HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 217 



hands should be well down ; and the driver ought not 

 to sit all of a heap, with his head forward. Neither 

 should he lean back, with his bodily weight on the 

 reins ; which, in that case, are made a sort of stay for 

 him. He should be upright ; and what pulling he must 

 do should be done by the muscular force of the arms. 

 The head and the arms are what a good driver uses ; 

 but some have their arms straight out, and pull by 

 means of putting the dead weight of their bodies on 

 the reins. If instead of lying back, and putting their 

 bodily weight on the reins, with which latter they take 

 a turn round their hands, drivers would depend upon 

 their muscular strength, they could let up on the pull, 

 graduate it, and so ease the horse from time to time in- 

 stantaneously. The driver who depends upon the arms 

 has command of the horse : he who substitutes bodily 

 weight, with the reins wrapped round his hands, has not 

 half command of the horse, or of himself either ; and, if 

 the horse is a puller, he will soon take command of the 

 driver. The reason of it is, that there is no intermis- 

 sion of the exertion, no let-up, either for man or horse. 

 Besides, in that way of driving, it is impossible to give 

 those movements to the bit which seem to refresh and 

 stimulate the horse so much. When a horse has been 

 taught the significance of this movement of the bit, the 

 shift by the turn of the wrist, he will never fail to 

 answer it, even though he should seem to be at the top 

 of his speed. The moment he feels this little move of 

 the bit in his sensitive mouth, he will collect himself, 



