276 HOW TO RIDE A HORSE. 



one leg, placed behind the girths, tends to turn the croup 

 around the fore legs from that side. An equal pressure of 

 both legs differently placed, and delicately aided by the 

 hand, tends to turn the horse around his centre of gravity, 

 and, by a combination of these aids, which require as much 

 practice in the management of the legs as in that of the 

 hands, the horse, in his movements, ma}^ be made entirely 

 submissive to the will of his rider. The legs have still an- 

 other ofS.ce, in enabling the rider to displace his weight so 

 as to throw more weight on one side of the horse than on 

 the other, and to cause him to raise the legs of the side 

 from which the weight has been removed. The rider 

 should carefully avoid distressing his horse by an unnec- 

 essary pressure of his thighs. 



THE PACES. 



The Walk is so simple a gait that it is only necessary to 

 say of it that, except when adopted as a resting or breath- 

 ing time for a Aveary horse, it should be performed with 

 animation, the head being kept in position, and the action 

 made lively and firm ; this should especially be the case 

 when the object is to perform a slow* journey, or simply to 

 exercise the horse. After fast travelling on the road, it is 

 at times desirable to allow the head to drop, and the whole 

 muscular system to become relaxed ; but this should be 

 only for a sufl&cient distance to enable the horse to recover 

 from temporary exhaustion, and it should never be allowed 

 on rough ground with any horse, nor even on the smooth- 

 est ground with such as are inclined to trip. The rider 

 may suffer his own body to drop into an easy position, but 

 he must be ready instantly to regain his firmness in case 

 of a false step. 



The Trot is the fashionable gait in this country, though 



