GATHERING THE HORSE. 171 



schools of horsemanship ? You gather your 

 horse hy raising the hand and closing the legs, 

 I ask, what good can this movement of the 

 rider do upon an animal badly formed, con- 

 tracted, and that remains under the influ- 

 ence of all the evil propensities of its na- 

 ture ? This mechanical support of the 

 hands and legs, far from preparing the 

 horse for obedience, will only make him re- 

 double his means of resistance; since, while 

 giving him notice that we are about to de- 

 mand a movement on his part, we remain 

 unable to dispose his forces in such a way as 



t 



to force him to it. 



The , real rassembler consists in collecting 

 the forces of the horse in his centre in order 

 to ease his extremities, and give them up 

 completely to the disposition of the rider. 

 The animal thus finds himself transformed 

 into a kind of balance, of which the rider 

 is the centre-piece. The least touch upon 



