io8 Riding in a Circle, 



after which, practice makes perfect. If she had 

 not seemed to catch the idea, and had turned the 

 other way, it would have been because the pull 

 on the bit impressed her mind rather than the 

 pressure on the neck acting in the opposite way. 

 Under such circumstances you should, when you 

 press the rein on the near side of her neck, take 

 hold of the off rein also and force her to turn to 

 the right, trying to make the neck pressure a 

 little more marked than that on the bit. A horse 

 quickly learns to appreciate the difference be- 

 tween the direct pull of the rein on the bit and 

 the indirect one made across the neck. None of 

 the neat movements of the manege can be exe- 

 cuted unless a horse has learned absolutely to dis- 

 tinguish between an indication to turn, and one 

 which is meant to lighten one side in order to 

 prepare for a School movement, or to enable him 

 to lead or exhibit pronounced action with that 

 side. 



At first you had perhaps better teach Penelope 

 to guide only one way by the neck, using the 

 rein alone for the other turn. But you can deter- 

 mine this by her intelligence. If there is any 

 place where you can ride in an irregular circle or 

 quadrangle, you can, after Nelly gets used to 

 turning in a certain direction at the corners, press 

 the reins on the opposite side of her neck as she 

 is about to turn, so that she may get to associate 



