*5o Restiveness : its Prevention and Cure. 



It may, however, happen tliat the horse has contrived 

 to stick out its head (top one, fig. 7) and stiffen its hocks 

 completely, so as to enable it to stand upright before 

 the rider has made up his mind what to do. Well, even 

 then the game is not lost, if only the rider has a seat 

 and patience to wait, just as in the lounging process, till 

 he feels his steed coming down out of the clouds, which 

 it is sure to do some time or another, when, if his hands 

 and legs are right, he will be ready to act as described 

 in the preceding paragraph on the horse getting down 

 to 45 degrees. In case the rider finds the horse actually 

 fiilling, either directly backward or to one side, let him 

 throw himself oft' with a vigorous push of both hands, so 

 as to get clear. This we have done ourselves more than 

 once ; but the trainer misses an opportunity by being 

 driven to this extremity. 



Kicki7tg. — There is a difference between kicking and 

 kicking. One horse will kick in harness, and not under 

 a rider ; another will do just the reverse. The former is 

 probably extremely ticklish and sensitive to anything 

 coming in contact with its hind quarters ; mares are fre- 

 quently so, especially in spring. The latter will prob- 

 ably have some weakness in the loins or hind quarters 

 that is rendered painful when weight is put on its back. 

 When this vice proceeds from natural causes of this de- 

 scription, there is no help for it but to employ the horse 

 in whichever way it is content to do its work quietly. 

 Again, one horse will kick at the spurs, another at the 

 whip ; of course the exciting cause, whatever it be, must 

 be avoided. 



But something can be done with young horses that 

 simply take to kicking during the handling ; very fre- 

 quently the trainer has made some mistake, or been in 

 too great a hurry, or put the saddle too far back, or 

 girthed the animal too suddenly or too tightly. All this 



