Chapter I.-EDUGATION OF THE HORSE 



THE SADDLE HORSE. 



Qualities of the saddle horse. — The military saddle horse 

 should carry a considerable weight, march quickly and 

 long, have endurance, hardiness, and handiness. These 

 aptitudes are given b}' the natural balance, gaits, form, and 

 quality. 



Natural balance allows the horse to remain constantly 

 master of his strength, to be able to use it under the rider's 

 weight, to easily pass from a slow to a fast gait, and in- 

 versely, to have suppleness of action; in a word, aside from 

 character, to be easy to ride from the beginning. 



Usage alone proves the value of a horse; experience, 

 how^ever, allow^s the establishment of general rules which 

 guide in determining the good points to seek in the colt 

 and in forejudging his quality. 



If the back slopes upward, with withers well shaped 

 and a little higher than the croup, and if the chest is well 

 let down and can thus keep the girths away from the 

 elbows, the saddle will remain in place. The rider and 

 pack, situated betv* een the two pans of the scale, as it 

 were, will not operate to break the equilibrium and bruise 

 the shoulders. This conformation, joined to a good direc- 

 tion of the hocks, makes the horse naturally manageable 

 and facilitates his direction in combat. In the daily work 

 the strain is divided over all the springs of the machine, 

 so that none is worn out prematurely. 



The gaits should allow him to cover the maximum of 

 ground with the minimum effort. This condition excludes 

 high action and puts value on the flowing extended strides 

 which are least fatiguing for horse and rider. 



If the trot is more especially the marching gait, the 

 gait of combat is the gallop. More than ever the present 

 necessities of war require a rapid gait sustained a long 

 time. The troop horse should be, before all else, a galloper. 



An ischium relatively long is a characteristic of the 

 galloper. (See fig. 1, p. 46.) 



Agility is indispensable for a cross-country horse. It 

 is acquired as much more promptly and completely as the 



45 



