336 COMMENTARIES ON BAUCHER. 



do their high school work without taking off their bridles. 

 Here, also, I found their respective mouths to be exactly the 

 same as before. 



While hacking, these horses were light in hand, without 

 being on their haunches.* On the race-course they pulled 

 just as much as if they had never been taught high school 

 work ; and, having returned to the school with their hind legs 

 well under them, they were as light in hand as if they had 

 never been galloped on a race-course. 



We should note that in the experiments which I have 

 just described, the respective weights, with these horses, were 

 distributed in three absolutely different ways. 



1. When going to the course it was distributed in the 

 proper manner for hacking, and was the result of an ordinary 

 feeling on the reins. 



2. During the gallop, the preponderance of weight was on 

 the forehand. 



3. In the manege, on the resumption of high school work, 

 the preponderance was on the hind quarters. Consequently, 

 there were three modifications in the distribution of weight. 

 The application of the " aids " were also entirely different, 

 according to the nature of the work. But the essential point 

 on which I differ from Baucher is, that a horse's mouth 

 remains the same, no matter what is the work, use of the 

 "aids," or distribution of weight. In the three distributions of 

 weight I found the same difference of mouth. 



I repeated this experiment with twenty thorough-breds 

 which had been broken for high school work, and they all 

 brought me to the same conclusion : that the nature of 

 the mouth does not vary according to the distribution of 

 weight. 



It is sometimes evident that a horse which holds his head 

 low makes the rider carry his head and neck ; but if the rider 



* Horizontal equilibrium is the equilibrium for hacking. 



