COLLECTING THE HORSE. 221 



TEACHING A HORSE TO CARRY HIS RIDER IN A COLLECTED 

 AND WELL-BALANCED MANNER. 



While the breaker is in the saddle he should constantly 

 keep in mind the maxim that one should ride more by 

 the legs than by the hands, so as to teach the horse to go 

 collectedly (see page 72) when required. This collection 

 can be obtained by using the drawn-back heels as a stimulus 

 to the respective hind legs, so that the hind feet may be 

 brought further under the animal's body at each step than 

 they would be were the heels not applied to the horse's 

 sides. Their effect, combined with that of the hands in 

 preventing any increase of speed, will naturally be to 

 lighten the forehand. The manner in which the legs should 

 be applied so as to produce the best effect, is described on 

 page 59. As the extension of the neck will be proportionate 

 to the forward reach of the fore legs, and, consequently, 

 other things being equal, to the speed ; the position of the 

 hands should remain fixed while the animal's speed remains 

 uniform. Thus, the horse, on finding that he cannot extend 

 his head and neck beyond the limits allowed him by his 

 rider, will, in response to the application of the heels, bend 

 his head and neck as well as his loins, and will become 

 " collected." As the hands have to regulate the move- 

 ment, the impulsion must be excited by the legs, whip, or 

 voice, before the reins are " felt." Hence, in no case should 

 these stimulating aids and the regulating and controlling 

 one of the hands be used simultaneously. A worse mis- 

 take, in that it renders the meaning of the rider still more 

 ambiguous to the horse, is to feel the reins and then to 

 apply the heels, the only interpretation of which proceed- 

 ing possible to the horse would be that the rider wished 

 him to halt and rear up. It must be patent to every 

 instructed observer that the vast majority of persons who 



