86 Oe the Hand. 



hand which is not only well formed in itself by 

 tuition, and riding manege horses, but can make 

 the untutored mouth partake of the sensibility of 

 the hand, which, in other terms, is dressing the 

 horse. 



Three qualities are essentially necessary to 

 such a hand. It ought to be firm, gentle,- and 

 light. 



I. That may be called a firm or steady hand 

 whose feeling corresponds exactly with the feeling 

 in the horse's mouth. This demands a certain 

 degree of steadiness, and constitutes that just cor- 

 respondence between the hand and the horse's 

 mouth, which every horseman wishes to find. 



Such a hand will not yield to the solicitation or 

 craving of the horse to get the ascendency of the 

 hand ; for an ascendancy of the hand is obtained 

 when the horse abandons that delicate correspon- 

 dence producing the appui, and keeping him under 

 the strictest obedience, and makes a dull -or insen- 

 sible pull on the hand. And horses, though they 

 have been ever so well broke, after being rode a 

 few times by an untutored hand, will fall into this, 

 if permitted. 



To frustrate the little efforts of the horse to ob- 

 tain his purpose, the hand is kept firm, and the 

 fingers braced, by which their operation becomes 



