62 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



the haunches. Such a horse will be able to 

 gather the hind legs well in under the fore.^^ 

 Now when he has gathered them well in, if 

 you take him up with the bit, he falls back 

 on his hocks and raises his forehand so that 

 his belly and sheath can be seen from the 

 front. You must give him the bit when he 

 does this, and it will look to the spectators 

 as if he were doing all of his own accord 

 the prettiest feat that a horse can do. There 

 are, to be sure, some persons who teach this 

 movement either by tapping the hocks with 

 a rod, or by directing somebody to run along 

 by the side and strike him with a stick under 

 the gaskins. But for my part, I think, as 

 I have said all along, that it is the best of 

 lessons if the horse gets a season of repose 

 whenever he has behaved to his rider's 

 satisfaction. 



For what the horse does under compulsion, 

 as Simon also observes, is done without 

 understanding ; and there is no beauty in it 

 either, any more than if one should whip and 

 spur a dancer. There would be a great deal 

 more ungracefulness than beauty in either a 

 horse or a man that was so treated. No, he 



