VI 



THE ONE AID AND THE INDICATIONS 



** Any fool can learn to ride a horse, but it takes an accomplished 

 man to be a horseman." Old French Saying. 



" Man and horse should be one perfect whole ; . . . when it is not, 

 there is no meaning between man and horse, they talk different 

 languages and all is confusion." Berenger. 



"IT /"HEN the pupil has acquired a firm and well- 

 balanced seat, the instructor's next aim 

 must be to teach the use to which the movement of 

 the body from the hips upwards can be put for alter- 

 ing the distribution of the weight; as also the use 

 of the hand, the lower part of the leg, the voice, the 

 whip, and the spur, experts having very different 

 opinions on all these points. They are referred 

 to in nearly all books as the " aids," and to the 

 average Englishman who has not been through a 

 military riding school the word is shrouded in mys- 

 tery, and usually associated with Haute Ecole work ; 

 yet every time he rides he makes use of one aid 

 and several indications to make his horse do what he 



wants. 



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