THE DEFENSES OP THE HORSE 



As a defense, the horse turns " head to haunches " 

 very suddenly; and is likely, therefore, to mix its 

 legs, and to fall to the side opposite to that to which 

 it turns. In a manege, this need not be especially 

 dangerous. But out of doors on a hard road, the re- 

 sult may be a serious injury both to rider and horse. 



Evidently, there is some reason for this sudden 

 movement of the horse; and it is for the rider to dis- 

 cover this and remedy it. Since, then, each individ- 

 ual animal has one side or the other to which the 

 bend is always made, the corrective is to hold the 

 reins in both hands, with the pair on the side away 

 from the bend held shorter than the other. Thus, 

 if the horse swings head to haunches on the left, the 

 right reins are shortened and the rider's right leg is 

 brought nearer to the horse's flank. In this posi- 

 tion, the rider does not wait for the horse to begin 

 its defense. He prevents it at the start by flexing 

 sharply the horse's neck to the right and down- 

 ward, while with his right leg he pushes the haunches 

 to the left. This action turns the horse to the right, 

 in the opposite direction to its defense. In making 

 this turn to the right, the rider should execute only 

 the ordinary change of direction. He should not 

 have the horse perform "head and haunches to the 

 right." 



If this work is being done in a manege, the horse 

 should always be at the hand opposite to the side 

 toward which it makes the defense. If, for example, 

 as in the case above, the bend is toward the left, the 



340 



