GATHERING THE HORSE. 171 



schools of horsemanship ? You gather your 

 horse by raising tJie hand and closing the legs. 

 I ask, what good can this movement of the 

 rider do upon an animal badly formed, con 

 tracted, and that remains under the influ 

 ence of all the evil propensities of its na 

 ture ? This mechanical support of the 

 hands and legs, far from preparing the 

 horse for obedience, will only make him re 

 double his means of resistance; since, while 

 giving him notice that we are about to de 

 mand a movement on his part, we remain 

 unable to dispose his forces in such a way as 

 to force him to it. 



The real rassembler consists in collecting 

 the forces of the horse in his centre in order 

 to ease his extremities, and give them up 

 completely to the disposition of the rider. 

 The animal thus finds himself transformed 

 into a kind of balance, of which the rider 

 is the centre-piece. The least touch upon 



