364 
HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HORSES.—NO. g. 
HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HORSES,— 
No. 8. 
Mode of Governing the Horse while Riding .— 
When yon want your horse to move forward, raise 
his head a little, and touch him gently with your 
whip; or else, press the calves of your legs against 
his sides. If he does not move fast enough, press 
him with more force, and so till the spur just 
touches him. By this practise, he will, (if he has 
any spirit,) move upon the least pressure of the 
leg. Never spur him by a kick; but if it be 
necessary to spur him briskly, keep your heels 
close to his sides, and slacken their force as he 
becomes obedient. 
When your horse attempts to be vicious, take 
each rein separate, one in each hand, and advancing 
your arms forward, hold him very short. In this 
case, it is common for the rider to pull him hard, 
with his arms low. But the horse, by this means, 
having his head too low, has it more in his power 
to throw out his heels; whereas, if his head be 
raised very high, and his nose thrown out a little, 
which is consequent, he can neither rise before 
nor behind; because he can give himself neither 
of these motions without having his head at 
liberty. 
If your horse is headstrong, pull not with one 
continued pull, but stop, and back him often, just 
shaking the reins, and making little repeated pulls 
till he obeys. Horses are so accustomed to bear 
on the bit when they go forward, that they are 
discouraged if the rider will not let them do so. 
If a horse is loose-necked, he will throw up his 
head at a continued pull; in which situation the 
rider, seeing the front of his face, can have no 
power over him. When your horse does this, 
drop your hand and give the bridle play, and he 
will of course drop his head again into its proper 
place; while it is coming down, make a second 
gentle pull, and you will find his mouth. With a 
little practice, this is done almost instantaneously ; 
and this method will stop, in the distance of a few 
yards, a horse which will run away with those 
who pull at him with all their might. Almost 
every one must have observed, that when a horse 
feels himself pulled with the bridle, even when he 
is going gently, he often mistakes what was designed 
to stop him, as direction to bear on the bit and to go 
/^ster. 
Keep your horse’s head high, that he may raise. 
his neck and crest; play a little with the rein, and 
move the bit in his mouth, that he may not press 
on it in one constant and continued manner; be 
not afraid of raising his head too high; he will 
naturally be too ready to bring it down, and tire 
your arms with its weight, on the least abate¬ 
ment of his mettle. When you feel him heavy, 
stop him, and make him go back a few paces; thus 
you break by degrees his propensity to press on his 
bridle. 
), Let your horse carry his head bridling in, pro¬ 
vided he carries it high, and his neck arching up¬ 
wards; but if his head bends downwards, his 
figure is bad, his sight too near his toes, he leans 
on the bridle, and you have no command over him. 
If he goes pressing but lightly on the bridle, he is 
the more sure-footed, and goes pleasanter, as your 
wrist only may guide him. If he hangs down his 
head, and makes you support the weight of that 
and his neck with your arms, bearing on his fore 
legs, he will strike his toes against the ground, and 
stumble. 
If your horse is heavy on the bit, tie him every 
day, for an hour or two, with his tail to the manger, 
and his head as high as you can make him lift it, 
by a rein on each post of the stall, tied to each ring 
of the snaffle bit. 
Horse breakers and grooms have a great pro¬ 
pensity to bring a horse’s head down, and seem to 
have no seat without a strong hold by the bridle. 
They know, indeed, that the head should yield to 
the reins, and his neck form an arch ; but do not 
take the proper pains to make it an arch up¬ 
ward. A temporary effect of attempting to raise 
a horse’s head, may perhaps be making him push 
out his nose. They will here tell you, that his 
head is too high already; whereas, it is not the 
distance from his nose, but from the top of his 
head to the ground, which determines the head to 
be high or low. Besides, although the fault is 
said to be in the manner of carrying the head, 
it should rather be said to be in that of the neck ; 
for if the neck were raised, the head would be 
more in the position of one set on a well-formed 
neck. 
The design, therefore, of lifting up the head is 
to raise the neck, and thereby bring in the head; 
for even while the bridle makes the same line from 
the rider’s hand to the bit, the horse’s nose may be 
either drawn in, or thrust out, according as his 
neck is raised or depressed. Instead of what has 
been here recommended, we usually see colts 
broken with their heads cavessoned very low, 
their necks stiff, and not in the least suppled. 
When the breaking tackle is left off, and they are 
mounted for the road, having more food and rest, 
they frequently plunge, and a second breaking 
becomes necessary. Then, as few gentlemen can 
manage their own horses, they are put into the 
hands of grooms, from whom they learn a variety 
of bad habits. 
If, on the other hand, your horse carries his 
head, (or rather his nose,) too high, he generally 
makes some amends by moving his shoulders 
lightly, and going safely. Attend to the cause of 
this fault. Some horses have their necks set so 
low on their shoulders, that they bend first down, 
then upwards, like a stag’s. Some have the upper 
line of their necks, from their ears to their withers, 
too short. A head of this sort cannot possibly 
bend inwards and form an arch, because the ver¬ 
tebrae, (neck bones,) are too short to admit of 
flexure; for in long and short-necked horses, the 
number of the vertebrae is the same. In some, 
the jaw is so thick, that it meets the neck, and the 
head by this means has not room to bend. On 
the other hand, some have the under line from the 
jaw to the breast so short, that the neck cannot 
rise. 
In all these cases, you may gain a little by a nice 
hand with an easy bit; but no curb, martingale, nor 
other forcible method, will teach a horse to carry 
his head or neck in a posture which nature has 
made uneasy to him. By trying to pull in his 
nose further than he can bear, you will add a bad 
habit to nature. You could not indeed contrive a 
