148 ORDINARY RIDING. 



ments. But if he is not in rh}'thm, he will come down too 

 soon on the saddle, and will receive a shock from the right 

 biped, as the result of the straightening of the left hock. He 

 will come twice in the saddle and will ride incorrectly. 



The rider ought to be able to ride at the trot equall}' well 

 on one biped, as on the other biped, and should be able to 

 change from one to the other, so as to relieve himself, and 

 especially the horse, during a long journe}', but this requires 

 a certain amount of practice to do. A rider ought to 

 learn how to know on what biped he is, which is difficult at 

 first. It is best to begin a preliminary study at the walk, 

 while raising ourselves in the stirrups at each step the horse 

 takes, as if he were trotting. We have thus time to see 

 what movement of the horse we are following. After 

 a little practice at this exercise, we can start again into 

 the trot. 



It is worthy of note that each rider naturally adopts one 

 particular biped, and almost always without knowing that he 

 does so, and he becomes so habituated to it that he feels ill 

 at ease when he changes to the other biped. 



If we wish to have a fine trotter, we should complete his 

 education in the open, after having made him do in the school 

 the exercises I have just described. On a road a horse lends 

 himself more readily to the work, and goes freer than in a 

 school. As we have space in front of us in the open, we are 

 able to keep up the speed of the pace for a longer time ; but 

 in a school the corners oblige us to slacken a little at frequent 

 intervals. 



All horses do not trot in an equally free manner. Certain 

 animals readily maintain this pace, if the speed is moderate ; 

 but if the speed is increased, they will break into a short canter. 

 It is correctly said that such horses k^sp tJiemselves back. It 

 is very important not to allow a horse to change his pace 

 without giving him the indications to do so, but it is not less 



