Manual of Equitation and Horse Trainincj 17 



It results from a general decontraction, particularly 

 from suppleness of the loin. The road to it is opened by 

 appropriate gymnastics, and it is acquired after a time from 

 trotting and galloping without stirrups and from riding 

 many different horses. These alone put the rider truly with 

 his horse. However, this result requires long practice; 

 and in seeking too much in the beginning, we risk soreness 

 and fatigue — and go contrary to the end in view. 



(b) The stirrups.— It is necessary, then, in order to 

 quickly give confidence to recruits, to have recourse to a 

 second means of maintenance — not so good, but sufficient — 

 which will permit them to remain mounted longer and to 

 progress without chafing and without hurting the mouths 

 of their horses — the stirrups. 



The trot without stirrups will rarely be used except in 

 the riding hall or for short trips out of doors as a suppling 

 or proof of the decontraction. The time of the trotting 

 will at first be short and frequent, then lengthened little by 

 little, to push down the thighs and place the seat; all of the 

 riding-hall work, including jumping, can then be done 

 without stirrups. 



Routine work, long sessions out of doors, marches and 

 maneuvers, in one word — time— accomplishes the end be- 

 gun without stirrups in the preparatory work, and will give 

 the men as good a seat as they can acquire in their short 

 term of service. 



By this means one will gain the time necessary to de- 

 vote to the second part of the instruction, the management 

 of the horse. 



Special gymnastics for the rider. — The management of 

 the horse depends on the independence of the aids— the 

 base of their future accord. This independence is the result 

 of special exercises to which the young rider should be 

 submitted from the beginning of the preparatory work. 



The instructor endeavors to obtain: 



(1) The independence of the hands with respect to the 

 movements of the body and legs. 



To obtain this result he commands the flexions of the 

 trunk, more and more marked forward, backward, right 

 and left, suppling of the shoulders, etc. In all these move- 

 ments the hand or hands which hold the reins should remain 

 in place without stiffness, in contact with the horse's mouth, 

 but independent of the movements of the trunk. And so 



