58 RIDING AND TRAINING SADDLE-HORSES. 



the horse is in equilibrium, and is ready for any move- 

 ment without further preparation. 



After these lessons have been repeated at the halt, 

 until he desists from opposition, he will be put into the 

 walk, the trot, and the gallop, the approximate equilib- 

 rium being at all times demanded. If he attempts to 

 go beyond the bit he must be restrained, and lightness 

 must be kept up by the gentle, intermittent tensions of 

 the curbs. If he hangs back, the heels must keep the 

 forces of the croup up to the point that is required by 

 the desired speed. 



It is through ignoring the fact that a horse's forehand 

 may be lightened by the play of the bit, that induces 

 some writers upon riding to adopt crude and improper 

 means for producing the different movements depending 

 upon that condition. A badly-trained horse will bear 

 upon the bit of the heavy hand, and instead of becoming 

 light in the front, at its pressure upon the mouth, the 

 forehand will be the heavier for this opposition. It is 

 for such horses and such riders that some writers upon 

 the art advocate that the head should be pulled to the 

 left to lighten the right shoulder, when the rider wishes 

 his horse to lead in the gallop with the right side. Now 

 it is agreed on all hands that a horse's head should be 

 turned in the direction that he goes. In the above in- 

 stance the head of the horse is turned to the left, and he 

 is to lead off with the right side. Then if his head is 

 carried to the right, to change direction to that side, the 

 horse should, if he answers to his signals, change his leg 

 and be false in his gallop. But when the heavy-handed 

 rider has on some occasion made his horse rear, he finds 



