36 Manual of Equitation and Horse Training 



Mastership of the aids. — However precise theoretically 

 may be the effects of the legs and reins they can only 

 have practical utility if the aids which produce them are 

 perfectly disciplined and submissive to the will of the rider. 

 It is not sufficient to know the forces, it is necessary to be 

 master of them. 



If the horse does not submit to the requirements of 

 the rider, most of the time it is not due to the ignorance of 

 the man or the bad will of the horse; it is because the 

 weak, incoherent aids do not impose the expected move- 

 ment. 



The true balance and the independence of the aids 

 are obtained by controlling the reflexes. For instance. If 

 young riders are commanded to act with the left leg alone, 

 one nearly always sees the right leg fly out an equal 

 amount. This one example gives an idea of the work to 

 be followed to control the muscles and never to have them 

 put in play except for a useful purpose and in a given di- 

 rection. 



Without insisting on the causes of what is commonly 

 called "maladresse" it is seen that the part of the instruc- 

 tor consists in bringing about and multiplying the occa- 

 sions which the young rider has for using his aids in an 

 exact and precise manner, first employing them singly, 

 then in combinations. 



(A) The pupil holding the reins separated in the two 

 hands is commanded to utilize in simple movements such 

 as the passage of corners, moving by the flank, and volts, 

 first, the opening effects, then the bearing effects and, 

 finally, the effects of opposition, abandoning completely 

 the rein which does not determine the movement. 



Example: "By the right opening rein, by the right 

 flank;" "By the right bearing rein, volt to the left;" "By 

 the left direct rein of opposition, half turn to the left." 



(B) He is then taught by composite movements to 

 substitute for the effect of the opening rein the effects of 

 opposition, or for the bearing effects, the opening effects, 

 etc. 



Example. — 1: The section marching to the left hand, 

 the instructor will command: "Half turn in reverse, leave 

 the track by the bearing rein." 



"Right rein of opposition, on two tracks on the diag- 

 onal." 



