THE AIDS. 209 



is generally of such a mild character that precautions as to 

 its employment will rarely be necessary. 



COMBINED ACTION OF THE AIDS. 



As a horse has two pairs of legs at different ends of his 



body, the aids which we can legitimately employ singly, are 



those which produce a general effect. Those that produce 



only a local effect, should not be used except in a combined 



form ; it being immaterial whether the combination consists 



of two or more aids or of an aid and an impulse derived 



from the horse. For instance, if when mounted on a horse 



at the halt, we wish to turn him, say, to the right, we 



should do so by hand and leg, or by hand and whip or 



stick ; because merely pulling the right rein would be an 



indication for him only to turn his head to the right and not 



his body also. It is true, that habit will generally make him 



obey the signal given by the reins according to the wishes 



of his rider ; but, being guided only by his head, he 



will make the turn more or less uncollectedly. Again, 



let us suppose that we were galloping through heavy 



ground on a sluggish horse and wanted to " collect " him 



(make him light in front, i.e., make him get his hind legs 



under him), it would be useless merely to pull at the 



reins, because the effect of that would be to stop him. If, 



however, we combine the action of the reins with that of the 



spurs, we shall diminish the forward reach of the fore 



legs by holding him in with the reins, and shall increase 



that of the hind ones, by touching him with the spurs ; 



the result being that more or less weight will be transferred 



from the fore hand to the hind legs. If, on the contrary, 



we were riding a free-going horse, there would probably be 



no need to use the spurs or heels as an aid, to assist the 



action of the reins in " pulling him together " ; because his 



own impetuosity would make him keep his hind legs in 



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