CRITICAL SITUATIONS.
When a horse is addicted to stumbling, rearing, kicking and bolting, plunging, shying and restiveness, the seat is maintained as in leaps; and the arms are held firm to the body, the hands kept up, and the reins separate, rather short than otherwise. By these means, the horse’s head being raised, he can with less ease either rear or kick, because, for such purposes, he must have his head at liberty. It is fortunate that horses which rear high seldom kick, and vice versâ.
On these occasions, the first operation of the rider is to separate the reins, &c. The body must be kept upright, but flexible, to repel every effort the horse may make; the balance must be preserved by the muscles of the thighs; the legs are to be kept near the horse, but not to grasp till absolutely necessary. When he lifts his fore legs, the breech must be thrust out behind, by which the rider is prepared if he rears. As the fore feet come to the ground, the breech must be slipped under, which prepares for his kicking or springing forward; the legs being then in a situation to grasp, and the hands to keep a firm hold. In all displays of vice, the rider should first see that the saddle or girths do not pinch the horse, that the bit does not hurt his lips by being too high in his mouth, &c.
Stumbling.
By the rider pressing his legs to the horse’s flanks, and keeping up his head, he may be made to go light on his fore legs; and the same should be done if he actually stumble, so as to afford him instant assistance. Hence it is evident that the bridle should be of such length in the hand, that, in case of stumbling, the rider may be thus able to raise the horse’s head by the strength of his arms and the weight of his body thrown backward. If the rein be too long, it is evident that, in effecting this manœuvre, the rider is in danger of falling backward as the horse rises. By thus pressing the legs to the horse’s sides, he may be made to keep his haunches under him in going down hill, or may be helped on the side of a bank.
Rearing.
The principal danger in rearing is the hazard of the horse’s falling backwards. When, therefore, he rises straight up, the rider must throw his body forward, giving him all the bridle. The weight of the body will oblige him to come down; and the moment that his fore feet are near the ground, and before he touches it, both the spurs must be given him as firmly and as quickly as possible.
Another mode of subduing him is, whenever the rider is aware of the horse’s disposition to rear, to have the reins separated; and the instant he perceives him going to rise, to slack one hand and bend him with the other, keeping the hand low. This compels him to move a hind leg, and being thrown off his balance, he necessarily comes down with his fore feet. He should then be twisted round two or three times, to convince him of the rider’s superiority, which confuses, baffles, and deters him from rearing to any dangerous height. To break horses of this dangerous vice, it has been sometimes expedient to leap from them, and pull them backwards. This so frightens them that they are wary of giving the opportunity again. It is, however, an expedient to be attempted only at a particular crisis, and by persons perfectly collected, active, and agile.[71]
[71] On this subject, an anonymous writer, in answer to a query, says, “I would advise you by no means to try the experiment in question, either as operator yourself, or on your own horse. At all events, pray make trial first of the following prescription, which will in most cases be found an excellent preventive, if not a total cure, of the propensity complained of, and which has the advantage over the method respecting which you inquire, of being much easier and safer in its application, and, I may perhaps add, surer in its effects, and less expensive on the whole.
“Get a strong thick curb bit, with a good deep port reversed—that is, the curve of the mouth-piece must project towards the outside of the horse’s mouth, and not inwardly towards his throat, as in the common port bit. The thickness and exact curve of the bit should be calculated according to the size, strength, and hardness of mouth of the animal for which it is intended. For a very hard-mouthed horse, the bit should be made with a very deep port, and as thin as possible, consistently with the strength requisite.
“In nine cases out of ten, 1 have found that confirmed rearers are tender-mouthed, and the habit has been probably induced by their being bitted and handled too severely. A martingale will be found a useful addition to the bit I have described. Its full efficacy can only be sufficiently appreciated by its being used several times, till the horse has become in some degree accustomed to it.”
Kicking.
Horses apt to kick, either when they go forward or stand still, must be kept much together, or held in closely. When this is attempted, the hands, though fixed, must not pull at the horse, if he does not attempt to force the hand, and get his head, but leave him at liberty to go forward. If, however, he attempt to get his head down, which would enable him to kick with such violence as to throw himself, he may have the head confined up. This disarms him, and he makes a bolt from all-fours.
When a horse kicks, the rider must throw the body backward. It is an effective punishment to twist him round a few times for this fault. If this is done towards his weak or unprepared side (for every horse has a favourite side), astonishment and confusion will deter him from farther contention. In case of bolting, the rider must not exert one continued pull, but make repeated pulls until the horse obeys. Horses accustomed to be allowed to bear on the bit would not understand the steady pull as a signal to desist; and some would so throw up their heads as to deprive the rider of all power without dropping his hand, when the horse would drop his head. In that case, a second pull would find his mouth, and thus speedily his progress might be stopped.
