MY OWN SYSTEM 



For instance, a horse has some disease, no matter 

 what, affecting the left fore foot. A veterinary 

 treats the trouble, but the horse, during the treat- 

 ment, shrinks from putting its weight on the lame 

 foot. The muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the 

 left fore leg, therefore, doing less than their full 

 duty, become more or less atrophied, while the 

 right fore leg, doing more than its share, becomes 

 correspondingly developed. When, at length, the 

 diseased foot is cured and once more sound, no 

 trouble appears so long as the horse stands still. 

 But as soon as it begins to move, the weaker left 

 leg fails to stride symmetrically with the stronger 

 right. The trouble is, however, no longer in the foot, 

 but in the muscles, ligaments, or tendons of the leg. 

 The remedy is, then, gymnastic, to bring the weak 

 organ to the level of the rest of the body. This be- 

 longs to the master of the scientific equitation. It 

 is exactly like the case of a man kept in bed with a 

 broken limb, whose physician gives him at first 

 massage, and then, after the bone is knit, turns 

 him over to an instructor in gymnastics, who, by 

 flexions and exercises, restores the energy and elas- 

 ticity which the patient lost during his enforced 

 rest. 



I have, I have said, always been criticized for 

 not buying good and sound animals for myself, as 

 other masters do. But to educate such an animal 

 teaches the rider nothing. It is too easy. The mas- 

 ter does not prove his own ability nor the practical 



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