Page:Horsemanship for Women.djvu/74

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HORSEMANSHIP FOR WOMEN.

and you will therefore prevent its extending too much by giving a little tug on the rein just as each step is made, at the same time with the heel keeping up speed and animation.

If your bitting has been thoroughly done, and your horse's mouth is fine and sensitive, you will probably find the snaffle best for trotting, and you will give a steady support with it.

Keep the step quick, elastic, perfectly cadenced, and without any rolling of the shoulders.

Should you happen to be mounted upon a horse which, from bad handling or his own faulty conformation, is disposed to "bore," or bear on his bit, you will ride with the curb, taking its reins in one hand, but in the other hand taking the snaffle, with the left rein drawn much tighter than the right. This will have an effect quite different from what one might expect, and will put a stop to this most fatiguing and annoying trick.

This recipe is not found in Baucher's book, but is said to have been given by him verbally to his pupils, and it is really "a trick worth knowing." If it does not have the desired effect, however, when practised with the left snaffle-rein, try it with the right, as the mouth—for instance, from the effect of double harness—may not be equally sensitive on both sides.

If you observe that the step of one foot is shorter than that of the other, making the horse appear lame,