Manual of Equitation and Horse Training 91 



The advantages of the relaxation of the jaw have their 

 reflection in the poll and neck, whose muscles are not slow 

 to relax. The neck retakes at first its natural position, 

 then, thanks to progressive gymnastics, it arrives at the 

 ramener (gather), which constitutes the indispensable 

 attitude for the easy control of the horse. 



In practicing the supplings of the mouth it is necessary 

 to exercise severe control in the preservation of impulsion, 

 to avoid rewarding by passing to an inferior gait and on the 

 contrary to jdeld and caress in extending the gait. This 

 local gymnastic must be limited to necessity, and the true 

 object of training, harmony of all the forces, must not be 

 lost to view. 



Two tracks and shoulder-in. — Two tracks by lateral aids 

 is a movement which finds application in the use of the 

 horse alone and in ranks. 



With the horse marching to the right hand the move- 

 ment on two tracks is obtained by the use of the left rein 

 and leg, which act by pushing the shoulders and haunches 

 toward the right; the horse is then bent away from the side 

 toward which he moves. 



In this movement the shoulders and haunches follow 

 two parallel paths, so that in gaining ground to the right 

 the members of the left lateral biped cross in front of those 

 of the right lateral biped, or reciprocally in gaining ground 

 to the left. 



In training, two tracks is useful to further the horse's 

 knowledge of the effects which a combination of aids may 

 produce; it constitutes in addition the first degree of an 

 excellent suppling for the colt. 



This movement should only be demanded on an inside 

 track — i. e., away from the wall— or on the diagonals and 

 during a relatively short time. Executed on the track, two 

 tracks has the bad effect of teaching the horse to be guided 

 by the wall and not by the aids. Also it frequently hap- 

 pens that the horse not being able to pass the outside leg in 

 front of the inside leg through fear of striking the wall 

 passes it behind the inside leg, which does not give him the 

 desired result. 



If the displacement of the forehand be slightly accen- 

 tuated by greater requirements of the hand and leg, the 

 horse passes from the movement on two tracks to that of 

 shoulder -in. 



