358 THE HORSE. 



"We now know the parts of the horse in wliich the mnscnlar 

 contractions lie which produce the most resistance, and we feel 

 the necessity of snpplyin«^them. Shall we then cease to attack, 

 exercise, and conquer them all at once ? No ; this would be to 

 fall back into the old error, the inefficiency of which we are 

 convinced of. The animal's muscular power is infinitely supe- 

 rior to ours ; his instinctive forces, moreover, being able to sus- 

 tain themselves the one by the others, we must inevitably be 

 conquered if we put them all at once in motion. Since the 

 contractions have their seat in sej)arate parts, let us profit by this 

 division to combat them separately, as a skilful general destroys, 

 in detail, forces which, wlien combined, he would be unable to 

 resist. 



For the rest, whatever the age, the disposition, and the 

 structure of my puj)il, my course of proceeding at the start will 

 always be the same. The results will only be more or less 

 prompt and easy, according to the degree of perfection in his 

 nature, and the influence of the hand to which he has been pre- 

 viously subjected. The flexings, which will have no other object 

 in the case of a well-made horse, than that of preparing his 

 forces to yield to our influence, will re-establish calm and confi- 

 dence in a horse that has been badly handled ; and in a defec- 

 tive formation, will make those contractions disappear, which 

 are the causes of resistance, and the only obstacles to the pro- 

 ducing of a perfect equilibrium. The difficulties to be sur- 

 mounted will be in proportion to this complication of obstacles, 

 but will quickly disappear with a little perseverance on our 

 part. In the progression we are about to pursue, in order to 

 produce suppleness in all the different parts of the animal, we 

 shall naturally commence with the most important parts, that is 

 to say, witli the jaw and the neck. 



The head and neck of the horse are at once the rudder and 

 compass of the rider. By them he directs the animal ; by them, 

 also, he can ascertain the regularity and precision of his move- 

 ments. The equilibrium of the whole body is perfect, and its 

 lightness complete, when the head and neck remain of them- 

 selves easy, pliable, and graceful. On the contrary, there can 

 be no elegance, no ease of the whole, when these two parts are 

 rigid. Preceding the body of the horse in all the impulses 



