134 Cantering on a Slope. 



quickest that foot which will keep her from slip- 

 ping down hill. If she is on the right of the 

 road she will lead best with the left shoulder. 

 She will, perhaps, not do this as readily as on the 

 circle, but she will be apt to do it. If you should 

 watch a horse in the circus ring, you would notice 

 that this is apparently not true. But the slanting 

 path of the circus ring is really not on a slant at 

 all, when we calculate the centrifugal force of the 

 motion around so small a circle. It is as if a 

 horse were moving on a horizontal plane, for he is 

 really perpendicular to the slanting path ; and its 

 tipped position is governed by the same mathe- 

 matical rule as the road-bed of a railroad curve. 



You may utilize this slanting instinct also in 

 the same fashion as the circle first mentioned for 

 getting the elementary idea into Nelly's head that 

 pressure on one side means leading with the op- 

 posite shoulder. Moreover, the side of the road, 

 which is the slope most handy, has the additional 

 advantage of being generally the softest cantering 

 ground. 



There is an upward play of the rein, which 

 can be explained only to the student who has ad- 

 vanced some distance in the art, which tends to 

 lighten, or invigorate one or the other side of a 

 horse, and thus induce him, coupled with other 

 means, to make the long strides, that is, lead, with 

 the lightened or active shoulder. But you, Tom, 



