Page:Equitation.djvu/252

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The same movement at the trot is executed in accord with the same principles and by the same means. The rider, however, needs to make a somewhat more forcible effect to obtain the same result—a fact which goes to confirm this theory of change of direction in diagonal.

The idea of using the left rein for a turn to the right is bound to give rise to much discussion. But the reader is already familiar with the rein of contraction, or guiding by the neck, where the rider employs his right leg, and at the same time, by carrying his hand to the right, draws on the left rein. This new principle, created by myself, I have considered and practiced long years. The results convince me of its truth.

The horse mounted by a rider carries a very considerable weight, a fact which both Baucher and Fillis have completely neglected. Baucher, to be sure, has recognized the seat as a third means of control. But what is the seat, if the weight supported by it is ignored? These two masters advocate, with reason, collection, the assemblage of all the forces of the animal at a center, and the resulting state of equilibrium. The horse is placed in this state by the effects of hand and legs, and maintained there by the same means. They point out, rightly, that the horse in equilibrium is comparable to a large ball, in contact with the ground at a single point, so that the least weight added to one side starts the movement in that direction. When,