74 THEORY OF MOUTHING. 



the saddle horse, the reins bend the neck and check the 

 advance of the fore limbs, while the pressure of the rider's 

 legs, spurs, or whip makes the horse bring his hind legs 

 under him. As I have already said, the line of the face, 

 when the horse is fully collected, will be at right angles to 

 the ground, or a little less ; but the chin should not be 

 drawn in more than this. We may accept the fact that 

 teaching the horse to collect himself is the foundation of all 

 good mouthing, whether for the formation of the mouth of 

 a young animal, or for the correction of a puller or a borer. 



It is manifest, that in checking a horse's speed, we should 

 more or less collect him ; the collection being proportionate 

 to the alteration in the speed ; for the faster the pace, other 

 things being equal, the greater the weight on the forehand. 

 Whether we make the horse adopt a slower gait, or bring 

 him to a halt more or less abruptly, it is necessary that we 

 should collect him so that he may be ready to apply his 

 powers to the best advantage, either for stopping himself, 

 or for moving on again in the same or in a new direction. 

 If the preponderance of weight be on the forehand, the hind 

 limbs will be more or less thrown out of action, and vice 

 versa. Hence, when checking the speed of a horse, and 

 especially when bringing him to a halt, the rider should 

 close his legs and should lower his hands when taking a pull 

 on the reins, so that the horse may bring his hind legs well 

 under him, and at the same time bend his neck. 



The popular expression " in hand " may be used for 

 " collected." We must be careful to understand that a 

 horse may be " light in hand " without being in any way 

 " collected," as, for instance, a star-gazer which will not go 

 up to his bridle. When a horse is galloping through heavy 

 ground, the fact of his fore feet sinking more deeply into the 

 soil than the hind ones, will make him unduly heavy in 

 front. We should here try to more or less collect him. If, 



