EMPLOYMENT OF THE TRAINED HORSE 137 



to act with more power, and consequently to ensure 

 the greatest speed 



The reins should be separated, the hands low 

 resting on the neck, so as to be fixed, and to give the 

 horse a firmer and more constant support. 



The rider is taught to gradually increase the 

 speed, up to the fastest gallop, and then to gradually 

 slow down the pace, wnilst always maintaining con- 

 tact with the horse's mouth and keeping him straight. 

 These exercises comprise increasing and decreasing 

 the speed ; the gallop should not exceed 800 yards. 

 It is necessary to be careful and to regulate the work, 

 according to the age and breed of the horses. The 

 periods of walking Avhich follow should be all the 

 more prolonged, according as the gallop has been 

 long and fast. 



One makes use of this work to teach the rider to 

 judge the speed of his horse, to regulate it, to see 

 and make a note of, and reason about all that passes 

 around him : in a word, to acquire a head, that is 

 to say, the qualities of coolness, and quick observa- 

 tion and judgment, which are indispensable in war, 

 and which the soldier should retain even at the 

 fastest paces. 



Riding across country and over jumps. — The main 

 principles of horsemanship find their application 

 when riding over a country and when jumping. 

 The qualities of dash, of seat, of fixity, of suppleness, 

 the care of the horse's mouth, the observance of the 

 laws of balance, which have been constantly men- 

 tioned in the education of both man and horse, here 

 play a considerable part. Decision when jumping 

 is one of the first qualities that an outdoor rider 

 should possess : it communicates itself rapidly to 



