Page:Equitation.djvu/394

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every sort of control is lost, the only thing for him to do is to be very calm, make sure of his seat, and separating the reins in his two hands, try to direct the animal in its mad speed. When, if it be possible, the horse has run enough to tire itself, the rider should try to quiet it by his voice, and by sawing with the reins, to make it take the trot and finally the walk. To stop the horse completely is very difficult, the impulsion being still powerful.

If a rider, himself well mounted, has occasion to stop a bolting horse, the best method is to place himself at the left side of the line on which the animal seems to be running, and to gallop at a good speed in the same direction. As the bolting horse comes alongside, the rescuer increases his speed, and seizing, with his right hand, the reins of the frightened creature close up to the mouth, gallops for some steps beside it. Having next tested his control over his own mount, he tries, by quick jerks of his right hand, to reduce the run, first to a gallop, then to a trot, and finally to a walk, while with his left hand he checks correspondingly his own horse. But, of course, any such performance as this involves circumstances and conditions which it is impossible to anticipate in print.

In order to correct a horse that has bolted several times, put it in a large field of newly ploughed ground or on a long sandy beach, and run it till it is tired. Then make it run again. But though this device will work, my counsel is, find the reason for