Part 2 (1/2)
When the horse is in movement there should be a constant touch, or feeling, or play, or _bearing_ between his mouth and the rider's hands.
It is impossible to bestow too much pains and attention on the acquirement of this. It is the index of the horse's actions, temper, and _intentions_. It _forewarns_ the rider of what he is about to do, and by it the rider feels _muscularly_ without mental attention whether his horse requires more liberty or more collecting. And it is impossible that in this bearing on the horse's mouth, or in the indications of the hands and legs generally, or in shortening and lengthening the reins, the rider can be too delicate, gradual, smooth, firm, and light. The hands should be perfectly free from any approach to a jerk, a loose rein, or uneven feeling on the mouth. The legs should be kept from any action approaching to a kick, except when the spur is given; that should be always present, and when used should be given smartly and withdrawn instantly, but the pressure of the legs should be perfectly smooth and gradual, though, if necessary, strong.
If good riding is worth your attention do not think these things beneath your notice. For the acquirement of the bearing on the horse's mouth, the turning your horse on the proper rein, smoothness of indications, and, in shortening the reins, the power of making your horse collect himself, and the working together of your hands and legs, are the unseen and unappreciated foundation on which good riding stands. These, and not strength or violence, command the horse. With these your horse will rely on your hand, comply to it, and, without force on your part, he will bend to your hand in every articulation. Without these, however unintentionally on your part, you will be perpetually subjecting him to the severest torture, to defend himself against which he will resist your hand, poke his nose, and stiffen his neck, and every other part of his body. The horse can endure no greater torture than that resulting from an uneven hand. This is known to every hack-cabman. Every hack-cabman has hourly experience that a _job_ in the mouth will compel his jaded slave into a trot, when the solicitations of the whip have been long unanswered.
The single case in which a jerk in the mouth is admissible is when your horse is about to kick, and some one is within reach of his heels. The jerk causes him to throw up his head, and he cannot without difficulty raise his croupe at the same time. But except to save life or limb--supposing no one within reach--hold your hands high, and pull severely, but smoothly; do not jerk. This will in general be sufficient to prevent his kicking, but it is better that your horse should occasionally kick than that he should always go as stiff as a stake, which is the inevitable result of jerking.
[Sidenote: Collect the horse to turn.]
[Sidenote: Do not turn on one rein only.]
To keep the horse when in movement to a collected pace, the opposite indications of urging and retaining him must be continued. This working together of the hands and legs and the power of making the horse collect himself are also most essential in turning. A horse should never be turned without being made to collect himself--without being retained by the hands, and urged by the legs, as well as guided by both. That is, in turning to the right both hands should retain him, and the right guide him by being felt the strongest, both legs should urge him, and the left guide him by being pressed the strongest. The rider should also lean his weight to the right, and the shorter the turn and the quicker the pace, the more the horse should be made to collect himself, and the more both he and his rider should lean to the right. This is well seen, when a man standing on the saddle gallops round the circus. There the man must keep his position by balance alone, and were he not to lean inward--were he for a moment to stand perpendicularly, he would be thrown outside the circle by the centrifugal force. In turning suddenly and at a quick pace to the right, unless the rider leans his weight to the right, he will in like manner have a tendency to fall off on the left. If, by clasping his legs, he prevents this, his horse will be overbalanced to the left when turning to the right. It is bad, in turning to the right, to run into the contrary extreme to the one-handed system, and, slackening the left rein, to haul the horse's head round with the right rein only. The horse's head should not be pulled farther round than to allow the rider to see the right eye; both legs, and particularly the left leg, should then urge the horse to follow the guiding rein.
A lady, till very skilful, should ride with one bridle only at a time.
The other bridle should be knotted loosely, and should lie on the horse's neck.
[Sidenote: Lady's canter.]
The indications for a lady's horse to canter are an _over_ collection and a tapping on the mane with the whip; that is, take your reins _too_ short in the left hand, and tap the horse's mane till he canters. When off, if the reins _are_ too short, take one in each hand, turn the fore fingers towards you, and let the reins slip. If the horse goes freely up to your hand, keep a rein in each hand. If not, return the right rein to the left hand, and keep the whip ready to urge him up to his bit. If a lady has her reins at full length at a walk she should clutch, cross, canter. If the lady has her reins already crossed in the left hand at a walk, she should by two changes place them _too_ short in the left hand before she uses the whip.
