Part 10 (1/2)

_A._ Although this is the opinion of nearly all the people who talk of this method without understanding it, there is nothing in it. Since all these means serve only to keep the horse in the most perfect equilibrium, promptness of movement ought necessarily to be the result of it, and, consequently, the horse will be disposed to respond to the progressive contact of the legs, when the hand does not oppose it.

_Q._ How can we judge whether an _attaque_ is regular?

_A._ When, far from making the horse get out of hand, it makes him come into it.

_Q._ How ought the hand to be supported at the moments of resistance on the part of the horse?

_A._ The hand ought to stop, fix itself, and only be drawn sufficiently towards the body to give the reins a three-quarter tension. In the contrary case, we must wait till the horse bears upon the hand to present this insurmountable barrier to him.

_Q._ What would be the inconvenience of increasing the pressure of the bit by drawing the hand towards the body in order to slacken the horse in his paces by getting him in hand?

_A._ It would not produce an effect upon a particular part, but would act generally upon all the forces, in displacing the weight instead of annulling the force of impulsion. We should not wish to incline to one side what we cannot stop.

_Q._ In what case ought we to make use of the cavesson, and what is its use?

_A._ We should make use of it when the faulty construction of the horse leads him to defend himself, when only simple movements are demanded of him. It is also useful to use the cavesson with restive horses, as its object is to act upon the moral, while the rider acts upon the physical.

_Q._ How ought we to make use of the cavesson?

_A._ At first, the longe of the cavesson should be held at from fifteen or twenty inches from the horse's head, held out and supported with a stiff wrist. We must watch the proper times to diminish or increase the bearing of the cavesson upon the horse's nose, so as to use it as an aid. All viciousness that leads him to act badly is to be repressed by little jerks, which should be given at the very moment of defense. As soon as the rider's movements begin to be appreciated by the horse, the longe of the cavesson ought no longer to act; at the end of a few days the horse will only need the bit, to which he will respond without hesitation.

_Q._ In what case is the rider less intelligent than the horse?

_A._ When the latter subjects him to his caprices, and does what he wishes with him.

_Q._ Are the defenses of the horse physical or moral?

_A._ At first they are physical, but afterwards become moral; the rider ought then to seek out the causes that produce them, and endeavor, by a preparatory exercise, to re-establish the correct equilibrium that a bad natural formation prevented.

_Q._ Can the naturally well-balanced horse defend himself?

_A._ It would be as difficult for a subject uniting all that const.i.tutes a good horse to give himself up to disorderly movements, as it is impossible for the one that has not received the like gifts from nature, to have regular movements, if art did not lend him its aid.

_Q._ What do you mean by _ra.s.sembler_?

_A._ The reunion of forces at the centre of gravity.

_Q._ Can we _ra.s.sembler_ the horse that does not contain himself under the _attaques_?

_A._ This is altogether impossible; the legs would be insufficient to counterbalance the effects of the hand.

_Q._ At what time ought we to _ra.s.sembler_ the horse?

_A._ When the _ramener_ is complete.

_Q._ Of what service is the _ra.s.sembler?_

_A._ To obtain without difficulty everything of a complicated nature in horsemans.h.i.+p.