106 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



bility in the mouths of horses; that all 

 present the same lightness, when in the 

 position called ramener, and the same re 

 sistances, in proportion as they recede from 

 this position. There are horses hard to 

 the hand; but this hardness proceeds from 

 the length or weakness of their loins, from 

 a narrow croup, from short haunches, thin 

 thighs, straight hocks, or (a most important 

 point) from a croup too high or too low in 

 proportion to the withers : such are the true 

 causes of resistances. The contraction of 

 the neck, the closing of the jaws, are only 

 the effects ; and as to the bars, they are only 

 there to show the ignorance of self-styled 

 equestrian theoricians. By suppling the 

 neck and the jaw, this hardness completely 

 disappears. Experiments, a hundred times 

 repeated, give me the right to advance 

 this principle boldly; perhaps it may, at 

 first, appear too arbitrary, but it is none the 

 less true. 



