118 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



rest after executing two or three steps well, 

 which will give five or six halts in the com- 

 plete rotation of the shoulders around the 

 croup. 



Here the stationary exercises cease. I 

 will now explain how the suppling of the 

 hind parts will be completed, by commencing 

 to combine the play of its springs with those 

 of the fore parts. 



Backing. The retrograde movement, oth- 

 erwise called backing, is an exercise, the 

 importance of which has not been suffi- 

 ciently appreciated, and which yet ought 

 to have a very great influence upon his 

 education. When practised after the old 

 erroneous methods, it was of no use, as 

 the exercises that should precede it were 

 unknown. Backing properly differs essen- 

 tially from that incorrect backward move- 

 ment, which carries the horse to the rear 

 with his croup contracted and his neck 



