Manual of Equitation and Horse Training 95 



With a young horse, theretorc, each time that the rider 

 wishes to take the gallop he should give him this natural 

 position. On the other hand, each time that he wishes to 

 pass from the gallop to the trot or walk he has only to 

 straighten his horse. 



Another obligation for the rider consists in obtaining 

 the gaits which allow the horse to cover the most ground 

 without fatigue. For the horse to expend the least energy 

 all impulsion must act in the direction of the movement. 



But the horse may travel high; he may travel low; or 

 high and low at the same time. 



The horse travels high when, suppled, trained, and 

 correctly ridden, he is able to assume the rassembler in 

 marching. Then the muscles of the high, flexed neck will 

 lift the forelegs in their contraction; while the hind legs 

 engaged under the mass will also have an action from 

 below upward. 



Thus placed, he can give only very limited speed, since 

 he loses in extension what he gains in height, and since 

 his joints are constantly flexed, but this position is very 

 favorable to immediate changes of balance, and therefore 

 of direction and gait. This finds frequent employment in 

 secondary equitation since both in maneuvering and indi- 

 vidual combat the horse should be able to work on short 

 bases. 



The horse may travel high in front and low behind 

 when, ridden by an inexperienced rider he holds his head 

 high through fear or force. As in the preceding case, the 

 muscles of the neck, by their contraction, lift the forelegs; 

 but the hind legs, placed far away from the front legs, can 

 not engage. Their motions will be jerky, the spinal column 

 will have no play. The horse will move with considerable 

 expenditure of energy, and a hindrance in the loin and 

 hind legs shown by disorders of all sorts. 



Finallj^, the horse will travel low when he moves with 

 his neck stretched out and extended, its direction ap- 

 proaching the horizontal. The hind legs, under the action 

 of the rider's legs, may easily engage under the mass, 

 because the position of the neck will allow the spinal 

 column to bend from above downward and then extend in 

 the direction of the movement. The muscles of the neck 

 in contracting draw the forelegs forward and not upward. 

 This position will therefore favor speed, and all the horse's 



