THE JAMBETTES 



ately a wrong position of any one. When, therefore, 

 the horse has all its legs perpendicular to the ground 

 and parallel to one another, there exists the state of 

 equilibrium with correct location of the center of 

 gravity. The rider's seat is accurate, so that a trans- 

 fer of his weight, forward, to the right, to the left, or 

 backward, impels the horse in one of these directions. 



The exercises commence with the horse standing 

 still. The front legs are given two kinds oijanibette, 

 the first of which involves the flexion of the scapula- 

 humeralis and the radio-humeralis. 



A great many trainers give this exercise on foot. 

 The right rein, preferably at first the snaffle, is held 

 in the right hand. The trainer, holding the whip in 

 his left hand, touches very gently the horse's right 

 leg, repeating very gentle strokes until the animal 

 lifts its right fore leg. This action, when secured, is 

 immediately rewarded by the caress. 



The process is now continued until the leg is held 

 in position, foot off the ground, knee forward, lower 

 leg down. Very soon, the mere presence of the whip 

 accompanied by a partial flexion with the right 

 rein, will be sufficient to maintain the leg flexed in 

 the air. Then the whip is progressively suppressed, 

 and thejambette asked by a partial flexion by means 

 of the right rein. At this point, everything is re- 

 versed, and the jambette of the left fore leg taught 

 in the same way. The great difficulty is to discover 

 just the spot on the horse's leg where the touch of 

 the whip will best stimulate the movement. This 



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