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"Riding and Driving" by Edward L. Anderson is a comprehensive and thoughtful guide on horsemanship and training. The book begins by extolling the virtues of the thoroughbred horse, lauding its beauty, stamina, courage, and speed. It emphasizes the breed's ability to pass on its valuable qualities to future generations, making it an excellent choice for crossbreeding with other horse types. The historical significance of the Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, and Godolphin Barb as ancestors of English racehorses is highlighted, while the role of Eastern horse breeds, such as the Arabian and Bedouin Arabian, in influencing European breeds is explored.

Throughout the book, the author emphasizes the value of patience and positive reinforcement in the training process, advising against the use of force or punishment. The aim is to develop a cooperative and respectful relationship between the rider and the horse. The significance of teaching the horse to "face the bit," that is, to go forward against light tension on the reins, is underscored as a crucial element in achieving control and communication between the rider and the horse.

In summary, "Riding and Driving" is a thorough and compassionate guide on horse training, encouraging trainers to treat horses with kindness and respect, leading to a fruitful and harmonious partnership between horse and rider. The book advocates for understanding the unique characteristics of each horse, employing gentle handling methods, and gradually progressing through training exercises to achieve a well-trained and obedient riding or driving companion.
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CHAPTER one
BREEDING THE SADDLE-HORSE

The thoroughbred is universally recognized as the finest type of the horse, excelling all other races in beauty, in stamina, in courage, and in speed; and, further, it is capable in the highest degree of transmitting to its posterity these valuable qualities. Indeed, the greatest virtue possessed by this noble animal lies in its power of producing, upon inferior breeds, horses admirably adapted to many useful purposes for which the blooded animal itself is not fitted.
In England and upon the continent the thoroughbred is held in high esteem for the saddle; but, as General Basil Duke justly remarks, it has not that agility so desirable in a riding-horse, and because of its low action and extended stride it is often wanting in sureness of foot, and in America we prefer to ride the half-breed with better action. Occasionally the thoroughbred is found that fills the requirements of the most exacting rider, and the author has had at least six blood-horses that were excellent under the saddle. One of these, represented by a photograph in a previous work, in a gallop about a lance held in the rider's hand, gave sufficient proof of quickness and suppleness. However, it is admitted on all hands that the horse which most nearly approaches the thoroughbred, and yet possesses the necessary qualities which the superior animal lacks, will be the best for riding purposes.
Although every thoroughbred traces its ancestry in the direct male line to the Byerly Turk, 1690, the Darley Arabian, circa 1700, or the Godolphin Barb, circa 1725, and "it is impossible to find an English race-horse which does not combine the blood of all three," the experience of modern horsemen points to the fact that the blood-horse is as near to the Eastern horse as we should go with the stallion in breeding for the race-course or for ennobling baser strains.
In view of the great influence that these three horses had almost immediately upon English breeds, this present exclusion of the Eastern stallion is striking; but it means simply that the race-horse of our day has more admirable qualities to transmit than the sire of any other blood.


The Bedouin Arabian of the Nejd district, supposed to be the purest strain of the race and the fountainhead of all the Eastern breeds, has become degenerate during the past two hundred years; too often horses of this royal blood are found undersized, calf-kneed, and deficient in many points. Notwithstanding the virtues that such animals may yet be able to transmit, I venture to say that the disdained "Arab" of Turkey, Persia, Egypt, and even that of Europe, as well as the so-called Barb, are better and more useful horses, and it is from these impure races that nearly all of the Eastern blood has come that has found its way into the crosses of European horses during the past hundred years or more. Indeed, if we may believe the statements of the partisans of the Eastern horse, but very little of the best Arab blood has been introduced into Europe.
The Darley Arabian, the ancestor of the best strains in the world, was doubtless of pure desert blood. His color, form, and other characteristics have always satisfied horsemen that his lineage could not be questioned.
In crosses of thoroughbred strains and desert blood the stallion should be of the former race; but in bringing Eastern blood into inferior breeds the blood of the latter should be represented by the mare. All good crosses are apt to produce better riding-horses than those of a direct race.
From the fossil remains found in various parts of the world it is certain that the horse appeared in many places during a certain geological period, and survived where the conditions were favorable.

