mains straight and still, head and neck elevated, without the help of snaffle or bit.
As soon as this position of lightness is obtained, comes the flexions of the jaw. The trainer, holding as before the two snaffle reins, makes very light oppositions, but without allowing the head or neck to drop. Now begins the "fingering." By this I mean the repeated, rhythmic opening and shutting of the mouth: mouth shut, bit contact, fingers closed on the reins; then mouth open and fingers unclosed, the hand always at the same height.
When the lower jaw is depressed squarely at the effect of the snaffle, the trainer repeats the same exercise, holding in each hand a rein of the snaffle and one of the bit. The snaffle maintains the position of head and neck, while the bit controls the depression of the jaw. But the effect of the two, especially of the snaffle, is peculiarly upon the atloaxoid articulation.
But while this flexion is the most important of all, it is nevertheless so entirely at the atlo-axoid joint that the rhomboideus and mastoido-humeralis muscles are so completely contracted that they do not, in this condition, gain the development which is desirable and which is so noticeable in the neck of "Why-Not."
For all this work, especially, I recommend patience, perseverance, and slow advance. What counts for the future is the quality of the performance. The quantity is a small and temporary matter.
