THE REASONED EQUITATION 



rider ceases to impel the horse forward. The reins 

 are loose. The contact is broken. The horse stops, 

 not knowing where to go. 



But if this state of contact between hand and 

 mouth is important for the ordinary equitation, it is 

 a great deal more necessary for the scientific, since 

 this is founded upon the principles of equilib- 

 rium, collection, the assemblage of forces continu- 

 ally united in the medial plane and establishing the 

 center of gravity. 



From the earliest days of equitation, every rider 

 has studied the "in hand" by means more or less 

 rational. But so many mistakes have been made 

 that I must try to explain the precise nature of the 

 first element of the "in hand," the contact. It is, 

 however, a difficult matter to explain a feeling in 

 words, and though comparisons are useful to illus- 

 trate a point, I shall have to ask the indulgence of 

 reader and student. 



I touch elsewhere upon assemblage and col- 

 lection. 



FORWARD OF THE HAND 



A HORSE is forward of the hand, if, on its own 

 initiative, it goes forward against the bit, according 

 to its own will, disposition, or temperament, instead 

 of conforming to the impulsion of the rider's legs. 

 If this exuberance is not the result of unsoundness, 

 viciousness, bad conformation, or bad habit, it is 

 more a merit than a defect in a saddle horse, since it 



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