For this animal, I tried a straight bit, and one covered with linen. I also tried using the snaffle only. But nothing worked. The other horses I continued to ride, after giving them flexions on foot. As soon as they "made forces" I stopped them and flexed again.
One horse was so stubborn that I was in despair, until a gentleman came to see me, riding a horse that was "cracking nuts." Hearing the horse clack its teeth against one another, gave me the idea of training my subject to do the same. Thereafter, it stopped "making forces." But, unfortunately, cassant la noisette is quite an annoyance, since the horse may bite its tongue and rear. Nevertheless, the fact remains that if a horse "cracks the nut" it cannot "make forces." However, in any ordinary case, my advice is to remedy the fault of the mouth by flexions of the mouth and neck, at first standing still, and afterwards at the walk.
BOLTING AND RUNNING AWAY
WHEN the forward drive which the horse's hind legs give to the entire body, instead of being directed by the rider's legs, is under the control of the horse's will, it is possible for the animal, impelled by fear, to bolt, and to run at full speed against walls or other riders, into fire or trains, over precipices. All sensibility to the rider's effects has disappeared, and only fatigue can reestablish control.
