92 ANGLO-FRENCH HORSEMANSHIP 



touch the sides with each spur until the horse answers in 

 the same way as to the stick, after which in the case of 

 very sensitive horses the stick should not be again used, 

 as the horse is apt to raise the leg when being touched 

 with the clipping machine : in any case trained horses 

 should be entrusted to a careful groom as they become 

 very sensitive. 



When mounted the Spanish trot is developed by 

 sinking into the saddle, bending the knees, and applying 

 the legs and ankles — without contracting the muscles — 

 lightly to the flanks, and then — after removing the legs 

 and gripping the reins without pulling at them, so as to 

 bring the horse back on to his hocks, and get him into 

 perfect balance w4th his neck supple and lower jaw 

 relaxed — stimulating him alternately with each ankle 

 at the moment he should make a spring on to the 

 opposite pair of diagonals, i.e., when the fore foot of 

 the same side comes to the ground, and gradually 

 raising the horse's neck by increasing the tension on 

 bridoon reins, so as to get the greatest elevation and 

 extensions of the fore legs. 



The position of the hands should depend, I think, on 

 the strength of the horse's neck just in front of the 

 withers, as if the neck is weak there, raising the hand 

 would bend it back and deprive the horse of the 

 muscular power necessary to make the spring in the 

 trot. The academic position is, however, in a line with 

 the elbows, the rider's shoulders being only very slightly 

 behind the perpendicular. Whistler's maxim, that a 

 picture is finished when all traces of the means used to 

 bring about the end have disappeared, applies also to a 

 trained horse, and the rider has merely to maintain an 

 academic position of the body, arms and legs, coupled 

 with the necessary pressure of the fingers and ankles, 



