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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