CHAPTER XX 



PLACING THE HORSE AND THE VARIANTS 

 FROM THE "IN HAND 



AFTER the discussions of the preceding chapters, 

 there still remain certain matters, which either have 

 not been touched upon at all or else require still 

 further elucidation at this point. 



PLACING THE HORSE 



To "place the horse " is to put him into whatever 

 position he needs to take in order to understand or 

 to execute the particular movement which is next 

 to be asked of him. This is really one of the 

 difficult parts of the art of equitation; but the 

 esquire who understands placing has always the 

 assurance that the following movement will be 

 correctly performed, since it is by the proper posi- 

 tion that the rider appeals to the animal's intelli- 

 gence and at the same time paralyzes any sign of 

 insubordination. The principle seems paradoxical 

 to the rider who merely experiments, but for the 

 experienced master, the position thus taken by 

 the four legs of the animal is the only one which 

 supports the weight equally on all its members. It 

 is, therefore, the sine qua non of equilibrium, with- 

 out which the movement is impossible. 



Nothing, therefore, is more invariably true than 



1 60 



