76 Modern Riding and Horse Education 



Generally speaking, the word ** aids " is a mis- 

 nomer; there is only one hona-Me aid — the move- 

 ment of the body from the hips upwards. Of the 

 others, Greenwood writes : ** Common sense tells 

 us that a horse receives no aid from a pull in the 

 mouth with a piece of iron, or a blow from a whip 

 or kick in the side from an armed heel." The hands 

 can regulate a horse's pace to keep him from floun- 

 dering in a plough ; the legs can indicate to him what 

 we wish him to do with his hind-quarters, and can 

 put him into his bridle, but they are no mechanical 

 aid to his movements. The voice may encourage 

 him, but, again, it cannot aid. 



I have before me as I w^ite the so-called '' aids " 

 recommended in the English, French, German, 

 Italian, and Austo-Hungarian cavalry drill-books, to 

 make a horse strike off at a canter with whichever 

 leg the rider desires. They do not all agree, and 

 in matters of detail are often diametrically different, 

 whilst many of the directions given are very in- 

 volved. The " aids " in the British military text- 

 book have been changed more than once. 



A combined use of the aid and the indications, of 

 the simplest possible character, and violating no 