But whether Western Asia is or is not the home of the horse, he was doubtless domesticated there in very early times, and it was from Syria that the Egyptians received their horses through their Bedouin conquerors. The horses of the Babylonians probably came from Persia, and the original source of all these may have been Central Asia, from which last-named region the animal also passed into Europe, if the horse were not indigenous to some of the countries in which history finds it. We learn that Sargon I. (3800 B.C.) rode in his chariot more than two thousand years before there is an exhibition of the horse in the Egyptian sculptures or proof of its existence in Syria, and his kingdom of Akkad bordered upon Persia, giving a strong presumption that the desert horse came from the last-named region, through Babylonian hands. It seems, after an examination of the representations upon the monuments, that the Eastern horse has changed but little during thousands of years. Taking a copy of one of the sculptures of the palace of Ashur-bani-pal, supposed to have been executed about the middle of the seventh century before our era, and assuming that the bare-headed men were 5 feet 8 inches in height, I found that the horses would stand about 14� hands--very near the normal size of the desert horse of our day. The horses of ancient Greece must have been starvelings from some Northern clime, for the animals on the Parthenon frieze are but a trifle over 12 hands in height, and are the prototypes of the Norwegian Fiord pony--a fixed type of a very valuable small horse.



The horse was found in Britain from the earliest historical times, and new blood was introduced by the Romans, by the Normans, and under many of the successors of William the Conqueror. The Turkish horse and the barb, it is understood, were imported long before the reign of James I., when Markham's Arabian, said to be the first of pure desert blood, was brought into the country; but from that time many horses were introduced from the East, of strains more or less pure. The Eastern horse was the foundation upon which the Englishman reared the thoroughbred, but we must not lose sight of the skill of the builder nor of the material furnished by native stock. The desert strains furnished beauty, courage, and stamina; the native blood gave size, stride, and many other good qualities; the English breeder combined all these and produced what no other nation has approached, the incomparable thoroughbred.
We accept the thoroughbred as we find him. No man can say exactly how he was produced. The great Eclipse (1764) has upward of a dozen mares in his short pedigree (he was fourth in descent from the Darley Arabian) whose breeding is unknown and which were doubtless native mares, for already the descendants of Eastern horses were known and noted. What is true of the breeding of Eclipse is true of many of his contemporaries who played prominent parts in the studs of their day.
For more than one hundred years no desert-bred stallion has had any marked influence upon the race-horse directly through a thoroughbred mare. In the first decade of the last century a barb stallion bred to a barb mare produced Sultana, who brought forth the granddam of Berthune to Sir Archy. Berthune was much sought after as a sire for riding-horses; besides this barb blood he had strains of Diomed and of Saltram in his veins, all of which were desirable for saddle-horses.
Breeds of animals deteriorate rapidly through lack of nourishment and from in-and-in breeding. It is questionable whether a degenerate race may be restored, within measurable time, by the use of any appreciable amount of its own blood; it is certainly bad policy to found a breed upon poor stock. The better plan would be to form the desired type from new strains. One hundred years ago Lewis and Clark found upon the plains of the Northwest "horses of an excellent race, lofty, elegantly formed, and durable," but one could hardly hope to replace such animals from the cayuse ponies, their descendants, without the introduction of superior blood in such quantities as practically to obliterate the inferior.




Some of the range horses of Washington and of Oregon are fairly good animals, and these have more or less of the bronco blood, but all that can be said of the influence of the wild horse is that its descendants can "rustle" for a living where an Eastern horse would starve, and the same thing can be said of the donkey. Admitting that for certain purposes inferior blood must sometimes be introduced for domestic purposes, the better the breeding the better the horse will be. Bon sang bon chien.

