106 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



bility in the mouths of horses; that all 

 present the same lightness, when in the 

 position called ramener, and the same re- 

 sistances, in proportion as they recede from 

 this position. There are horses hard to 

 the hand; but this hardness proceeds from 

 the length or weakness of their loins, from 

 a narrow croup, from short haunches, thin 

 thighs, straight hocks, or (a most important 

 point) from a croup too high or too low in 

 proportion to the withers : such are the true 

 causes of resistances. The contraction of 

 the neck, the closing of the jaws, are only 

 the effects ; and as to the bars, they are only 

 there to show the ignorance of self-styled 

 equestrian theoricians. By suppling the 

 neck and the jaw, this hardness completely 

 disappears. Experiments, a hundred times 

 repeated, give me the right to advance 

 this principle boldly; perhaps it may, at 

 first, appear too arbitrary, but it is none the 

 less true. 



