THE REASONED EQUITATION 



poured upon the waters of a turbulent sea. The 

 cause of the turbulence remains ; but the local effect 

 is destroyed. So with the horse: its emotions are 

 the same, but it cannot act them out. Its physical 

 strength is locked, like an insane creature in a 

 strait- jacket. 



The progress of the animal's education to the 

 effects of the spurs is, therefore, the same, in 

 general, as its training to the effects of the legs, 

 except that it needs even more patience and kind- 

 ness. In case the horse has previously been mal- 

 treated with the spurs, the training is the same, but 

 still more kind and patient. 



For this education, every esquire needs three sets 

 of spurs. The first degree is without rowels, the end 

 of the branches being rounded. The second degree 

 has rowels without teeth. A penny or a ten-cent 

 piece answers nicely. The third degree has the 

 teeth short and dull. If when these rowels are 

 pinched between thumb and finger of the gloved 

 hand, the teeth prick through the glove, they are 

 a little too sharp. The length of the branch depends 

 on the length of the rider's legs and on the width of 

 the horse's flanks, the longer-legged man needing 

 the longer spurs. Only experience determines just 

 what the proper length shall be. 



The trainer, equipped with spurs of the first 

 degree, mounts the horse, and stops him well away 

 from the wall, if the work is done in a manege, in 

 order that the horse may not try to rub the rider's 



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