Page:Equitation.djvu/407

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not draw the hind legs forward as the front legs are extended. From these, the stiffness is communicated to the ilio-spinalis, which, stimulated by the weight of the rider, contracts and paralyzes the articulation of the coupling. This, in its turn, prevents the separate action of the hind legs. These, as a result, act together to raise the hind hand, extended and stiff.

The remedy, therefore, is to keep the horse moving his legs alternately, and so moving forward. If all four limbs are acting to send the body forward, all rearing and kicking are impossible. But if the animal is allowed to stop, then any action of its legs is open to it, and it can lie down as easily as it can buck-jump.

THE HORSE WHICH BURIES ITSELF

SOME horses are by nature restive and violent, so that they do not respond to kindness until after they have been tamed by energetic treatment. This native excess of bad temper leads such animals to try every means of escape from the rider's domination; and before they finally submit, they sometimes, as a last effort, set their four limbs immovably so that no sort of persuasion can make them stir. S'enterrer and s'immobiliser are names for this action, which I have translated as "bury itself."

When a horse thus buries itself, the only corrective is to apply the whip on the flanks during the