RIDING AND TRAINING. 99 



CHAPTER X. COLLECTING. 



IN HAND (IN PLACE AND IN ACTION )-THE UNION (IN 

 ACTION) THE POISE (EQUILIBRIUM; THE HALT). 



LET the trainer now put on the curb chain, tightly 

 enough to have the full power of the bit but not so 

 close that it presses against the chin before the 

 branches are drawn back. It is a bad plan to 

 govern the power of the bit by the curb chain. 

 Rather let the tension of the curb chain be a fixed 

 factor, and lengthen or shorten the branches of the 

 bit as the power is required. 



The curb bit having been arranged satisfactorily, 

 the trainer will mount and proceed to collect the 

 horse. When he has learned, in theory and prac- 

 tice, the various gradations of collecting the horse, 

 there will be very little left for him to know. And 

 the rider who can bring his horse into that state of 

 equilibrium that we shall call the poise, can make 

 the animal perform any movement of which it is 

 physically capable. 



I hope that, with the pictures I offer, I can make 

 myself clearly understood ; and if the reader does 



