Notes on equitation and horse training/Question 26
XXVI.
What is meant by the aids?—The aids are the different means employed by the rider to convey his desires or intentions to the horse.
Into what classes are they divided?—The aids may be divided into natural and artificial. The natural aids are the hands and legs; the artificial aids are: the spur, the whip, the voice, the pat, the longe, the longeing whip and the padded posts.[1]
The hands are called the upper aids and the legs, the lower aids. Some horsemen make use of the terms principal and supplementary to designate the natural and artificial aids, respectively.
From the standpoint of the execution of a movement the aids are classed as decisive and controlling.
The former are indispensable to the execution of the movement and have a dominating action; the latter are merely useful, and participate only in setting the horse to advantage and in making the movement regular.
A final division into lateral and diagonal aids results from the manner in which the aids are combined. In the first case, the rider uses simultaneously the rein and the leg on the same side; in the second case, he uses the rein on one side and the leg on the opposite side.
Function of the hands.—It is the business of the hands, through the medium of the reins, to communicate to the horse his rider's will, to regulate the horse's gaits, to halt him and to back him.
Their principal function is the control of the forehand, the impulse having been given previously by the legs.
Considered separately, each rein can produce four important and distinct effects:
(1 ) Front to rear effect.—The rider pulls on the two reins alike, without pressing them on the neck and without opening the wrists. If the horse is moving, he will decrease the gait or halt; if the horse is halted, he will move backward.
(2) Opening effect.—The rider opens the right rein by carrying the wrist to the front and right. The horse's head will be drawn to the right and he will move in that direction. This is the direct rein.
(3) Bearing or pushing effect.—By pressing the left rein against the neck, the mass (forehand) is pushed to the right and the horse faces in that direction—this is the indirect rein, sometimes called the supporting rein.[2]
(4) Opposing effect.—The rider opens the right rein lightly and then pulls either in the direction of the right haunch or in the direction of the left haunch. He is then said to set the shoulders in opposition to the haunches. The rein of opposition comes to the aid of the leg on the same side when the latter's action is insufficient or incomplete.
- ↑ Les piliers are two padded posts to which the horse is fastened by a harness for instruction in the high school "piaffer" and in the different plunges and kicks of the "sauteur."
- ↑ In the United States Cavalry Drill Regulations a horse is described as "rein wise when he obeys the lightest pressure of the rein on either side of the neck, the bit not being disturbed from its normal position." It is to be noted that the horse has learned to obey this pressure (third effect) through its association with the opening of the leading rein, as prescribed in paragraph 216, Drill Regulations (second effect). When the rider uses the direct or leading rein, there must be sufficient tension on the other rein to prevent the bit from "being disturbed from its normal position," and the other rein (la rêne opposée) is also pressed against the neck to support the action of the direct rein. In general, there must be combined action of the reins just as there must be combined action of the legs (see "Unison of the legs, in the next question), and this fact should be kept in view in the discussion of the distinct effects produced by the reins. The text reads: "Considered separately, each rein, etc.," which might be erroneously construed as "Each rein, acting alone, etc."-The Board.