REINING BACK. 217 



for applying the foot, take our time from the respective 

 supports of the fore feet ; because they are easier felt than 

 those of the hind feet. If at the commencement of the 

 rein-back from the halt, one fore foot of the horse be more 

 advanced than the other, we should turn the animal's 

 head towards it, apply the drawn-back leg of the opposite 

 side, and proceed as before directed. If he fails to obey 

 the aids, he should get a repetition of his previous in- 

 struction on foot in them. 



THE WALK. 



The horse uses his head and neck as a balancing pole in 

 no pace so much as in the normal walk, in which, forward 

 progression is obtained as much as possible by displace- 

 ment of weight with a minimum of propulsion. The horse 

 accordingly brings his head down so as to increase the 

 instability of his equilibrium, and sways it from side to 

 side at each step, which is taken with extremely little 

 fatigue to the limbs, and which covers a comparatively 

 long distance of ground. If, however, the rider by main- 

 taining a tight hold of the reins, keeps the horse's head 

 up and prevents it from exercising its natural function of 

 a balancing pole, the horse will step short and will be in- 

 clined to break into a trot, at which pace the head is 

 normally held in a raised and nearly immovable position. 

 Owing to a wrong system of breaking and riding, the 

 majority of our horses are bad walkers. I must here 

 make a distinction between the normal walk and the col- 

 lected walk, which artificial pace I shall describe later 

 on, as a preliminary exercise to the trot. 



We should, as we may see from the foregoing observa- 

 tions, teach the mounted horse to walk with the reins loose 

 enough not to interfere in any way with the movements 



