TRAINING 123 



training is nearly finished, and should only be attempted 

 by experienced horsemen having precision and tact, 

 and with horses which arc calm, obedient, and sensitive. 



The rider should make frequent starts on one or 

 the other leg, in order to get the horse accustomed to 

 them. It is for the instructor to judge as to what 

 he can, or ought, to demand. The only rule to fix 

 firmly in the mind, is never to require anything of a 

 horse until he has recovered calmness, and, on the 

 other hand, never to cease w^ork ^vith a badly carried- 

 out movement. We have only dealt here with the 

 determining aids, which do not, however, exclude the 

 other aids. These, by regulating or strengthening 

 the demand made on the horse, give great assistance 

 to the regular and prompt execution of the movement. 



To sum up, the progression we have followed is that 

 from the known to the unknown, that is to say, in 

 teaching the start of the gallop only to use the effects 

 of the aids which the horse is able to understand, 

 according to the advancement of his training. 



To make use of, at any rate at first, the positions 

 which a horse assumes when at liberty, and only to 

 modify these little by little, while constantly bearing 

 in mind the necessity of substituting the straight 

 position for that with an inclination to one side, and 

 the well balanced instantaneous start for an uncertain 

 disorderly one. 



To change from the canter to the trot, or from the 

 canter to the w^alk, the rider must replace the horse 

 in a perfectly straight position : when thus placed the 

 horse Avill modify the combination of his legs and 

 resume the trot or the walk. 



When once the gallop has been checked, the rider 

 should press the reins with the fingers more or less 



