sudden sight or sound, or either when it suffers from lack of exercise, will escape contact with the bit; and so, getting out of control, will travel faster than the rider desires, and will refuse to moderate its speed at the effects of the bit. Usually in such a case, the animal carries its head very low; and if it flexes its neck, does this in such wise as to bring the chin near the chest, so that the more the rider pulls against the bit, the more is the chin drawn against the chest. This position prevents the action of the bit, and the horse goes faster and faster.
The only corrective is to saw with the snaffle. The rider, without losing any time, abandons the reins of the bit, and takes a snaffle rein in each hand, holding it quite short. He then raises his hands, and pulls forcibly, first on one rein and then on the other, until the horse comes once more under his control.
The reason is simple. With its head down and its neck contracted, the animal has the point d'appui which makes resistance possible. The rider, by paising the head, releases the contraction of the neck, and thus destroys the center of refusal. The feeling on the horse's mouth of the mild effect of the snaffle, rapidly repeated, keeps the horse from taking the position of resistance.
It is an equestrian axiom that a horse, in order to resist its rider, must begin by contracting unduly the neck muscles which are the locomotors of the fore hand. The only way to free this contraction is
