ROTATION OF CROUP AND SHOULDERS. 113 



same exercise over again, twenty or thirty times, without 

 changing the side, until he obeys the moment I close my 

 heel to his side. I then give him similar work with the 

 right leg. 



When the horse accurately obeys both legs, I put on 

 dummy spurs (stump spurs), in order to accustom him to 

 obey something more severe than the heel. Then, each day 

 I increase the effect of the leg, while diminishing that of 

 the whip, which I gradually discard.* Later on I come to 

 the spur. 



I use the whip, only to aid the memory of the horse, and to 

 induce him to obey the spur without frightening him. We 

 should not forget that the effect of a touch of the spur on 

 a green horse at the beginning of the breaking is exactly 

 similar to that of the sting of a fly, which he at first tries to 

 drive away with his tail. If he does not succeed in this, he 

 will cow-kick on the side he is pricked. If the insect does 

 not fly away, he will look out for some object, such as a wall 

 or tree, upon which to lean or lie, in order to crush the author 

 of his sufferings, the fly. Therefore, when we give him the 

 first touch of the spur, how can we expect that his first move- 

 ment will not be to cow-kick or to lean against a wall ? 



We may see that it is a grave mistake to use the spur with- 

 out having prepared the horse for it, by making him succes- 

 sively obey the whip, leg, heel and dummy spur. 



If we spur a horse which is neither prepared for nor 

 accustomed to it, he will not understand its meaning, and will 

 not obey. If we try to force him to do so, he, not knowing 

 what we want him to do, and feeling the pain which we inflict 

 on him, will instinctively defend himself. The more severe 

 the attack, the more stubborn will be the resistance at first, 



* I have already said that I discard the whip when mounted, and I 

 take it up again only to make the horse obey the leg and to obtain the first 

 extension of the legs in the Spanish trot. In both cases I continue the 

 use of the whip for only two or three lessons. 



\ 8 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



