CHAPTER XIV 

 THE HANDLING OF THE REINS 



BEFORE proceeding to the further training of the 

 horse with the rider mounted, it is necessary to 

 consider more fully than under the instinctive 

 equitation, the position of the rider's hands and 

 the manipulation of the reins. 



No fixed position of the hands is correct for all 

 occasions. What it should be in each special case 

 depends on the degree of education of the horse, 

 on its action, sensitiveness, temper, conduct. It 

 varies with the surroundings, the gait at which the 

 animal is traveling, the character of the road, the 

 state of submission or disobedience. It is modified 

 also by the ability of the rider. It alters from mo- 

 ment to moment with the change of circumstances. 

 All that one can do, therefore, is to give the gen- 

 eral principles involved, and the standard position 

 from which variants are taken as conditions change. 



Let us, then, suppose a horse, well conformed, 

 properly trained, and quiet, ridden at the prome- 

 nade trot, by a good ordinary rider with a good 

 seat, in street, road, bridle path, or manege, but with- 

 out all the paraphernalia and impedimenta gener- 

 ally met with in such conditions. In such a case, the 

 hand will be carried six inches above the pommel, 

 the little finger down and slightly nearer the body 



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