The mustang of the southern central plains maintains many of the good qualities of its Spanish ancestors, and is a valuable horse for certain purposes, but we need not consider this animal in breeding for the saddle when we have so many other strains infinitely superior. Polo and cow ponies are not within our intent.
Types and families of horses are produced either by careful "selection and exclusion," or by the chances of environment In the first manner was brought about the thoroughbred, the Percheron, the Orloff, the Trakhene, the Denmark, and every other race or family of real value.
All over the world isolated groups of horses may be found which have become types by an accidental seclusion, and these from various causes are usually undersized and often ill-formed. Such are the mustang and its cousins on the plains, many breeds in Eastern Asia, the Norwegian Fiord pony, the Icelander, the Shetlander, etc., the last-named three being, it is supposed, degenerates of pure desert descent from animals taken north from Constantinople by the returned Varangians in the eleventh century.
In breeding for the saddle, or for any other purpose, the mare should be nearly of the type the breeder desires to obtain, and she should be of strong frame, perfectly sound, of healthy stock, and with a good disposition. If her pedigree be known, the stallion, well-bred or thoroughbred, should be selected from a strain which has been proved to have an affinity with that of the mare. The mingling of certain strains is almost as certain to produce certain results--not, be it understood, everything that may be desired--as does the mixing of chosen colors on the palette. That is to say, size, form, action, and disposition may ordinarily be foretold by the mating between families that are known to nick. The stallion should be no larger than the mare, of a family in which there is no suspicion of transmissible disease, and of good temper, and it certainly should not be lacking in the slightest degree in any point where the mare is not fully developed. The mare might be the stronger animal, the stallion the more highly finished.


Where the mare's pedigree is unknown, and the matter is purely an experiment, or where she is undoubtedly of base breeding, the stallion, while of superior blood, should not vary greatly from her type. Peculiarities in either parent are almost certain to be found in an exaggerated form in the foal.
It would be difficult to imagine a better horse, for any conceivable purpose except racing, than a first-rate heavy-weight hunter; yet he may be called an accident, as there is no such breed, and his full brother may be relegated to the coach or even to the plough. The large head and convex face almost invariably found in the weight carrier, and in the "high-jumper," are derived from the coarse blood which gives them size and power; but these features are indications of that courage and resolution which give them value--characteristics which in animals of wholly cold blood are usually exhibited in obstinacy. Indeed, while the English horse, each in its class, has no superior, Great Britain has no type or family of saddle animals such as our Denmark, unless one except cobs and ponies.
Of course, where two animals of the same or of similar strains, and bearing a close resemblance to each other, are mated, the type will be reproduced with much greater certainty than where various strains are for the first time brought together; but even in good matches a foal may show some undesirable feature derived from a remote ancestor. Some marks or characteristics of a progenitor reappear at almost incredible distances from their sources. That Boston's progeny should be subject to blindness, or that Cruiser's descendants should be vicious, or that the offspring of whistlers should prove defective in their wind, are reasonable expectations; but that the black spots on the haunches of Eclipse should be repeated upon his descendants of our day, as is doubtless the case, exhibits an influence that is marvellous. Stockwell (1849) and many others of Eclipse's descendants had those ancestral marks, but Stockwell had many strains of Eclipse blood through Waxy, Gohanna, and other progenitors. When a chestnut thoroughbred shows white hairs through its coat, that peculiarity is ascribed to Venison (1833) blood, if by chance that stallion's name may be found in its pedigree.

