The Use and Misuse of the Hands 93 



the horse is trained. In support of this contention 

 Marchese Orario Pucci, writing on the training of 

 Italian Cavalry Officers, says : — " Little by little the 

 conviction has been arrived at that the horse should 

 be as free as possible and that the rider should only 

 suggest what he is to do, and help him to do it in 

 the way that is most natural to him." 



The law of self-preservation dictates to the man 

 that he should tighten his reins when the horse stum- 

 bles, and some writers advocate it. It may be found 

 useful to give a horse a job in the mouth as a severe 

 punishment for carelessness, but from a mechan- 

 ical point of view it is wrong; the reins should be 

 allowed to slip through the fingers, and the body 

 should be leant back. 



This may seem to be a contradiction of my state- 

 ments on page 93, but when examined, I trust 

 I can prove that it is not so. The two cases in- 

 volve entirely different problems. In the first case, 

 the horse is balanced and moving along ; but before 

 he increases his pace he lifts his head and neck, be- 

 cause it is easier to strike off at a trot or canter after 

 he has done so. In the second case, he cannot raise 

 his head high because he has lost his balance, and 



