THE HORSE. 
63 
Horses of this kind should not be too highly fed, and should have suffi- 
cient daily exercise. 
When the difficulty of mounting arises, not from eagerness to start, 
but unwillingness to be ridden, the sooner that horse is disposed of the 
better. He may be conquered by a skillful and determined horseman ; 
but even he will not succeed without frequent and dangerous contests 
that will mar all the pleasure of the ride. 
Rearing. — This sometimes results from playfulness, carried indeed to 
an unpleasant and dangerous extent ; but it is oftener a desperate and 
occasionally successful effort to unhorse the rider, and consequently a 
vice. The horse that has twice decidedly and dangerously reared, 
should never be trusted again, unless, indeed, it was the fault of the 
rider, who had been using a deep curb and a sharp bit. Some of the 
best horses will contend against these, and then rearing may be im- 
mediately and permanently cured by using a snaffle-bridle alone. 
The horse-breaker’s remedy, that of pulling the horse backward on 
a soft piece of ground, should be practiced by reckless and brutal 
fellows alone. Many horses have been injured in the spine, and others 
have broken their necks, by being thus suddenly pulled over; while 
even the fellow who fears no danger, is not always able to extricate 
himself from the falling horse. If rearing proceeds from vice, and is 
unprovoked by the bruising and laceration of the mouth, it fully par- 
takes of the inveteracy which attends the other divisions of restiveness. 
Running Away. — Some headstrong horses will occasionally endeavor 
to bolt with the best rider. Others with their wonted sagacity endea- 
vor thus to dislodge the timid or unskillful one. Some are hard to 
hold, or bolt only during the excitement of the chase ; others will run 
away, prompted by a vicious propensity alone. There is no certain cure 
here. The method which affords any probability of success is, to ride 
such a horse with a strong curb and sharp bit ; to have him always 
firmly in hand; and, if he will run away, and the place will admit of 
it, to give him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor spur) a great deal more 
running than he likes. 
Vicious to Clean. — It would scarcely be credited to what an extent this 
exists in some horses that arc otherwise perfectly quiet. It is only at 
great hazard that they can be cleansed at all. The origin of this is 
probably some maltreatment. There is, however, a great difference in 
the sensibility of the skin in different horses. Some seem as if they 
could scarcely be made to feel the whip, while others cannot bear a fly 
to light on them without an expression of annoyance. In young horses 
the skin is peculiarly delicate. If they have been curried with a broken 
comb, or hardly rubbed with an uneven brush, the recollection of the 
torture they have felt makes them impatient, and even vicious, during 
every succeeding operation of the kind. Many grooms, likewise, seem 
to delight in producing these exhibitions of uneasiness and vice ; 
although, when they are carried a little too far, and at the hazard of 
the limbs of the groom, the animals that have been almost tutored into 
these expressions of irritation are brutally kicked and punished. 
This, however, is a vice that may be conquered. If the horse is 
dressed with a lighter hand, and wisped rather than brushed, and the 
