46 ANGLO-FRENCH HORSEMANSHIP 



jaw, and generally balance himself, and become light 

 in hand and obedient to the slightest contraction or 

 easing of the fingers on the reins. 



Both schools aim at bringing the horse mider the 

 control of the hand, and to get him to answer to it 

 with his whole body and not with his neck alone, which 

 he can only do when his hind legs are well under the 

 body, but the less visible movement there is of the 

 hands or legs, whichever may be used to enforce 

 obedience, the better. 



It must be remembered that a demi-arret is in no 

 way a "job in the mouth," it is a steady upward pull 

 followed by an easing of the fingers or, if necessary, by 

 an almost imperceptible jerk forwards from the wrist. 

 This is a very different thing from the sudden slackening 

 of the reins, followed by a sharp, quick, downward 

 snatch at them, to which the ordinary stable help 

 occasionally treats his master's horses. 



The advantage of training a horse and " making 

 his mouth " with the legs, is that they can enforce 

 obedience with the spurs if the horse does not answer 

 to their pressure ; whereas the hands should never 

 punish the horse's mouth, and a self-willed horse soon 

 disregards their indications and learns to avoid their 

 action. The horse also answers to the spurs by bringing 

 in his chin, whereas, demi-arrets, however gently 

 administered, are apt to produce contractions of the 

 jaw or to cause the horse to throw his nose up ; and to 

 excite his brain and prevent him from calmly thinking 

 and finding out what is required of him. The sudden 

 stop, which a demi-arret produces, especially if it is 

 followed by a forward shake, is also very apt to spring 

 a curb, or strain the foreleg on which the horse stops 

 himself. The hand cannot do better than keep a 



