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CHAP. IX.
Of Aids and Corrections

An Aid may be termed whatever assists or directs a Horse, and whatever enables him to execute what we put him to do. – Corrections are whatever Methods we use to awe and punish him, whenever he disobeys: Aids therefore are to prevent, and Corrections to punish, whatever Fault he may commit.

The Aids are various, and are to be given in different Manners, upon different Occasions, they are only meant to accompany the Ease and Smoothness of the Horse in his Air, and to form and maintain the Justness of it; for this Reason they ought to be delicate, fine, smooth, and steady, and proportioned to the Sensibility or Feeling of the Horse; for if they are harsh and rude, very far from Aiding, they would throw the Horse into Disorder, or else occasion his Manage to be false, his Time broken, constrained, and disagreeable.

Corrections are of two Sorts; you may punish your Horse with the Spurs, the Switch, or Chambriere; you may punish him by keeping him in a greater Degree of Subjection; but in all these Cases, a real Horseman will endeavour rather to work upon the Understanding of the Creature, than upon the different Parts of his Body. A Horse has Imagination, Memory and Judgment; work upon these three Faculties, and you will be most likely to succeed. In reality, the Corrections which reduce a Horse to the greatest Obedience, and which dishearten him the least, are such as are not severe, but such as consist in opposing his Will and Humour, by restraining and putting him to do directly the contrary. – If your Horse don't advance or go off readily, or if he is sluggish, make him go sideways, sometimes to one hand, sometimes to the other, and drive him forward; and so alternatively. – If he goes forward too fast, being extremely quick of feeling, moderate your Aids, and make him go backwards some Steps; if he presses forward with Hurry and Violence, make him go backward a great deal. – If he is disorderly and turbulent, walk him strait forward, with his Head in and Croupe out; these sorts of Corrections have great Influence upon most Horses. It is true, that there are some of so bad and rebellious Dispositions, which availing themselves of their Memory to falsify their Lessons, require sharp Correction, and upon whom gentle Punishment would have no Effect; but in using Severity to such Horses, great Prudence and Management are necessary. The Character of a Horseman is to work with Design, and to execute with Method and Order; he should have more Forbearance, more Experience, and more Sagacity than most People are possessed of.

The Spurs, when used by a knowing and able Horseman, are of great Service; but when used improperly, nothing so soon makes a Horse abject and jadish. Given properly, they awe and correct the Animal; given unduly, they make him restive and vicious, and are even capable of Discouraging a drest Horse, and giving him a Disgust to the Manage; don't be too hasty therefore to correct your Horse with them.

Be patient; if your Horse deserves Punishment, punish him smartly, but seldom; for besides your habituating him to Blows, till he ceases to mind them, you will astonish and confound him, and be more likely to make him rebel, than to bring him to the Point you aim at. To give your Horse both Spurs properly, you must change the Posture of your Legs, and bending your Knee, strike him with them at once as quick and firmly as you can. A Stroke of the Spurs wrongly given is no Punishment; it rather hardens the Horse against them, teaches him to shake and frisk about his Tail, and often to return the Blow with a Kick. Take care never to open your Thighs and Legs in order to give both Spurs, for besides that the Blow would not be at all stronger for being given in this Manner, you would by this means lose the Time in which you ought to give it, and the Horse would rather be alarmed at the Motion you make in order to give the Blow, than punished by it when he felt in; and thence your Action becoming irregular, could never produce a good Effect.

The Chambriere is used as a Correction, it ought however to be used with Discretion; we will suppose it to be in able Hands, and forbear to say more about it. As for the Switch, it is so seldom made use of to punish a Horse, that I shall not speak of it, till I come to treat of the Aids.

By what has been said of Corrections, it is apparent, that the Horseman works not only upon the Horse's Understanding, but even upon his Sense of Feeling.

A Horse has three Senses upon which we may work, Hearing, Feeling and Seeing. The Touch is that Sense, by which we are enabled to make him very quick and delicate, and when he is once brought to understand the Aids which operate upon this Sense, he will be able to answer to all that you can put him to.

Though the Senses of Hearing and Sight are good in themselves, they are yet apt to give a Horse a Habit of Working by Rote and of himself, which is bad and dangerous. The Aids which are employed upon the Touch or Feeling, are those of the Legs, of the Hand, and of the Switch. Those which influence the Sight, proceed from the Switch; those which affect the Sight and Hearing both, are derived from the Switch and the Horseman's Tongue.

The Switch ought neither to be long nor short, from three to four Feet or thereabouts is a sufficient Length; you can give your Aids more gracefully with a short than a long one. In a Manage, it is generally held on the contrary Hand to which the Horse is going; or else it is held up high at every Change of Hand: By holding the Switch, the Horseman learns to carry his Sword in his Hand with Ease and Grace, and to manage his Horse without being encumber'd by it. To aid with the Switch, you must hold it in your Hand, in such a manner that the Point of it be turned towards the Horse's Croupe, this is the most convenient and easy Manner; that of aiding with it, not over the Shoulder, but over the Bending of your Arm, by removing your left Arm from your Body, and keeping it a little bent, so as to make the End of the Switch fall upon the Middle of the Horse's Back, is very difficult to execute.