Where undesirable qualities appear in the products of crosses in breeding for a type, they are bred out in breeding up, or the failures are permitted to die out. It is not probable that any one who was desirous of breeding a horse suitable for the saddle would select a very inferior mare, for, even though her pedigree were unknown, the qualities which suggested her selection would prove her something better. It cannot be denied that occasionally a literal half-breed, by a thoroughbred on common stock, turns out a good animal, and such a cross is often the foundation of valuable types; but the chances are too remote to induce one to try the experiment solely for the produce of the first cross. It is rarely the case that a horse may be found in a gentleman's stable that has not either a liberal, direct infusion of thoroughbred strains, or is not itself a representative of some family which owes its distinction to the blood-horse.
I am schooling a pretty little mare, picked up by chance, for the illustrations of the chapters on riding and training. I believe that Daphne is out of a Morgan mare by a Hambletonian stallion, and that her symmetry comes from the dam. It is greatly to be regretted that the so-called Morgans have been so neglected that it is not easy to find horses with enough of the blood to entitle them to bear the family name. The Morgan, although rather a small horse, was an admirable animal, good in build, in constitution, in action, and in temperament, and its blood combined well with that of the old Canadian pacing stock (of which the original Copperbottom was an example), with Messenger strains, and with those of some other trotting families.
At the Trakhene stud in Germany a distinct breed has been obtained by the admixture of thoroughbred and Eastern blood. How long it took and how many crosses were made to establish the type I cannot say, but it is understood that in the first crosses the stallions were of English blood, the mares of desert strains. These Trakhene horses, usually black or chestnut, are very beautiful animals--large, symmetrical, and of proud bearing. They are sometimes used as chargers by the German emperor and his officers, and in this country they are somewhat familiar as liberty horses in the circus ring. It is said that the Trakhene is not clever upon his feet and that he is not safe in easy paces, which is likely enough, for both the blood-horse and the Arab are stumblers in the walk and in the trot.
In the province of Ontario, Canada, and in the states of Maine and New York, very fine horses are bred for various purposes; and from among these are found good hacks and the animals best suited to the hunting-field that America affords. These Northern horses have good constitutions and, it is thought, better feet than those found beyond the Alleghanies, and the best examples fill the demands of the most critical horseman; but in none of the Northern states can it be said that a breed or family exists that produces a type of hack or hunter, while in the Blue Grass region south of the Ohio we find the Denmarks splendidly developed in every point and with a natural grace and elasticity that make them most desirable for the saddle.
For quite a century the riding-horses of Kentucky have been celebrated in song and story. In the days when bridle-paths were the chief means of intercommunication throughout this state, the pioneer made his journeys as easy as possible by selecting and by breeding saddle-horses with smooth gaits, the rack and the running walk. These movements had been known in the far East and in Latin countries from time immemorial, but it remained for the Kentuckian to perfect them.
Some fifty odd years since a stallion called Denmark was introduced into Kentucky, and from him there has descended a type of saddle-horse which is everywhere held in esteem, for the Denmark horse of to-day has no superior for beauty of form, for docility, for graceful movements and, indeed, for every good quality which should be found in a riding animal. Denmark had been successful on the race-course; he was by imported Hedgeford, and if it be true that there was a stain upon the lineage of his dam, there had been a very successful cross, for the great majority of the saddle-horses of Kentucky boast Denmark as an ancestor. More than nine-tenths of this family trace to the founder's son, Gaines's Denmark, whose dam was by Cockspur, and, probably, out of a pacing mare.

