THE PASSAGE 



by an excess of the effects of our legs that we not 

 only keep the horse in equilibrium, but also gain in 

 weight of action what we lose in forward progress. 

 A locomotive needs a much greater initial force to 

 start the train than to keep it running after it has 

 reached full speed; and in something the same way 

 in the case of the horse, a second force has to be 

 added to that which produces motion forward, in 

 order to make the action higher and slower. But so 

 far as this second force is located outside the total 

 mechanism of the horse's body, it cannot arise ex- 

 cept by the opposition of the hand, even though this 

 is as light as can be made. If the horse, in a state of 

 freedom, acts the air spontaneously, it is because 

 the creature understands by its natural instinct how 

 to equilibrize its forces. But this natural instinct 

 becomes paralyzed just as soon as we interfere with 

 our weight or by our lack of tact. 



Fillis is clearer and more explicit. He holds, and 

 rightly, that the horse's education should be com- 

 plete before the passage is attempted. This means 

 that the horse can take and keep the state of assem- 

 blage during the execution of every movement in 

 the progression up to that point. The "in hand," 

 the equilibrium, must be perfect, and retained 

 without excitement or fatigue. The horse being 

 then at the manege walk, the rider's legs close as 

 near as possible to the girths. The horse is per- 

 fectly calm. The left spur attacks; and immediately 

 after it, the right. The timing of these attacks is 



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