Shaking the Switch backward and forward to animate the Horse with the Sound, is a graceful Aid; but till a Horse is accustom'd to it, it is apt to drive him forward too much.

In case your Horse is too light and nimble with his Croupe, you must aid before only with the Switch; if he bends or sinks his Croupe, or tosses it about without kicking out, you must aid just at the Setting on of the Tail. – If you would have him make Croupades, give him the Switch a little above the Hocks.

To aid with your Tongue, you must turn it upward against the Palate of the Mouth, shut your Teeth, and then remove it from your Palate; the Noise it makes is admirable to encourage a Horse, to quicken and put him together; but you must not use it continually, for so, instead of animating your Horse, it would serve only to lull him. – There are People who when they work their Horses, whistle and make use of their Voices; these Aids are ridiculous, we should leave these Habits to Grooms and Coachmen, and know that Crys and Threats are useless. – The Sense of hearing can serve at the most only to confound and surprize a Horse, and you will never give him Exactness and Sensibility by surprizing him. – The same may be said of the Sight; whatever strikes this Sense, operates likewise upon the Memory, and this Method seldom produces a good Effect; for you ought to know how important it is to vary the Order of your Lessons, and the Places where you give them; since it is certain, that a Horse who is always work'd in the same Place, works by rote, and attends no longer to the Aids of the Hand and Heels. – It is the same with hot and angry Horses, whose Memory is so exact, and who are so ready to be disorder'd and put out of Humour, that if the least thing comes in their Way during their Lesson, they no longer think of what they were about: The way of dealing with these Horses, is to work them with Lunettes on their Eyes; but it must be remembered, that this Method would be dangerous with Horses which are very impatient, hot, and averse to all Subjection, and so sensible to the Aids, as to grow desperate to such a degree, as to break through all Restraint, and run away headlong; it is therefore unsafe with these Horses, because they could not be more blinded even with the Lunettes, than they are when possessed with this Madness, which so blinds them, that they no longer fear the most apparent Dangers.

Having said thus much of the Aids which operate upon the Touch, Hearing and Sight, we must now confine ourselves to discourse upon those, which regard the Touch only; for as it has been already said, these only are the Aids by which a Horse can be drest, because it is only by the Hand and Heel that he can be adjusted.

The Horseman's Legs, by being kept near the Horse's Sides, serve not only to embellish his Seat, but without keeping them in this Posture, he never will be able to give his Aids justly. – To explain this: If the Motion of my Leg is made at a distance from the Horse, it is rather a Correction than an Aid, and alarms and disorders the Horse; on the contrary, if my Leg is near the Part that is most sensible, the Horse may be aided, advertised of his Fault, and even punished, in much less time, and consequently by this means kept in a much greater Degree of Obedience. – The Legs furnish us with four Sorts of Aids, the Inside of the Knees, the Calfs, pinching delicately with the Spurs, and pressing strongly upon the Stirrups. The essential Article in dressing a Horse, is to make known the Gradation of these several Aids, which I will explain. The Aid of the Inside of the Knees is given, by closing and squeezing your Knees, in such a manner, that you feel them press and grasp your Horse extremely. You aid with the Calfs of your Legs, by bending your Knees, so as to bring your Calfs so close as to touch the Horse with them.

The Aid of Pinching with the Spurs, is performed in the same manner, by bending your Knees, and touching with the Spurs the Hair of the Horse, without piercing the Skin. The last Aid, which is only proper for very sensible and delicate Horses, consists in stretching down your Legs, and pressing firm upon the Stirrups.

The strongest Aid is that of pinching with the Spur; the next in degree, is applying the Calf of the Leg; pressing with the Knees is the third, and leaning upon the Stirrup is the last and least; but if these Aids are given injudiciously, they will have no Effect. They must accompany and keep Pace with the Hand; for it is the just Correspondence between the Heel and Hand, in which the Truth and Delicacy of the Art consists; and without this Agreement there can be no riding.

It is the Foundation of all Justness; it constitutes and directs the Cadence, Measure and Harmony of all the Airs; it is the Soul of Delicacy, Brilliancy and Truth in riding; and as a Person who plays upon a musical Instrument adapts and suits his two Hands equally to the Instrument, so the Man who works a Horse ought to make his Hands and Legs accord exactly together. I say his Hands and Legs should accord and answer one to the other with the strictest Exactness, because the nicest and most subtle Effects of the Bridle proceed entirely from this Agreement; and however fine and nice a Touch a Horseman may be endued with, if the Times of aiding with the Legs are broken and imperfect, he never can have a good Hand; because it is evident that a good Hand is not the Offspring only of a firm and good Seat, but owing likewise to the Proportion and Harmony of all the Aids together. I understand by the Harmony and Agreement of the Aids, the Art of knowing how to seize the Moment in which they are to be given, and of giving them equally and in a due Degree, as well as of measuring and comparing the Action of the Hand and Legs together; by which both these Parts being made to act together, and in time, will create and call out, as it were, those Cadences and Equalities of Time, of which the finest Airs are compos'd; Measures and Cadences which it is not possible to describe, but which every Horseman ought to comprehend, attend to, and feel. If I want to make my Horse go forward, I yield my Hand to him, and at the same time close my Legs; the Hand ceasing to confine, and the Legs driving on his hinder Parts, the Horse obeys. I have a mind to stop him, I hold him in, and approach my Legs to his Sides gently, in order to proportion my Aids to what I ask him to do; for I would not have it felt more than just to make him stop upon his Haunches.