The American Saddle-horse Breeders' Association has undertaken to improve the riding-horses of this country by the formation of a register and by the selection of foundation stallions whose progeny under certain conditions shall be eligible for registry. Their primary object is to encourage the breeding of the gaited saddle-horse, that is, the animal which, from inherited instincts or natural adaptability, may readily be taught to rack, to pace, to go in the running walk and in the fox-trot; but at the same time General Castleman, Colonel Nall, and the other gentlemen engaged with them, are exercising great influence for good upon the horse of the three simpler gaits.
The pedigrees of the foundation sires of this register show many strains of the blood of Saltram and of Diomed, a fair share of that of the Canadian pacer, and enough, doubtless, of that of the Morgan. A fabric woven of such threads must prove of national importance; for, although the registry is open to all horses which can show five saddle-gaits, it should be remembered that such an exhibition is almost a certain proof of the desired breeding and is a certain proof of quality. We may, then, hope for a typical American saddle-horse,-a race that shall have no superior, representatives of which shall be found wherever the horse flourishes.
I am no advocate for any paces other than the walk, the trot, and the gallop, these being the only movements in which the rider can obtain immediate and precise control over the actions of the horse. The riding-horse must be managed by reins and heels; no motions or signs are so exacting, so unmistakable in their demands, and it is impossible readily to obtain movements from a horse that is confused by eight or even five gaits, particularly when some of these gaits require an extension of the animal's forces incompatible with the union required in quick turns and in immediate obedience. It must, however, be acknowledged that the rack, the running walk, and the fox-trot have had a beneficial influence upon the Kentucky saddle-horse. In the first place, these paces required selection in the breeding, and, secondly, the discipline implied by the training, through many generations, has had its effect upon the tempers and dispositions of these splendid animals.
A brood mare should always be well nourished, but not over fed, and, from the time it is able to eat, the foal should have its share of oats as well as of succulent, nutritious grasses, and of sound hay when grazing is impracticable. Our cavalry officers, and horsemen in general, bear testimony to the endurance of animals bred in Kentucky. This vigor is due to the rich blue-grass pastures and to the liberal feeding of the mare and her offspring.
It would appear, upon first viewing the subject, that a horse bred upon rough pasture-land would be more sure of foot than one bred on smooth plains; but that is not always the case. It is true that the animal bred on uneven ground learns to look after itself, and becomes very clever on its feet when obstacles exist, but mountain-bred horses are often stumblers on level roads, in the walk and in the trot. The fact is, that sureness of foot depends upon the manner in which the horse extends and plants its feet, moderate action being the safest, either extremes of high or low action, of short or long strides, militating against the animal's agility. The reason that horses stumble ten times in the walk to once in the trot is because in the first-named pace the pointed toe is usually carried along close to the ground before the fore foot is planted. When the rider unites the horse, this defective action is obviated. During the past twenty years I have taken thousands of photographs of the moving horse in studying the question of action, and I am satisfied that the horse which plants its fore foot with the front of the hoof vertical will stumble; that the horse which straightens its joints and brings the heel to the ground first will travel insecurely and slip on greasy surfaces. I had an example of the last-named in my stable, and the animal several times "turned turtle," as I might have anticipated. Fair action, with fairly bent joints which bring the feet about flat to the ground, the hind legs well under the mass, is the safest form in which the horse moves.

CHAPTER II
HANDLING THE YOUNG HORSE

Before the horse can be taught obedience to the bit and spur it must go through a preliminary course of handling, by which the man obtains mastery over the animal. This work is usually called "breaking-in," and it is a matter of regret that it is almost always conducted in an unnecessarily harsh and rough manner, with the result that many horses are made vicious, or are in other ways spoiled, through the ignorance and cruelty of those who have charge of their early education.

A lively colt is shy, suspicious, and curious, easily amused, and as easily bored; by recognizing these characteristics and conducting his work with reference to them, the trainer will find success easy and agreeable. After the man has gained the confidence of the animal, he will find that the young horse takes great interest in lessons that are varied and not too long continued, and there need be no resistances aroused on the part of the pupil. Except in the very rare cases of animals that are naturally vicious, and such are insane, the training of a horse may be carried on without friction. The faults and vices in a horse usually arise from the efforts of the nervous animal to avoid injudicious restraints before it has been taught by easy steps to yield instinctively to the demands of its trainer. Later misconduct is almost always due to want of firmness and decisive action on the part of the rider. The horse is incapable of that real affection for man such as the dog evinces toward the worst of masters; it is of low intelligence, the boldest of them being subject to panics, but there are few which lack a low craft that enables them to take advantage of every slip or mistake the man may make. A sufficient amount of work and careful treatment will keep a sane horse steady, but when at all fresh most horses are untrustworthy if the man's control be lost. I do not find it necessary to punish my horses; the whip, spur, and reins are employed to convey demands; a harsh word answers every requirement for correction, and the animal cannot resent it as it may the blows of the whip or the stroke of the spur. The photographs of a number of these animals in my various works in almost every possible movement prove how exact is the obedience they render under this course of treatment. When some old favorite refuses to walk into a coal-pit, or voluntarily turns up some well-known road, the fond owner is too apt to confuse instinct or habit with brilliant mental operations, and place too much faith in its good inclinations; but the fact is that in handling this animal we must neglect its will and obtain control over its movement by cultivating the instinctive muscular actions which follow the application of the hand and heel. I have a great admiration for the horse, for its beauty, for its usefulness, for its many excellent qualities, but I do not permit this sentiment to blind me to its shortcomings. Some horses are so good that they inspire an affection which they cannot reciprocate. Since I began this book I lost Silvana, a well-bred English mare which I had owned for eighteen years. She was a very beautiful animal, of high spirit, exact in all the movements of the man�ge, and of so kind a disposition that she was never guilty of mutinous or disorderly conduct.
Regardless of the treatment it has received previously, the young horse should be "broken to ride," when strong enough to bear the weight of a rider, by some method similar to that which follows.


