HEAD AND NECK. 33 



sity of suppling them. Shall we then seek to attack, 

 exercise and conquer them all at once ? No ; this would 

 be to fall back into the old error, of the inefficiency of 

 which we are convinced. The animal's muscular power 

 is infinitely superior to ours ; his instinctive forces, more- 

 over, being able to sustain themselves the one by the 

 others, we will inevitably be conquered if we set them in 

 motion all at once. Since the contractions have their 

 seat in separate parts, let us profit by this division to 

 combat them separately, as a skillful general destroys, in 

 detail, forces which, when together, he would be unable 

 to resist. 



For the rest, whatever the age, the disposition, and 

 the structure of my pupil, my course of proceeding at 

 the start will be always the same. The results will only 

 be more or less prompt and easy, according to the de- 

 gree of perfection in his nature, and the influence of the 

 hand to which he has been previously subjected. The 

 suppling, which will have no other object in the case of 

 a well-made horse than that of preparing his forces to 

 yield to our impulsions, will re-establish calm and confi- 

 dence in a horse that has been badly handled, and in a 

 defective formation will make those contractions disap- 

 pear, which are the causes of resistances, and the only 

 obstacles to a perfect equilibrium. The difficulties to 

 be surmounted will be in proportion to this complication 

 of obstacles, and will quickly disappear with a little per- 

 severance on our part. In the progression we are about 

 to pursue in order to subject the diffiirent parts of the 

 animal to suppling, we will naturally commence with the 

 most important parts, that is to say, with the jaw and 

 neck. 



The head and neck of the horse are at once the rudder 

 and compass of the rider. By them he directs the ani- 



