HOW TO RENDER HORSES OBEDIENT. 283 



only capable of getting on in a short, cramped canter, 

 then you may be equally sure that your reins are too 

 short, and you must immediately ease them all to the 

 state in which they were at the very first lesson, and 

 then try back till you bring out a perfectly clean, 

 rhythmic trot ; whatever position the horse's head and 

 neck may then have, is the true one, all the pedants in 

 the world notwithstanding. Indeed, it is a good plan 

 to finish each lesson and commence the next one with 

 somewhat slack reins. The being too lazy to take the 

 trouble of altering the gear often causes double work, 

 and a horse will bear more pressure, with good temper, 

 if you reward it by occasional spells of relaxation. 



It will not be out of place here to remark, that if your 

 horse be weak in the hind quarters or legs that you 

 cannot go so far with the bearing-up, in fact you must 

 incline more to the English system ; whereas if it has 

 suffered only in its fore legs, you may carry the process to 

 the utmost extent that is compatible with clean trotting ; 

 and this is precisely the reason why many an English 

 horse, with ruined fore legs, may be rendered capable 

 of doing good and safe service as an officer's charger for 

 many a year, if handled judiciously after this fashion. 



We now come to the period when the young horse 

 has been saddled and backed. The animal will, during 

 the process of lounging, have become accustomed to the 

 saddle being placed on the centre of its back and the 

 girths round its proper waist, instead of round its chest. 

 During the first lesson under the rider, the horse will 

 continue on the lounge, the great object being to make 

 the transition as gradual as possible, for which reason 

 the assistant with the whip will continue his services, 

 whilst the trainer also continues to direct the animal's 



