WHAT TRAINING WILL DO FOR A HORSE—THE FORMS OF COLLECTION

A great deal of the neglect in training horses properly is due to the fact that most people—by very far the greater number—are deterred by the imaginary difficulties presented by the rules and by the practice involved, and in consequence there is not one horse in a thousand that is even agreeable to ride.

The fact is, there is no more difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of the rules of training than of the first three numbers of the multiplication table; and the practice of them is far more pleasant and a great deal easier than the daily labor of buttoning one's boots.

Owing to the changes in the centre of gravity, due to the rider's weight and position, the normal, well-formed horse must be given an artificial carriage to enable it to bear the man in easy, light, and cadenced paces. Whether the rider is aware of the fact or not, this correction always takes place, usually through tentative and chance-directed efforts, before the animal becomes safe and pleasant to ride. Horses that are ill-formed or awkward may be so greatly improved in bearing and action, that their defects are nullified to such an extent that many apparently hopeless cases may be made very satisfactory riding animals. All horses are benefited in carriage, in disposition, and in form by a course of schooling.

What can be done to correct physical defects in a horse by a short term of schooling would appear incredible to one not initiated in the art. Weak parts may be strengthened, strong muscles may be developed from those that are deficient, poor action may be improved, and the general appearance and motions of any animal changed for the better by simple exercises, which at the same time establish absolute discipline.

These changes are procured from suppling the horse. By suppling is meant overcoming the resistances of the horse, whether they be active or passive, intentional or physical, so that all opposition and rigidity are removed, and the animal becomes obedient and pliant in every part.

If the reader will think of the forehand (controlled by the reins), and the hind quarters (controlled by his heels), as two parts to be brought to act together, so balanced that neither extremity is embarrassed, and the point of union and balance, the centre of gravity, is directly under the rider, he will see how the horse may be made to move lightly and easily.

Suppose the horse be low in the forehand and goes too much on the shoulders when in action,—a miserable condition of affairs. The defects suggest the remedies. The hind legs will be carried under the body to depress the croup, the forehand will be raised and its forces carried to the rear, until the weight and forces are brought to the desired point of union and balance.

Or, let us take the case of a horse high and strong in the forehand, but low and weak in the hind quarters. Here the hind legs should be brought up to that point where, without lowering the croup, they have the greatest impulsive power, and the forces of the forehand should be carried back only far enough to balance these inferior forces of the rear. Of course, in this case particular attention should be paid to strengthening the loins and hind quarters by the exercises hereafter to be explained.

Therefore, if the horse "goes upon its shoulders" and hangs upon the hand, the forces of the croup are too strong for the forehand, and the latter part should be elevated while the hind legs should be carried under the body of the horse to lessen their effect sufficiently to produce balance in the extremities. But if there be feeble and constrained action in the hind legs, the forehand is too high and strong, and the centre of gravity too far to the rear, and this state must be remedied.

The power to effect the conditions described will be obtained by subduing all resistances; the jaw of the horse, and all those parts in front of the rider, will be made pliant and obedient to the reins; the hind quarters will be dominated by the rider's heels.

In the preceding chapter the condition of collection known as "in hand," the lowest form in which smooth, even, safe, and regular paces may be made, was described for the walk and the trot. Unless some closer form of collection is employed for one or another reason, the ordinary gallop of three beats or "hand gallop" should always be performed "in hand"; that is, there should be such a collection of the forces that the pace is even, steady, and cadenced, no undue weight upon the shoulders, the crest curved, the face of the horse about perpendicular to the ground, the jaw supple, and as a matter of course the horse always under complete control. The trainer should ever bear in mind that whenever there is any disorder or misconduct the earlier lesson should be reverted to, until the horse is absolutely obedient under all conditions. When the horse has been habituated to maintain the state of collection known as "in hand," in the walk, trot, and gallop, it should be taught the closer forms of union.

From time to time the rider should, while in a slow but nimble trot, bring the horse to closer forms of collection, the heels maintaining the impulses, the hand with vibratory plays upon the reins, keeping the forehand light and lithe. As the forces are more nearly brought to a point of union and balance under the rider, the speed will decrease, and when these forces of the extremities are absolutely united and balanced for a moment, the half-halt will be produced, when the horse is prepared for a movement in any direction. But this half-halt may be held for only a moment, while the muscles are in play, and at least one leg is flexed, or the horse will become heavy, the feet will come to the ground, and a complete halt will ensue, when the tension upon the reins should be eased and the heels be withdrawn from the sides of the horse. When the forces of the extremities of the trotting-horse are as closely united as is compatible with a forward movement, any increased impulses will be turned into height of action under the body, and the animal will seem to grow under the rider, as with curved crest, in which the quivering muscles prove the pliancy of the mass, the horse goes from one pair of diagonally disposed legs to the other in a slow, measured, brilliant trot—the most beautiful effect possible to obtain.

These closer forms of collection may be produced in a very slow gallop in exactly the same manner as in the slow trot; and the gallop in this case becomes one of four beats as each leg follows the other in regular intervals. The half-halt may, and should in practice, be made from the slow gallop by a very close collection, the union and balance of the forces, and the gallop be renewed in some form immediately, before the horse becomes heavy and the full halt ensues. The half-halt in the gallop has a variety of important uses, such as a preliminary step for making the gallop change, for making the gallop wheels, etc.

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