68 THEORY OF MOUTHING. 



5. When the saddle horse is in motion, the balance of his 

 body is readily disturbed by changes in the position of the 

 rider's weight. Hence, such changes, when appropriately 

 made, are readily accepted by the horse as signals for 

 altering the nature or direction of his movements. 



Making a horse obey the aids. — In teaching a horse 

 to obey the aids, we should act on the principle advocated 

 on page 50, of making our equine servant accord ready 

 obedience to our commands, after he has learned to 

 understand our wishes when they are expressed by the 

 proper signals. The breaker will do well to bear in 

 mind the maxim, that a horse should never get the chance 

 of pulling successfully against the reins, or unsuccessfully 

 against the collar. As a man on foot has as thorough 

 command over a horse, as the horse has over his rider 

 (supposing that both know how to exercise their respective 

 powers) ; the breaker should naturally commence his 

 lessons on foot, and should, as a rule, refrain from 

 giving the horse the advantage of having him in the 

 saddle until the habit of obedience to the aids (or to 

 their breaking substitutes, such as the pressure of the 

 long rein on the quarter, for that of the rider's outward 

 leg) be fully confirmed. In all this, we act on the principle 

 of association of ideas in the mind of the horse to guard 

 ourselves from the evil consequences which might ensue 

 from the exercise of the animal's instinctive impatience 

 of control. 



With some horses, and especially with those which have 

 learned to know their own power, the process of inculcating 



