REARING. 75 



and breast bone and with his head turned to the opposite 

 side. When a horse is very tired, or even when he feels 

 secure from disturbance, he may sleep entirely on his side, with 

 his cheek resting on the ground. On rare occasions, a horse 

 will repose lying down on his breast bone, with his knees 

 advanced and his heels more or less close to the points of 

 his elbows. This position is considered apt to give rise to 

 ** capped elbow," on account of the pressure of the heel of the 

 doubled-up fore leg on the point of the elbow. It is not 

 an easy position for the horse ; for the sharp keel of his breast 

 bone will be liable to be hurt by contact with the ground. It 

 is, however, the natural sleeping position of horned cattle, 

 which can rest at ease in this manner ; as the keel of their 

 breast bone is tlat. 



In getting up, the horse straightens his fore legs out to 

 the front (Fig. 51), and with a strong effort places his fore 

 feet on the ground and raises his fore hand, so as to sit up 

 like a dog. With another effort he raises his hind-quarters 

 and stands on all four feet. 



Rearing". — When a horse prepares to rear, he will get 

 his hind feet well under him and will raise his head, so as to 

 ''lighten" his fore hand, which he will lift off the ground by 

 the straightening out of one or both fore legs, and by the 

 action of his "rearing muscles" (p. 52). He will then keep 

 his fore legs bent at the knees and his head high (Fig. 53). 

 In guarding against the rear, the rider should, therefore, lean 

 well forward. If he wishes, by inflicting punishment, to stop 

 the horse from rearing, he may hit the animal on one of the 

 hind legs, so as to prevent him from fixing them on the 

 ground, in order to ** get up " ; but he should on no account 

 strike him on the shoulders ; for doing so would tend to 

 make him raise his fore hand. We may break a horse of 

 rearing by teaching him to rein back in a '* collected " manner 

 (p. 99, ei seq\ By doing this, we ''lighten" the hind- 

 quarters and accustom him to lift them and move them freely. 

 In the rear, the horse usually keeps one hind foot advanced 



