270 HIGH-SCHOOL RIDING. 



the preceding exercises, he will never refuse to obey the orders 

 of his rider, provided that the man is patient and tries his best 

 to make the animal understand. 



CHANGES OF LEG AT EACH STRIDE. 



I have discussed, in the hacking canter, the changes from 

 the outward to the inward leg upon a straight line. I shall 

 now speak of the changes of leg in the school canter. I teach 

 the horse the changes of leg from within to outside, only when 

 he does them from outside to within very easily, and of 

 course I use similar means. In the beginning, we should 

 carefully avoid getting the horse to do them in the corners 

 of the school, the outward side of the horse having, by reason 

 of the turning movement, more ground to cover, which fact 

 requires a stronger support of the rider's opposite leg * to 

 prevent the horse going sideways, and to press him forward 

 on to the hand. We should not require changes of the leg 

 from within outwards in the corners of the school until he 

 does them easily in a straight line.f 



I never require the shoulder-to-the-wall I at the canter 

 before obtaining the changes of leg in the air — that is to say, 

 at the canter without stopping, because when we require the 

 horse to change from the outward leg to the inward one, he 

 almost always tries to bring his haunches to the inside, as he 

 does in the shoulder-to-the-wall, since the same " aids " are 



* " Opposite leg " means the leg opposite to that with which the horse changes. 

 If I am going to the right, and the horse is cantering with the off fore, I use my 

 right leg to make him change and the left leg to keep him straight. If I do not 

 receive the horse on my left leg, the croup will inevitably swerve towards the 

 wall. 



1" It is always very difficult to make the horse change correctly when turning. 



:J: I have previously explained that I never do, properly speaking, the shoulder- 

 to-the-wall in the sense that I will not allow my horse to be guided by the wall. 

 I use this expression because it is the popular one, but as I do this work always 

 away from the wall in voltes, it would be more correct to call it " shoulder-out." 



