IX. 



Second Leg Lesson or First Suppling of the Haunches. \\v 



have already given tlie liorse the first leg h-sson — the 

 lesson in moving straight to the front— hy drilling him 

 to yield to the action of the legs. We will now teach him 

 to yield to the effect of one leg, carrying the haunches to 

 the right or left; this second lesson, which necessitates the 

 crossing of the hind legs and gives mohility to the hind 

 quarters, is a most useful suppling for the horse. 



The best w^ay to give a horse this second lesson is to 

 use half turns on the forehand in reverse; half turns on the 

 forehand are nothing more or less than abouts on the fore- 

 hand made w^hile marching.* For example, marching on 

 the right hand, leave the track on a diagonal (oblique) and 



* In the expressions "demi- voltes renverses" and ''demi- 

 tours sur les epaules faits en marchant" an apparent 

 inconsistency is encountered. The "demi-tour sur les 

 dpaules" is the "about on the forehand" of our drill regu- 

 lations. If, however, instead of being held stationary, the 

 forehand is allowed to gain ground (en marchant ), we will 

 have the movement contemplated in the lesson but it will 

 necessarily be on two tracks, the semicircle made by the 

 hind feet having a greater radius than that made by the 

 fore feet. Now the "volte" is nothing more than our 

 individual "circle" and is a one-track movement. For 

 clearness then, it is evident that a word is needed to accur- 

 ately describe this "about made while marching," and the 

 Board has decided to use the expression "half turn." 

 The "turn" of the riding hall will be a movement of 860 

 and it may be urged that the command will flash with the 

 90"" turn of the drill regulations; but, as one is for an exer- 

 cise by the individual trooper and the other is for a change 

 of front by a body of men in line, it is thought that no 

 confusion will result. ( The Board) 



(39) 



