to aggravate it, and a rude, 

 hard hand will do the same. The best, in fact the only 

 remedy for a bolter is, a very carefully-fitted and well- 

 adjusted bit, a perfectly painless curb, a light hand, and 

 last, but not least, a very firm, steady seat, somewhat 

 forward with horses that have weak hind quarters. 



It is always a good plan to put a bolter on the lounge, 

 not, indeed, as is generally done, with the idea of letting 

 it exhaust itself, for weakness is more frequently the ex- 

 citing cause than strength, but for the purpose of study- 

 ing carefully its action, and finding out by degrees in 

 what position or trim it will go steadily and quietly in 

 diii'erent paces. The object will be, of course, with a 

 horse that is weak behind, to train it on the forehand, get- 

 ting its neck just suf^ciently high up to prevent its being 

 able, when the bit is apphed, to bend its head round 

 toward the hand, so as to escape altogether the lever 

 action of that instrument, but, on the other hand, not so 

 high or so far back as to throw the weight on the hind 

 legs. This will also afford a key as to the dimensions 

 of the lower bar of the bit. 



With a short-necked, narrow-throated, heavy-headed, 

 perhaps straight-shouldered horse, possessing good ser- 

 viceable hind quarters, the first object will be to get these 

 to bear the weight gradually in the manner indicated in 

 a previous chapter. This will, of course, require a 

 higher and gradually ascending position of the neck ; 

 but as the difficulty probably arises in the junction of 

 the head with this part of the body, no attempt should 

 be made to bend the nose downward, for that is what 

 annoys the horse. The best gear will be a bearing-rein 



