THE SCIENTIFIC EQUITATION 



Ages used the circle to train the horse to bend its 

 spine in the direction of the turn, by yielding to the 

 lateral effects of hand and legs, but without altera- 

 tion of gait. It was employed especially to teach the 



.return on the 

 piste 



on the circle 



Circle 



animal to take the gallop, since a horse walking or 

 trotting on a circle to the right is already placed. 

 Its neck is already somewhat turned by the snaffle, 

 and to change to the gallop it needs only the im- 

 pulse of the rider's legs to augment the action of the 

 right hind limb. The circle, therefore, taken alter- 

 nately at the two hands and by means of the lateral 

 effects, will soon teach the horse to gallop to either 

 side. 



. This movement, very easy in the lateral equita- 

 tion, is much more complicated in the reasoned 



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