Having nearly cured my horses of kicking, I am still extremely anxious to persuade young horsemen to get as close as possible to a horse while grooming him, so that no kicker has room to deliver the full force of the blow, which may be fatal. Horses are very careless among themselves, kicking each other for fun while they forget that the iron shoe may break a leg. I have noticed also that a horse who deliberately gets himself disliked will very soon be the victim of organized attack, a comrade being told off by the rest to lay for him. In this way during the last six months I have been obliged to have four horses shot for fractured legs.
Horses in pasture will often stand in pairs, head to tail abreast, so that each with his whisk of tail can keep flies from the other's face. One will nibble and lick along the other's neck and withers out of kindness, adding a bite or two for fun. So in the stable, horses bite one another for fun, but if they apply the treatment to a man it is a sure sign they are badly educated, and liable to get their noses smacked for their pains.
Faults and remedies
PIG-JUMPING is the plunging action which civilised horses suppose to be genuine bucking. It is not so much self-defence as an expression of joy.
KANGAROO-JUMPING is unusual, but must be great sport for a horse who knows the trick. It never fails to astonish.
REARING. To cure a rearing horse, throw him on his near side. When ready to throw, draw the rein taut, the off rein tightest; then as he rears, keep the left toe in the near stirrup, but get the right free of the off stirrup with the knee on the horse's rump, for a purchase as you throw your body suddenly to the left. The Horse loses his balance and crashes to the ground while you step clear. As you do so draw the taut off rein back and low to the pommel. So you will raise the head and prevent horse from rising.
Never strike a horse on the head for rearing.
BOLTING AND STAMPEDES. Horses were trained by wolves and other dangers of the range to run at the warning neigh of their stallion commanding. Sudden and blind panic is a trait innate in the horse character, and the best preventive is the human voice. Singing hymns or any familiar songs in chorus is the very best way of preventing a stampede; but, judging by my own voice, is rather apt to panic any horse who has a good ear for music.
Balking