94 CAVALRY HORSEMANSHIP 



centre of gravity in the desired direction. If, on the 

 contrary, he wishes to halt and go backwards, he 

 brings his head in, shortens his neck, and thus com- 

 municates to his body the backward movement. In 

 the movements to the side, obhque or circular, it is 

 still the displacement of the head and neck to the right 

 or left, which assists, regulates and maintains the turn. 



The rider who wishes to remain master of his horse 

 must place the head in such a way that the bit may be 

 able to regulate its displacement as well as that of the 

 neck. In this way the neck bends itself, or shortens 

 or lengthens itself, according to the impressions that 

 the mouth receives from the hand of the rider. 



In order that the indication of the hand may be 

 transmitted to the horse's mouth, clearly and without 

 interfering with his breathing, his head should be in 

 front of the vertical line. It is this position that we 

 should make it take in the ordinary paces, and in the 

 simple regular movements. 



The more we wish to shorten the stride, the nearer 

 should the head be to the vertical position ; on the 

 other hand, the more we wish to increase the pace, the 

 further forward of this line should the head be. 



In these two last cases, the vertical position may be 

 considered as normal, since it is favourable to the 

 reduction or the increase of the paces. 



The head can take an irregular position, that is to 

 say, it can be within or beyond the vertical, either on 

 account of the defective conformation of the forehand, 

 or on account of a badly placed bit, or owing to an 

 excessive sensibility of the chin or of the bars, or 

 lastly — and this is most frequently the case with horses 

 who poke their noses — owing to a fault in the conforma- 

 tion in some part of the hind quarters. Not only is it 