But first I wish to say a word about casting the horse, by what is usually called "The Rarey System." Many people believe that to throw the horse is a sure cure for every vice and spirit of resistance. The fact is that a horse is confused, surprised, and humiliated at finding itself helpless, and casting does give the man temporary control which is often a most important matter, and may be the beginning of the establishment of discipline; but mastering the horse permanently cannot be accomplished in a moment, and unless it be necessary to employ the straps in the handling of a violent animal I should advise against it. Vices, faults, and tricks may be remedied only by careful training. I teach many of my horses to lie down, but, as I shall explain later, I do not employ any straps or apparatus.

The first step in breaking-in is to give some lessons on the cavesson. This is a head-collar with a metal nose-band, upon the front and each side of which are stout rings. To the front ring a leather longe line fifteen feet long will be fastened, and from the side rings straps will be buckled to the girth or surcingle at such lengths as will prevent the horse extending its nose so that the face is much beyond the perpendicular. The horse thus fitted should be led to some retired spot where there is level ground enough for a circle of about forty feet. At first the man, walking at the shoulder of the horse, should lead it on the circumference of the circle, to the right and to the left, taking a short hold of the longe line and being careful that the animal does not get so far ahead of him as to have a straight pull forward which may drag him from his feet. From time to time the man will bring the horse to a halt, and require it to stand quite still, making much of it by caresses and kind words, picking up the feet and stroking it gently with the whiphandle all over its body and legs, so that it will not be alarmed at his future motions, and then continuing the progress on the circle. Gradually the length of the hold on the longe line will be increased, until the horse goes about the man at the full length of the strap. In these exercises, also, the horse should frequently be brought to a stop, always on the circumference of the circle, and it should be worked equally to either hand. The lessons should be given twice every day, at first for about fifteen minutes each, and increasing the time until a lesson shall be of three-quarters of an hour's duration. Colored rugs, wheelbarrows, open umbrellas, paper, and other similar objects at which a horse might shy should be placed near the path until the horse is so accustomed to them that it will take no notice. Under no circumstances should the horse be punished, and the man should exercise great care that he does nothing to make the animal fear him. When the horse will go quietly about the man in the walk and in the very slow trot (it should never be permitted to go rapidly), the surcingle may be replaced by the saddle, lightly girthed and the stirrups looped up, the side-lines of the cavesson being removed. Then, at the end of each lesson on the cavesson, that instrument should be replaced by a light snaffle-bridle. The man, facing the head of the horse, should take a snaffle-rein in each hand and make gentle vibrations toward its chest, so that he will give the bit a light feeling on the bars of the mouth. Occasionally he will elevate the head of the horse by extending his arms upward to their full length, then gently bring the head of the horse to a natural height, or to that height which he judges will be the best in which the trained horse should carry it, drawing the reins toward the animal's chest until its face is perpendicular, and no farther, and playing with the bit in light vibrations until the horse takes up the play and gives a supple jaw. He will also bend the head of the horse to the right and to the left, the face vertical, and bring it back to the proper position by the reins, not accepting any voluntary movement from the horse, and endeavoring to obtain always an elastic resistance from its mouth. The head of the horse will also be depressed by the snaffle-reins, until it nearly touches the ground, and then be lifted to the natural height. All of these movements are of high importance, and all of them tend to develop the muscles of the neck and chest; but the elevation of the head and its return to the right height, face vertical, jaw supple, but not flaccid, produces the best results in bitting and should be more frequently practised than the others. If, in these lessons, the horse draws back, it must be made to come to the man; no good results can be obtained from a retreating animal.

