220 Restiveness : its Preveiitlon arid Cttre. 



be a horse moving in complete obedience to the will 

 of the rider, at all degrees of speed, with perfect ease 

 to itself, and without apparent effort on the rider's part ; 

 for the animal will have learned to modify the propel- 

 ling and bearing action of its hind legs in accordance 

 with the pressure exercised by the rider's legs, while 

 the lever action of the head on the neck produced by a 

 properly-fitting and carefully adjusted bit being trans- 

 mitted directly to the anterior extremity of the spinal 

 column, and indirectly through the medium of the reins 

 toward the centre of motion^ will regulate the amount 

 of action most eftcctually. The two figures of Plate V. 

 illustrate in different senses what we have here endeav- 

 ored to convey by words. The upper one shows a horse 

 whose hind legs are subject to no efficient or direct con- 

 trol, the action both of the bit and of the rider's legs 

 being concentrated altogether on the forehand through 

 the diagonal tread on the stirrup and the pull on the 

 reins directed upward toward the rider's neck. The 

 lower figure, on the contrary, shows a horse whose 

 body moves under tlie perfect control of the rider ; the 

 tread on the stirrup is vertical, the pull on the reins not 

 far from horizontal and directed toward the rider's seat 

 and the common centres of gravity and motion. Both 

 figures sit nearly exactly on the same part of their re- 

 spective horses. The great difierence betv^^een the seats 

 lies in the position of the leg from the hip, and espe- 

 cially from the knee downward ; while the great difier- 

 ence in the carriage of tlie two horses lies in the respect- 

 ive positions of their necks. Some of the other plates 

 illustrate the same thing in different ways. 



