136 ORDINARY RIDING. 



The number of side steps which we succeed in obtaining 

 is of Httle consequence. The essential thing is to see that 

 the horse is well placed — the shoulders being always more 

 advanced than the croup — which is the only position that 

 facilitates the side movement. Position is everything. 



At the beginning of the work I try to give cadence to the 

 horse, but only at the moment I am going to get him to do 

 side steps. By the expression " to give cadence to the horse," 

 I mean the school walk. At this pace a horse has great 

 mobility, and the side movement is made more easy, because 

 the fore legs and hind legs can move more readily, without 

 touching each other, which is impossible at the ordinary walk* 



Up to this, I have purposely used the expression " side 

 step," and not " two tracks," because we always begin by 

 going to one side, which is far from the two tracks. 



We are never completely master of a horse which we have allowed to contract 

 the habit of always keeping close to the wall, which is a bad preparation for 

 riding in the open, and also for high school work, the first condition of which is 

 that the horse should be always between the legs of the rider, or, to speak more 

 precisely, should be solely guarded by the "aids." It is therefore well to work 

 the horse at a distance of one or two yards from the wall. 



When the horse has got into the habit of pressing his shoulder into the wall, 

 how are we to put him straight ? And if we wish to take him away from the 

 wall, to go down the centre, to do a demi-volte, or to set off on " two tracks,'' 

 what "aids " should we use ? 



Let us suppose that the rider is on the right hand. He will then instinctively 

 feel the off snaffle rein to bring the left shoulder away from the wall, which is a 

 mistake, because in pulling the off rein he will bring the head and neck to the 

 right, but the more he draws them to the right, the more will the lateral flexion 

 of the neck push the left shoulder to the left. The proper way to bring the left 

 shoulder away from the wall is to draw the near snaffle rein rather high and 

 forward on the neck, then carry it to the right, while lightly feeling the off rein, 

 and we will then bring the whole neck along with the shoulders to the right. 



* To make side steps from left to right, the horse should pass his near fore and 

 the near hind, one after the other, over their respective off legs, in order to gain 

 ground to the right. When the horse is at the ordinary walk, the pace is too 

 slow and too low for the legs to pass over their fellows without touching them. 

 In the side step, at the school walk, each of the near legs passes successively its 

 corresponding off leg, and (this is the important point and results solely from the 

 cadence) is put on the ground only at the moment when the off leg is just raised. 

 They therefore cannot hit each other. 



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