USE OP THE SPURS. 85 



give too vigorous an impulse, the horse will quickly- 

 overcome the motion of the hands, and resume with his 

 natural position all the advantages it gives him to foil 

 the efforts of the rider. If, on the contrary, the hand 

 presents too great a resistance, the horse will soon over- 

 comie the legs, and find a means of defending himself by- 

 backing. Yet these difficulties must not be allowed to 

 frighten us ; they were only serious ones when no 

 rational principle gave the means of surmounting them. 

 The application of my method will enable ordi- 

 nary horsemen to obtain results that otherwise could be 

 obtained only by the most favored equestrian organiza- 

 tions. 



When the animal becomes accustomed by means of 

 the spur to such oppositions, it will become easy enough 

 to combat with the spur all the resistances that may 

 afterwards manifest themselves. Since the resistances 

 are always caused by moving the croup sideways, or get- 

 ting it too far back, the spur, by immediately bringing 

 the hind legs towards the centre of the body, prevents 

 the support of the hocks, which were able to oppose the 

 proper harmony of forces, and prevent the right distri- 

 bution of the weight. 



This is the means I always employ to make the horse 

 pass from a swift gallop to a halt, without straining his 

 hocks, or injuring any of the joints of his hind-parts. 

 In fact, since it is the hocks which propel the mass for- 

 ward, it suffices to destroy their motion to stop the 

 bound. The spur, by instantly bringing the hind legs 

 under the horse's belly, destroys their power from the 

 moment the hand comes in the nick of time to fix them 

 in that position. Then the haunches bend, the croup is 

 lowered ; the weight and forces arrange themselves in 

 the order most favorable to the free and combined play 



