General Principles, 117 



thing either beyond his comprehension or capacity ; and 

 should restiveness once occur, go back immediately to 

 something the horse will do, and, if necessary, com- 

 mence the whole process de 7iovo. 



It will be well to explain here why the perfectly fresh 

 and sensitive mouth of the young horse conveys the sen 

 sation of hardness to the hand of the rider, and why the 

 same mouth, after it has really been rendered more or 

 less callous by the application of cold iron to its delicate 

 organization, comes to be called soft. 



When a horse is mounted for the first time, the equi- 

 librium of the whole machine is disturbed, which be- 

 comes especially remarkable in the neck. The young 

 horse bores on his bridle, and tries to acquire a new 

 point to lean on — a fifth leg, in fact ; he is hard-mouthed. 

 But when the animal has learned how to carry itself 

 and the rider, or acquired an artificial equilibrium 

 suited to the altered circumstances, then it no longer 

 seeks this support, and the mouth is called soft. That 

 such is really the case can be very satisfactorily proved. 

 A horse can be brought into perfect equilibrium under 

 the rider without any bridle whatever, merely by using 

 a cavesson instead ; and if a snaffle be then put into its 

 mouth, this will be found to be exceeding sensitive, and 

 it will require some days' riding before it will " take 

 the bit^^ as the phrase is. 



From what has been just stated, it will be easy to un- 

 derstand how the seat of the rider comes to exercise so 

 great an influence on the horse's mouth that the same 

 horse will go light with one and heavy with another 

 rider. First of all, it is a question of equilibrium. One 

 rider assumes a seat that favors, another one that more 

 or less seriously impedes, the efforts of the horse to get 

 into balance — for horses always try to do this. But, 

 secondly, supposing the seat, so far as the distribution 

 of weight is concerned, to be identical, the unsteady 



