THE REASONED EQUITATION 



the fault? Obviously, to the man. Yet it is the 

 horse who is blamed and punished. But will the 

 punishment change a law of nature? The more 

 the poor brute is abused, the less is it correctly 

 placed to execute the movement. No horse will 

 ever refuse what is asked, when its rider has pre- 

 viously made sure that the placement is right. 



A standing horse is correctly placed when the 

 four legs, perpendicular to the ground, form a 

 rectangle. In this position, each leg bears one 

 quarter of the entire weight. Very few horses, 

 however, take and keep this position instinctively. 

 They have to be trained to it. In order, then, to 

 place the horse, the rider needs to understand the 

 diagonal effect for standing, walking, and trotting, 

 and the lateral effect for the gallop, since these 

 effects are the only means for correcting a wrong 

 position and for maintaining the horse straight. 



THE STRAIGHT HORSE 



A HORSE is said to be straight when the whole 

 spinal column, from the atlas to the last sacral 

 vertebra, is precisely in line. 



For the spine of a horse is like the keel of a boat. 

 One could not steer a boat with a crooked keel, 

 without strain on the hull and a waste of force on 

 the rudder. Even more true is it for the horse that, 

 with a crooked spine, the four legs will not carry 

 equal weights, and the steps and strides, with their 

 resultant, the gaits, will not be square and equal. 



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