[Sidenote: The quicker the pace the greater collection.]
[Sidenote: French and English mistake here.]
Every change of pace from slow to quick should be indicated to the horse by a greater collection; the ”bride abattue,” and the ”reines flottantes” system is a great mistake. So is the direction to the English cavalry (quoted p. 6), to advance the little finger to make the horse advance. To make the horse advance the reins should be tightened; he should be made to collect himself, or he will advance in a loose and extended form.
On account of ease to the rider, a lady's horse is only permitted to canter with the right leg. He should never be cantered circles to left, or turned at a canter to the left, as unless the horse s.h.i.+fts his leg it will be an unfair exertion to ask of him. Cantering circles to the right, in open ground, where the horse has nothing to bias him but the indications he receives from the rider, is an admirable practice for a lady. An occasional race--who can canter slowest--is also good practice both for horse and rider. This must not be often repeated, nor must the horse be forced from a fair canter into a hobble or amble. Parade riders are too apt to be contented with wooden paces provided they are short.
This is very vicious. Really to collect himself, a horse must _bend_ himself. We cannot too often repeat Ovid's line,--
_Flect.i.tis_ aut freno _colla_ sequacis equi.
With horses obstinately addicted to the left leg, which is frequently a result of being longed only to the left, it is a good plan to canter them side-footed to the right, that is, on a level line, on the side of a hill which rises to the right. In this case a very slight slope will incline the horse to take his right leg, and on the side of a steep hill he can scarcely avoid it.
[Sidenote: The shy horse.]
There are three gradations in riding the shy horse. A man who pulls his horse's head towards what he expects him to shy at, and uses violence, _makes_ his horse shy. A man who leaves his horse's head entirely loose, _lets_ his horse shy. And a man who turns his horse's head from what he expects him to shy at, _prevents_ his horse from shying. Do not imagine that there will be any danger of the horse getting into trouble on the side opposite to what he s.h.i.+es at: the very contrary will be the case.
If, indeed, you pull his head towards the object of his alarm, and oblige him to face it, there is every probability that he will run blindly backward from it. And while his whole attention is fixed before him, he will go backward over Dover cliff if it chance to be behind him.
Under such circ.u.mstances you cannot too rapidly turn your horse's head and his attention from the fancied, to the substantial ill. But on common occasions the turning his head from what he s.h.i.+es at should be as gradual and imperceptible as possible. No chastis.e.m.e.nt should be allowed in any case. If he makes a start, you should endeavour not to make a _return_ start. You should not, indeed, take more notice of a shy than you can possibly avoid; and unless the horse has been previously brutalised, and to re-a.s.sure him, you should not even caress him, lest even that should make him suspect that something awful is about to happen. The common error is the reverse of all this. The common error is to pull the horse's head towards the object of his fear, and when he is facing it, to begin with whip and spur. Expecting to be crammed under the carriage-wheel, the horse probably rears or runs back into a ditch, or at least becomes more nervous and more riotous at every carriage that he meets. Horses are instantaneously made shy by this treatment, and as instantaneously cured by the converse of it. It is thus that all bad riders make all high-couraged horses shy, but none ever remain so in the hands of a good horseman.
[Sidenote: The restive horse.]
There is a common error, both in theory and practice, with regard to the restive horse. He is very apt to rear sideways against the nearest wall or paling. It is the common error to suppose that he does so with the view of rubbing his rider off. Do not give him credit for intellect sufficient to generate such a scheme. It is that when there, the common error is to pull his head _from_ the wall. This brings the rider's knee in contact with the wall, consequently all farther chastis.e.m.e.nt ceases; for were the rider to make his horse plunge, his knee would be crushed against the wall. The horse, finding this, probably thinks that it is the very thing desired, and remains there; at least he will always fly to a wall for shelter. Instead of _from_ the wall, pull his head towards it, so as to place his eye, instead of your knee, against it; continue to use the spur, and the horse will never go near a wall again.
[Sidenote: Truth may be paradoxical.]
To pull a horse _from_ what he s.h.i.+es at, and _towards_ the wall he rubs you against, are very paradoxical doctrines. But, ? ???? d????, the fable shows, that truth _may_ be paradoxical--that we _can_ blow hot and blow cold with the same breath; and it was only the brutal wild man of the woods who drove the civilised man from his den, for performing the feat.