XVII. 



Work at the trot — Rising to the trot. — ^The rider should 

 always rise to the trot unless the slowness of the gait 

 renders it impossible or, at any rate, difficult. 



To rise to the trot, the rider inclines the upper part of 

 the body forward and takes a firm grip with the knees in 

 order to avoid throwing his whole weight into the stirrups 

 and in order to have the lower legs perfectly free. He 

 then allows himself to be raised by the thrust of one 

 diagonal pair of legs, the right for example (i. e., right 

 fore and left hind) ; he avoids the thrust produced by the 

 planting of the left diagonal pair and drops back into the 

 saddle just as the right pair is replanted, which raises 

 him again. 



The rider thus avoids every other thrust, tires himself 

 less, and tires his horse less. 



Necessity of frequently alternating the diagonal pair 

 from which the rise is made. — ^But unless he is careful, 

 he gradually acquires the habit of always rising from the 

 same pair, or, as it is commonly expressed, of trotting on 

 the same shoulder, and this habit has serious drawbacks. 



(1) The pair from which the rider rises becomes much 

 more fatigued than the other because it raises and thrusts 

 forward the weight of both horse and rider; whereas the 

 other pair, which acts while the rider is in the air, has 

 only the weight of the horse to thrust forward. 



(2) Moreover, the diagonal pair which thrusts both 

 horse and rider can not project the horse as far as the 

 pair which acts while the rider is in the air. Thus, if the 

 rider is trotting on the right shoulder (i. e., is raised by 



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