TRAINING 57 



the rein on the side to which the horse is moving with an 

 upward tension so as not to interfere with the forward 

 movement : when working round the school it is best 

 to carry out the side movements with the quarters to 

 the wall, as this teaches the horse to answer to the leg 

 when turning the corners ; there is also the risk when 

 the head is towards the wall of the horse passing his 

 outside leg behind the inside one, instead of in front 

 of it, from fear of hitting his foct against the wall, 

 The rider presses in and bends slightly both knees, and 

 keeps his outside leg ready to compel the horse to move 

 sideways, and his inside leg prepared to press him 

 forward or to stop him, his own weight being on the 

 seat bone and thigh of the side to which he is moving. 



A good exercise for teaching a horse to move on two 

 lines is to form a track composed of two capital D's 

 placed back to back, and to walk, trot and canter him 

 round it, as in the figure of eight, the horse moving on 

 two lines across the centre before changing his leading 

 leg. 



The action of the rider's leg and diagonal hand 

 should be intermittent, touching the horse only at the 

 moment the fore foot of the same side as the rider's 

 active leg comes to the ground, and care should be 

 taken not to force the quarters beyond the shoulders. 



The horse being now supple, and free in his forward 

 and side movements, the rider can teach him to rein 

 back quickly and steadily, by first bending both knee 

 joints, with the body inclined slightly forward so as to 

 take the weight off the hindquarters, and then when this 

 is answered by a forward impulse, taking hold of it 

 with his hands and sending it backwards, the left hand 

 being held stead}^ while the right hand gives short 

 gentle pulls on the right reins or vice versa ; there should 



