TRAINING. 85 



should release the tensions upon the reins, and the 

 animal should be rewarded. Then, by a longer 

 continued tension upon the reins, the head of the 

 horse should be still further depressed, and the 

 animal's obedience be acknowledged. By degrees 

 the horse can be taught to lower the head to any 

 extent, even until the nose reaches the orround. 



To bend the head to the right, the rider will 

 place the head of the horse, held not too low, with 

 the face vertical to the ground ; he will then close 

 his legs against the flanks, the left a little more 

 strongly than the right, and draw the right rein 

 towards his body, the left rein measuring and con- 

 trolling the effect of the right. In this manner, by 

 graduated lessons, he will teach the horse to bend 

 the head to the right until the face, held vertically, 

 looks to the rear. The hands, in demandine this 

 bend, should keep the head well elevated, and they 

 should demand a pliancy in the lower jaw, as well 

 as an absence of all rigidity throughout the neck 

 and head. The object of this exercise is to supple 

 the forehand, and unless the bend is accomplished 

 without rigidity, the lesson loses its value. The 

 horse should not be permitted of its own volition 

 to carry its head back from this bend, but the head 

 and neck will be straightened by the left rein, aided 

 and checked by the right, and the vertical position 



