3i6 Restlveness : its Prevention and Cure, 



the dumb-jocke}^, which would be very likely to injure 

 the horse severely in case of its throwing itself back. 

 Of course the reader will at once perceive that the gen- 

 eral plan of treatment will consist in getting the animal 

 to bend its hocks and neck in the manner already de- 

 scribed above ; and we may, therefore, confine our ob- 

 servations here to what should be done when it actually 

 does rear, which will be usually at the moment one 

 attempts to put it into a trot on the circle ; for which 

 reason bending lessons, when halted or at a walk, must 

 be persevered in at first. Supposing, now, the horse 

 to be on the lounge, and suddenly to stop and rear up, 

 the trainer, wlio must have an assistant that knows well 

 how to use the whip, should shorten the line in coils in 

 his left hand, holding it firmly in the right, just long 

 enough to keep him clear of the horse's fore legs should 

 it make a plunge forward, and placing himself exactly 

 opposite to the animal's head, so that, by stepping back 

 a pace or two, he is sure to retain a good " feeling " on 

 the line when its fore legs again touch the ground, the 

 assistant with the whip stepping meanwhile smartly up 

 behind the animal. The trainer should, in this position, 

 merely keep a feeling on the line, as one would with a 

 heavy salmon, never attempting to pull the horse's head 

 forcibly downward or to jerk at the lounge, as the steady 

 pull would only serve to make it lean on your hand and 

 persist so much the longer in rearing, whilst a sudden 

 drag is very likely to knock it over — a thing to be avoided 

 if possible. One must wait patiently, watching atten- 

 tively the horse's movements, and taking care always to 

 preserve his own position, so as to be ready when the 

 moment for action arrives. But the assistant with the 

 whip should meanwhile deliver a few heavy, deliberately- 

 aimed blows on the animal's buttocks — not striking 

 wildly, but taking care to hit one and the same spot re- 

 peatedly, and watching anxiously for the moment when 



