RIDING AND TRAINING. 129 



the left heel will carry the croup about the forehand 

 in the beat of the trot ; when the change has been 

 made, and the horse faces in the new direction, 

 the forehand will be lightened and the horse will 

 move off in the united trot before the animal has 

 been permitted to become heavy. (Fig. 14.) 



It should be understood that in neither of the 

 pirouettes in action is the horse absolutely balanced, 

 for the centre of gravity is carried forward or back 

 just sufficiently to fix the pivoting extremity; but 

 the action which is maintained by the other ex- 

 tremity permits the equilibrium or poise to be 

 re-established at once, and the horse can then be 

 moved in any direction in any state of collection 

 before it has really been heavy and uncontrolled. 

 The poise, being a state in which the forces of the 

 two extremities are in equilibrium, admits of no 

 movement in any direction (or of any motion 

 beyond the dancing step of the piaffer, where the 

 horse balances from one pair of diagonal legs to the 

 other), and it is a very simple thing to fix either 

 extremity for the moment and then recover the 

 equilibrium, if the horse answer at once to the aids. 



