Hozu to Render Horses Obedient. 207 



never think for a moment of making them handy, in 

 the military sense of the term — that is to say, capable 

 of circling to the right or left in all their paces, chang- 

 ing these and their feet without an apparent effort, etc., 

 for nothing of this is required of them. The methods 

 they employ are, it must be said, perfectly suited to the 

 object they propose to attain, the rider's weight being 

 thrown either directly or indirectly on the horse's fore- 

 hand, which, as has been shown in the first part of this 

 work, favors progression on straight lines. The saddle 

 is generally for this reason put well forward, the girths 

 coming round the anterior part of the chest. Now, 

 although the saddle is placed forward, the stirrups 

 being usually very short, the body of the rider, from the 

 hips upward, is in most cases farther back than the 

 perpendicular line through the fourteenth vertebra, fig. 

 4 ; but from the hips downward the legs are brought 

 forward toward the horse's shoulders, and the main re- 

 liance for the seat is with that portion of the leg from 

 the knee down to the ankle, in the hollow close behind 

 the horse's shoulders ; therefore, although the rider's 

 body is actually farther back than what we have de- 

 scribed to be the normal position, the direction in which 

 his weight is thrown by each impulse received from the 

 horse's hind legs, is diagonally forward on to the fore 

 legs, and not in the vertical line shown by the arrows 

 in fig. 4. Moreover, the rider's legs exercise in this 

 their usual position all the influence derivable from 

 mere pressure or from the spur, wholly on the horse's 

 fore legs, leaving the hind legs free from all control, 

 for they almost always come too late when the rider 

 endeavors to meet the horse's croup or fix its hind- 

 quarters. 



The system of bridling and bitting is also perfectly 

 suited to the object kept steadily in view, the horse's 

 head being kept low, if necessary, with the martingal, 



