ii6 TRAINING THE POLO PONY. [Chap. V. 



TURNING. 



The first object to aim at is to make the pupil obey 

 the rein and leg ; to turn to the right or left ; and to 

 rein back collectedly. To begin with, I would recom- 

 mend a plain smooth jointed snaffle, and a long- 

 standing martingale on the nose-band (Fig. 52). 



It must be remembered that horses turn in three 

 different ways. 



1. On the forehand. 



2. On the centre. 



3. On the hocks. 



When a pony, which is going fast, turns to the right 

 on his forehand, his hind-quarters will have a strong 

 inclination to turn out to the left ; and vice versa. The 

 result of this will be that he will not be firm on his 

 legs, and through not being collected, will very likely 

 slip up and fall. Many ponies turn well on the centre, 

 but when turning in this manner, it can easily be 

 understood that, if turning to the right, the fore legs 

 must come towards the right, and the hind legs go 

 towards the left, and vice versa if turning to the 

 left ; thus there is no fixed pivot on which to turn. 

 But in turning on the hocks, the weight of the pony 

 and that of the rider is thrown back on to the hocks, 

 and a fixed pivot is made by the inward hind leg. 

 This enables a pony to turn in the smallest possible 

 space without going on the circle at all, and has the 

 double advantage of saving time in the turn and of 

 gaining firmness on the legs. 



From the above it may be assumed that a polo 

 pony should never turn on his forehand ; that when 

 turning on a circle, no matter how small, he should turn 

 collectedly on his centre ; and that when it is desired to 



