222 KESTIVENESS : ITS PKEVENTION AND CUKE. 



will never answer the" purpose to pull across, as that 

 would only derange the position of the neck and head ; 

 and this " feeling in the seat," as it is called, is a sense 

 that riders must cultivate, as it will enable them to 

 find out immediately what their horse is about, and 

 whether he be meditating mischief, which, if his leg 

 be in the right place, he can nip in the bud ; whereas, 

 if it be somewhere away towards the horse's shoulder, 

 he is sure to come too late.* 



The corners and changes of direction must not be 

 overlooked. At first these must be got through in a 

 wide sweep, for which the lounging was sufficient pre- 

 paration. By degrees, however, this sweep is narrowed, 

 and the change of direction made more abrupt ; we 

 must therefore see how this is to be effected, and what 

 results it produces. 



When a horse moves on a segment of a circle, we 

 must consider the two inner legs as moving on an 

 interior somewhat narrower, and the two outer ones 

 on an exterior somewhat wider curve. The difference 

 between the two, although not very great, is neverthe- 

 less sufficiently so to compel the animal to shorten the 

 strides of the inner legs perceptibly, and the shorter 

 the radius of the circle, the more perceptible is this 

 difference. When the rider is therefore about passing 

 through a corner, he will come to the young horse's aid 

 by urging forward the inner leg somewhat less than 

 the outer one; at the same time he must bend the 

 horse's neck and head in the proposed direction, and 

 therefore he holds his inner hand somewhat lower than 

 the outer one, makes his own leg at the same side more 



* For the same reason it will not do to rise in the stirrups, Eng- 

 lish-fashion, for we should miss each alternate tread. 



