Manual of Equitation and Horse Training 35 



and 200 pounds, on the av(^ragc. The top of the body, 

 which alone amounts to about 100 pounds, may in moving 

 contribute powerfully to the modifications in the balance 

 of the horse which are brought about by the aids. The 

 rider, then, must be warned not to hinder the movements 

 of the horse by a bad division of his weight, but, on the 

 contrary, to favor them by acting always in the direction 

 sought. 



In moving, stopping, turning, and on two tracks the 

 rider in carrying his weight on the buttocks or thighs in 

 the direction of movement may facilitate and hasten the 

 obedience of the horse. Quite clearly marked in the 

 breaking of a young horse these displacements of the 

 weight become more and more discreet as training is per- 

 fected. 



In superior equitation they are reduced to a mere 

 weighting of the stirrups. 



Artificial aids. — The artificial aids are the means of 

 domination created by the industry and ingenuity of man 

 to prolong, strengthen, or take the place of his natural 

 aids. They vary with the nature of the horse and the use 

 made of the latter. 



Those which have a current use are, first, the riding 

 whip, much used at the beginning of training to teach a 

 young horse to yield the haunches to the action of the heel, 

 and in ordinary riding with mares and sensitive horses 

 who kick at the boot; then the driving whip, martingales, 

 nosebands, Barnum reins, rigid reins, pulley or running 

 reins, etc. Included are the various kinds of spurs, as well 

 as the innumerable types of curbs, gag snaffles, rearing 

 bits, etc. 



These different means may be valuable to make use of 

 a horse on first sight, to regain rapidly a lost authority and 

 to give certain difficult subjects the work necessary to 

 their training. But it must not be forgotten that most of 

 these instruments, excellent in certain hands, become 

 dangerous with less experienced riders. 



Besides, the results obtained, even though rapidly, by 

 aid of these means are generally only superficial. They 

 can not really further the true education of the horse, 

 which resides as much in his moral submission as in his 

 physical obedience. 



