CHAPTER VII 

 TRAINING FOR RIDING 



WORKING aU by yourself in the straw- 

 yard, you have now got your horse 

 under complete control in every way, 

 and entirely dominated by your personal in- 

 fluence. You can mount him by stirrup, and 

 have taught him to stand stock still until you 

 give him the word to " Back." It is a great 

 thing to teach it in this way, that is to hack 

 before going forward. Get the sequence of the 

 backing thoroughly ingrained in the horse's 

 mind and memory. Keep him up to it, and 

 he is cured in advance for all time, however 

 nervous and impatient he may be by nature, 

 of that most objectionable habit, contracted 

 by so many horses, of starting forward the 

 moment the foot is put into the stirrup. 



In the straw-yard you have turned him to 

 left and to right, have walked, trotted and 

 cantered him as well as the confined space 

 permitted ; have made him stand at any place 

 for as long as you wanted ; have made him lie 

 down and have sat on him for as long as you 



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