38 THEORY OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



against riding-school work has no doubt arisen from the 

 fact that, as a rule, the manege ]\2iS been used for the train- 

 ing of horses only for military, school, or circus purposes ; 

 and has not been hitherto utilised to any great extent for 

 preparing them for the field or road. I can say from 

 experience, that anyone who has used a suitable enclosure 

 for the preparatory teaching of, for instance, 'cross-country 

 horses and hacks, and has had subsequently to do the work 

 without a school of this kind, will keenly appreciate the 

 great advantage the use of a manege gives him in gain- 

 ing the attention of his pupils, and in rendering them 

 obedient. 



I may here allude to the fact that over-stimulation of the 

 nerves, whether in a mental or physical respect, tends to 

 insensibility. Thus, the too frequently excited muscle ceases 

 to contract ; and the overwrought brain, to think. The 

 miller remains unconscious of the din of the machinery 

 around him ; and the horse, of the admonitions of the rider 

 or driver who keeps constantly speaking to him. Continued 

 pressure of the bit on the bars of the horse's mouth is far 

 less effective in restraining the animal, than pressure which 

 is judiciously intermitted. The stimulus of whip, spurs, 

 or mouthpiece, if repeated in a monotonous manner, is at 

 last more or less disregarded. 



Accustoming a horse to his surroundings. — To 

 render the horse capable of instruction, it is not sufficient 

 to arrest his attention ; but we must also gain his confidence 

 by proving to him that he need not fear injury from any- 

 thing we do to him, or from the surroundings in which we 



