282 HOW TO RIDE A HORSE. 



Btepping on a \ery soft spot. As tlie hind feet are placed 

 very nearly in the tracks of the fore feet, and as thej are 

 put down less perpendicularly, there is comparatively but 

 little liability of the horse's falling on his haunches, and if 

 he should do so, the fall would not be very dangerous to 



the rider. 

 The management of shying horses is considered in the 



chapter on Earey's Method of Horse-taming. 



If the horse be a kicker, recollect that he cannot kick to 

 do any harm so long as his head is kept in the proper po- 

 sition, and that he may be prevented from striking out by 

 the use of the curb, which will cause him to raise his 

 head, in which position excessive kicking is impossible. 



Some horses rear badly ; they may generally be pre- 

 vented from doing so by being touched in either flank 

 with the spur, just as they commence to rise. It may alsc 

 he prevented, in some cases, by the rider's leaning well 

 back in the saddle, and then throwing his weight suddenly 

 forward, as soon as the fore feet leave the ground. This 

 creates an opposition which the horse had not calculated. 

 on when he took his spring, and brings him to his feet, 

 or at least will prevent the horse from falling over back- 

 ward. 



Leaping or Fencing. — In the chapter on Baucher^s 

 method, there are given directions for teaching the horse 

 to leap. The rider wall best take his first lessons in cau- 

 tious and unobserved practice. Yery small ditches, and 

 after them, very low fences should be " carried," with a 

 well-trained, or very active horse. The first landing from 

 ever so small a leap, if it be really a leap^ and not a 

 scramble, is usually made with the rider on the horse's 

 ueck, or, at least, very far forward on the saddle ; but the 

 tnach of the thing is soon acquired, and with the aid oi 

 coolness and courage, the novice will, after a few slight 



