56 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



way horses behave that are fretted by their 

 riders into ugly and ungraceful action ; but 

 if you teach your horse to go with a light 

 hand on the bit, and yet to hold his head 

 well up and to arch his neck, you will be 

 making him do just what the animal himself 

 glories and delights in. A proof that he 

 really delights in it is that when a horse is 

 turned loose and runs off to join other horses, 

 and especially towards mares, then he holds 

 his head up as high as he can, arches his 

 neck in the most spirited style, lifts his legs 

 with free action, and raises his tail. So 

 when he is induced by a man to assume 

 all the airs and graces which he puts on 

 of himself when he is showing off voluntarily, 

 the result is a horse that likes to be ridden, 

 that presents a magnificent sight, that looks 

 alert, that is the observed of all observers. 

 I shall now attempt to explain how I think 

 this result may be obtained. 



In the first place you must own at least 

 two bits. 53 Let one of them be smooth, 

 with the discs on it good-sized ; the other 

 with the discs heavy, and not standing so 

 high, but with the echini sharp, so that. 



