HORSE CONTROL 41 



the right moment to try for it. It enables him to 

 overcome resistances if they occur, or better still, to 

 prevent them. 



The agents of equestrian tact are the seat, the legs, 

 and the hands. 



The seat. — The seat, of which the importance has 

 been described throughout from the point of view of 

 giving recruits confidence, plays an equally important 

 role, in secondary equitation, in the art of horse control. 

 It is in effect the scat which enables the rider to 

 acquire the feeling of the mechanism of the paces, 

 to perceive a great part of the contractions of the 

 horse, and in particular the resistances and submission 

 of the hindquarters, the seat of the impulsive forces. 

 Moreover, the firmness and confidence, which the seat 

 gives to the rider, alone allow of his using his aids 

 independently and employing them accurately, as 

 taught in the preparatory work ; the seat should be 

 constantly improved and maintained during the whole 

 time the man is in military service. 



Right use of the legs. — The legs can only act in 

 one way, but there is in their use a question of a propos 

 and also a question of intensity, which the spur will 

 render still more energetic, and which demands, both 

 in the case of the legs and spurs, a real delicacy. The 

 rider by his seat and bj^ his legs, can acquire a certain 

 feeling of the movements, however fugitive they may 

 be, which constitute the raising, the suspension, and 

 the placing down, of the legs ; he can therefore profit 

 by it to hasten or lessen the action of the legs, and to 

 annul in consequence their combination, and so rectify 

 and modify the paces. 



Qualities of the hand. — The study of the action of 

 the reins has well marked their theoretical effects, 



