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CHAPTER X. 



HANDS AND LEGS (AIDS). 



The Aids — Respective Duties of the Aids — Order in which the Aids should be 

 Applied— Combined Action of the Aids — The Legs — Whips and Sticks — 

 Weight of the Body^Voice — Position of the Hands — Length of Reins — 

 Management of the Reins — Good Hands — Riding with Slack Reins. 



THE AIDS. 



The terms " hands " and " mouth " are misleading- when 

 appHed to riding, because they wrongly imply that a horse 

 has to be controlled and guided solely by the reins ; that is 

 to say, by only one end of his body, instead, as he ought 

 to be, by both ends. The controlling and guiding powers 

 which a good horseman usually employs, and which we may 

 term the " aids," are the hands, legs (and spurs), whip (or 

 stick), weight of the body, and voice. I am of course aware 

 that in manege parlance the word, " aids," is restricted to 

 the action of the reins (hands) and legs in riding. But 

 as the other means which I have mentioned, for conveying 

 the wishes of the rider to the horse, act in a more or less 

 similar manner, and as they are valuable adjuncts to the reins 

 and legs, I feel that I am justified in including them in this 

 definition. 



respex:tive duties ok the aids. 



The uses of the reins are to restrain the forward movement 

 of the horse by exerting pressure on the mouth in a direction 

 opposite to that in which he is proceeding, or in which he is 

 placed ; to turn the head of the animal to the right or to 



