HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 93 



must not be permitted to throw his head round, but should be 

 required to bend himself slowly just as much as the rider thinks 

 necessary and no more. He should not be kept on the bend 

 too long, and then just as gradually as his head was bent to the 

 right it should be turned to the front again by a feeling of the 

 left rein. With some horses that do not take kindly to being 

 bent by the feeling of the inward rein in the way before men- 

 tioned, the rider will get what he wants by keeping his inward 

 hand firm and low, resting on the thigh if he likes, raising the 

 outward hand a little and working lightly with it, when the horse 

 will in many instances in a very short time bend to the hand 

 which is kept steady. When speaking of outward or inward 

 hand, it should be understood that the hand to which the bend 

 is required or a turn to be made is always the inward hand. 



This should frequently be practised after trotting, while 

 halted ; and when the horse bends readily and kindly to both 

 hands he should next be tried at turning about on the forehand 

 and haunches. Of the two the turn on the forehand is the 

 simplest, and so is generally tried first. Supposing you are on 

 the right rein, that is to say going round the school to the right, 

 the horse should be quietly halted, and after standing a few 

 seconds a turn in this direction should be made. The right 

 rein should stay the forehand, the hand should be kept low, and 

 the pressure of the left leg should circle the croup round step 

 by step until the horse is half-way about. He will then be 

 facing the side of the house ; there halt and make much of him, 

 and then try to complete the turn about in the same manner as 

 he began it. The right leg should be kept closed, so as to pre- 

 vent the horse from hurrying away from the pressure of the 

 left ; the left hand should be raised a little, and should retain a 

 feeling of the horse's mouth during the time the turn about is 

 being made, and in doing this the left leg may be drawn back 

 a little. The whip may be of assistance in this lesson, where 

 the horse does not step with his hind legs away from the pres- 

 sure of the left leg, to tap him lightly behind the girth with it. 

 Of course to turn about from the left rein the aids of hands and 