Upon some occasion, after the longeing and bitting lesson has been given, when there is no high wind to irritate the horse and the animal seems to be composed, the man should have "a leg up" and quietly drop into the saddle, having first taken a lock of mane in his left hand and with the right, in which the reins should be, grasping the pommel, thumb under the throat of the pommel. He should then let the horse walk off for a few steps, having a very slight tension upon the reins, and quietly dismount. If, as is very unlikely, for the horse will be taken by surprise, though not frightened, the animal makes a jump or a plunge, the rider must maintain his seat, keep up the head of the horse, and dismount when the animal has become quiet. The horse will not rear at this stage; that is an accomplishment it learns from bad hands, and it is probable that it will be perfectly quiet. Each day the riding lesson will be lengthened, and the rider will gradually obtain some control over its movements by the reins and accustom it to bear the pressure of his legs against its sides. The longeing will now be employed to give such exercise as is needed to keep the animal from being too fresh; and when the riding lessons give sufficient work, the longe may be dispensed with, to be resumed if the horse falls into bad habits. But the bitting exercises, previously described, should be occasionally reverted to as long as the horse is used under the saddle.


But one more thing is necessary before the horse is ready for the higher training which will be described later, and this desideratum is to confirm the horse in the habit of facing the bit, that is, to go forward against a light tension upon the reins; for without this the rider will have little or no government over its movements, as the bit must have some resistance, slight though it should be, upon which to enforce his demands. Whenever a rider finds that his hand has nothing to work against, that the horse has loosened its hold on the bit and refuses to face it, he may be almost certain that he has an old offender to manage and that mischief is meant, and will follow unless he can force the horse up into the bridle.
The horse may best be taught to face the bit in a slow but brisk trot. The animal must not be started off too abruptly, but the forward movement should begin in a walk; and this is a rule that should always be followed, even though it be for a few steps, unless some good reason for doing otherwise exists. The impulse for the trot and its continuance may be induced by a pressure of the rider's legs against the sides of the horse, or by light taps of the whip delivered just back of the girths.


In a measured, regular trot the horse should be ridden in straight lines, and in circles, first of large, and afterward of decreased, diameters, the pace being maintained by demanding impulses from the hind quarters, the hand taking a light but steady tension upon the reins. No effort will be made to induce the horse to pull against the hand, but the man should endeavor to get just that resistance by which he may direct the animal. It does not really matter if the jaw of the horse does get a little rigid; that can be softened by the bitting exercises and by future lessons, but the horse must go into the bridle. In turning to either hand the inside rein will direct the movement, the outer rein measuring and controlling the effect of the other; the outside leg of the rider will make an increased pressure as the turn is being made to keep the croup of the horse on the path taken by the forehand. On approaching the turn the horse will be slightly collected between hand and heel, and as soon as the horse enters upon the new direction it will be put straight and the aids will act as before. To bring it to a halt, the legs of the rider will close against the sides of the horse; he will then lean back slightly and raise his hand until the horse comes to a walk, and in the same manner he will bring it to a stop. The hand will then release the tension upon the reins and the legs be withdrawn from the sides of the horse. To go forward, the rider will first close his legs against the sides of the horse and meet the impulses so procured by such a tension upon the reins as will induce the horse to go forward in a walk. So, to demand the trot, the increased impulses will first be demanded from the croup, to be met and measured by the hand. It is an invariable rule, at this stage and in every stage, that in going forward, backward, or to either side, the rider's legs will act before the hand to procure the desired impulses.