THE REASONED EQUITATION 



I recognize, in rendering the hand, three different 

 actions. 



The first occurs when the horse has his head 

 flexed at the axoid articulation, and the muscles 

 of the neck, being under restraint by the tension 

 of the reins, begin to show fatigue, stiffness, and 

 a failure of sensibility. But if, after a time, the 

 rider eases this tension, either by advancing the 

 hand or by letting the reins slip in his fingers, he 

 allows the animal to rest his muscles, and renders 

 his hand in the first sense. 



The second way of rendering the hand depends 

 on fingering. When the head is flexed, as in the 

 first instance, the rider's control over the neck is 

 by way of the lower jaw. But since the bars are of 

 uncertain sensibility, if the mouth remains closed 

 notwithstanding the pressure of the bit, the con- 

 traction at the tempero-maxillaris articulation will 

 be communicated to the alto-axoid. The result 

 is still greater fatigue, stiffness, and loss of sensi- 

 bility. But when the neck is flexed and the bit in 

 contact with the bars, pressure of the fingers on 

 the reins opens the mouth, while cessation of this 

 pressure allows it to close. This cessation of the 

 pressure which has flexed the lower jaw is rendering 

 the hand in the second sense. The repetition of this 

 flexing and rendering constitutes fingering. 



" Fingering" is the only possible translation of 

 the French, doighter, used by musicians to mean 

 the delicate sensibility by which they distinguish 



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