RESISTANCE 



There can be no complete education of a horse 

 without an occasional refusal. But the point is to 

 see it coming and to forestall it by equestrian tact, 

 or at the worst not to let the habit grow. Raabe, 

 Baucher, and Fillis have all had real tempests of 

 revolt from their horses. I who write these lines 

 have had some fights, but not many. Those which 

 I have been through make me very sad; because 

 they show me that, with all my studies and with all 

 my long years of experience, I do not know enough 

 to ride without being obliged to punish. 



RESISTANCE 



RESISTANCE and refusal are very nearly synony- 

 mous, but not quite. A horse may refuse to execute 

 certain movements, but will, nevertheless, perform 

 others. Or he may refuse to perform the movement 

 in the way desired by the rider, yet still do it after 

 his own fashion, incorrectly. But when a horse 

 resists, he enters willfully into a state of complete 

 revolt, and tries to free himself from any sort of 

 control. He may carry his rider into a river, and no 

 effort will prevent him. No effects, no means, se- 

 vere or gentle, will make him obey. Either he will 

 not understand the rider's orders; or else, under- 

 standing them, he will not carry them out. 



If the horse resists because he does not under- 

 stand, then the best corrective is patience, per- 

 severance, and persuasion, without punishment. 

 But if the horse understands, yet refuses to obey, 



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