88 ORDINARY RIDING. 



the croup to swerve, because it cannot go forward, notwith- 

 standing its acquired impulsion. But if, at the moment 

 when the animal yields his head and neck to the pull of the 

 right rein, we slacken the hand, while supporting the legs, 

 we thereby force the right leg to take a pace as long as usual, 

 and shall consequently avoid the period of arrest, by obliging 

 the croup to follow the shoulders. 



The rider can thus straighten the croup when it swerves 

 in turning, and can do it easily, because he feels to 

 what side the swerve is made, and consequently knows which 

 leg to employ. As we do not know to which side the 

 deviation of the croup may be made, w^e would run a great 

 risk of making a mistake, if we were to say in advance what 

 leg we ought to employ. 



The question of using the outward or inward leg in 

 turning has been greatly discussed. The old school recom- 

 mended the inward leg, because they said that it helped the 

 turning movement. Baucher maintained, on the contrary, 

 that we ought to use the outward leg, so as to prevent the 

 hind quarters being swung round to the outside. 



The practice of Baucher has been generally adopted. 

 The old teachers were wrong. They said that to turn to 

 the right, the rider had to bring the animal's shoulders to the 

 right by feeling the right rein, and to push the hind quarters 

 to the left by the right leg. This is lateral equitation in 

 all its beauty. But the}' did not take into consideration 

 the fact that the direction, not only of the shoulders, but of 

 the entire horse, had to be changed, and that consequently 

 the animal should remain straight. 



The following is the simple solution of this problem. We 

 should appl}' an equal pressure of both legs. Then, if the 

 horse swings his hind-quarters round to one side, we can 

 keep them straight b)' the pressure of the outward leg. 

 The hind-quarters ought to follow the track of the 