Plunging.
In plunging, a horse gets his head down, cringes his tail between his quarters, sets his back up, swells his body to burst his girths, and, in this position, kicks and plunges till his breath can be held no longer—that is, till he makes six or eight plunges. To sit these is to cure them; and to do this, the rider must take a firm hold with his legs, and be mindful that the horse, in getting his head down, does not pull him forward. There is no danger of his rearing; and therefore the rider has only to keep his body back, and hold firmly with his hands, to prevent him throwing himself down.
Shying.
When a horse, either by shying or restiveness, springs to one side, or turns short round, the rider’s security depends on strict conformity to the rules already laid down, as to not bearing on the stirrups; keeping the legs near to the horse, to be ready on these sudden and unexpected occasions to lay hold; and yielding the body to go with him.
When a horse is about to fly to one side, he may be stopped by his rider’s leg being pressed on the side he would fly to, and by keeping his head high and straight forward, so as to prevent his looking towards the object he starts at, unless indeed it be something you desire to accustom him to the sight of, and then, whether you keep his face to it throughout, or avert it at first, and turn it gently towards it at last, great steadiness is necessary. When he curvets irregularly, and twists himself to and fro, his head should be turned to one side, or both alternately, without permitting him to move out of the track; and the rider’s leg should be pressed against the opposite side. In this case, he cannot spring on one side, because the pressure of the leg prevents him, nor will he spring to the other, because his head is turned that way, and a horse never starts to the side to which he looks.
Moreover, he will not fly back from anything, but go forward, if both legs be pressed against his sides. Thus he may be made to pass a carriage or other object in a narrow road; and here perseverance is especially necessary when the object is just reached, or partly passed, for if in the habit of going back and turning round when frightened, he will certainly do so when, if, by the hands slackening and legs failing to press, he discovers that you are irresolute; and this he would probably do at the most dangerous moment, when there was scarcely room for him to turn, and the wheels might take him in the rear. To touch his curb rein at such a moment would add to the confusion and danger.
Restiveness.
The horse generally commences his attack by stopping, turning short round, mostly to the right hand, as taking the rider to the greatest disadvantage. He expects the rider will oppose the opposite hand, designedly attacks the weakest, and is so prepared against its efforts that it is vain to attempt them. It must be the rider’s rule never to contend with the horse on that point on which he is prepared to resist.
Instead, therefore, of attempting to prevent the horse with his left hand, the rider must attack him with his right, turn him completely round, so that his head is again presented the right way, and then apply the whip. If he turns round again, the rider must still attack his unguarded side, turn him two or three times, and let the heel and spur, if necessary, assist the hand, before he can arm or defend himself against it.
If he still refuse to go the right way, the rider must take care that he go no other, and immediately change his attack, turning him about and reining him backward, which the horse is easily compelled to do when he sets himself against going forward. In these contests, the rider must be collected, and have an eye to the surrounding objects; for restive horses try their utmost to place their riders in awkward situations, by sidling to other horses, carriages, the foot-pavement, the houses, &c.
In this case, the rider, instead of pulling him from the wall, must bend his head to it, by which his side next the wall is rendered concave, and his utmost endeavours to do injury are prevented. The instant, therefore, that the rider perceives his horse sidling to any object, he must turn his head to that object, and back him from it.
There are some horses who fix themselves like stocks, setting all endeavours to move them at defiance. There, happily, their defence can in no way endanger the rider. It must, however, be converted to punishment. Let them stand, make no attempt to move them, and in a short space—frequently less than a minute—they will move of themselves.
When these various defences, however, are not powerfully set up, the general rule is to push the horse forward; and, for this purpose, at first to make use of the switch, as it alarms him least, for the spurs surprise a horse, abate his courage, and are likely to make him restive. Indeed, the application of the whip or spurs, except to shift the croupe, or give efficacy to the hands, is of little use; and to repeat either, to make a restive horse go forward, is certainly wrong. When passion possesses the rider, it prevents that concord and unity taking place which ever should subsist between the rider and his horse. He should always be disposed to amity, and never suffer the most obstinate resistance of the horse to put him out of temper. If the contest does not demand his utmost exertion of strength, he should be able to hum a tune, or converse with the same composure and indifference as though his horse were all obedience. By these means, the instant a horse finds himself foiled, he desists, having no provocation to contend farther, and is abashed at his own weakness. It is the absence of passion which, added to cool observation, makes the English the best riders and drivers in the world.