I want to turn him to the Left, I carry my Hand to the Left, and support him at the same time; that is to say, I approach my Left-leg, my Hand then guides the Horse to the Left, and my Leg, which operates at the same time, helps him to turn; because by driving his Croupe to the Right, his Shoulder is enabled to turn with more Ease. I want to go to the Right, I carry my Hand to the Right, and I support him with my Right-hand, my Leg determining his Croupe to the Left, facilitates the Action of the Shoulder which my Hand had turned to the Right.

I would make a Change to the Right, my Left-rein directs the Horse, and my Left-leg at the same time confines his Croupe, so that it can't escape, but must follow the Shoulders. – I would change Hands again to the Left, my Right-rein then guides the Horse, and my Right-leg does just the same as my Left-leg did in going to the Right. – I undertake to work the Shoulder and Croupe at the same time; for this Purpose I carry my Hand out. – The inner Rein acts, and the outward Leg of the Horse is press'd, either by this Rein, or by my outward Leg, so that the outward Rein operates upon the Shoulder, and the inner Rein with my outward Leg directs the Croupe. – I put my Horse to Curvets. – I aid him with my outward Rein, and if he is not enough upon his Haunches, my Legs, accompanied with the inner Rein, aid me to put him more upon them; if he turns his Croupe out, I aid and support him with my outward Leg; if he flings it in too much, I confine him with my inner Leg.

I put him to make Curvets sideways, my outward Rein brings his outward Shoulder in, because the outward Shoulder being brought in, his Croupe is left at liberty; but if I have occasion I use my inner Rein, and if his Croupe is not sufficiently confin'd, I support it with my outward Leg. – Again, I put him to make Curvets backwards, I use then my outward Rein, and keep my Hand near my Body. At each Cadence that the Horse makes, I make him feel a Time; one, and every time he comes to the Ground, I receive and catch him as it were in my Hand; but these Times ought not to be distant above an Inch or two at the most; I then ease my Legs to him, which nevertheless I approach insensibly every time he rises. Thus by making my Hands and Legs act together, I learn not only to work a Horse with Justness and Precision, but even to dress him to all the Airs; which I shall speak of distinctly and more at large.

As to the rest, be it remember'd, that it is not alone sufficient to know how to unite your Aids, and to proportion them, as well as the Corrections, to the Motions and the Faults in the Horse's Air, which you would remedy; but whenever you are to make use of them, you must consider likewise if they are suitable and adapted to the Nature of the Horse; for otherwise they will not only prove ineffectual, but be the Occasion even of many Disorders.

CHAP. X.
Of the Passage

The Passage is the Key which opens to us all the Justness of the Art of riding, and is the only Means of adjusting and regulating Horses in all sorts of Airs; because in this Action you may work them slowly, and teach them all the Knowledge of the Leg and Hand, as it were insensibly, and without running any risque of disgusting them, so as to make them rebel. – There are many sorts of the Passage: In that which is derived from the Trot, the Action of the Horse's Legs is the same as in the Trot; the Passage is only distinguish'd from the Trot, which is the Foundation of it, by the extreme Union of the Horse, and by his keeping his Legs longer in the Air, and lifting them both equally high, and being neither so quick nor violent as in the Action of the Trot.

In the Passage which is founded on the Walk, the Action of the Horse is the same as in the Trot, and of consequence the same as in the Walk; with this Difference, that the Horse lifts his Fore-feet a good deal higher than his Hind-feet, that he marks a certain Time or Interval sufficiently long between the Motion of each Leg; his Action being much more together and short, and more distinct and slow than the ordinary Walk, and not so extended as in the Trot, in such a manner that he is, as it were, kept together and supported under himself.

Lastly, there is another sort of Passage to which the Trot likewise gives birth, and in which the Action is so quick, so diligent, and so supported, that the Horse seems not to advance, but to work upon the same Spot of Ground. The Spaniards call the Horses who make this sort of Passage Pissadores. This sort of Horses have not their Action so high and strong as the other, it being too quick and sudden; but almost all Horses which are inclin'd to this sort of Passage, are generally endowed with a great Share of Gentleness and Activity.

No Horse should be put to the Passage till he has been well trotted out, is supple, and has acquir'd some Knowledge of the Union. – If he has not been well trotted, and by that means taught to go forward readily, his Action, when put to the Passage, being shorten'd and retain'd, you would run the risque of his becoming restive and ramingue; and was he utterly unacquainted with the Union, the Passage requiring that he should be very much together, he would not be able to bear it; so that finding himself press'd and forced on one hand, and being incapable of obeying on the other, he would resist and defend himself.

There are some People, who observing a Horse to have Strength and Agility, and naturally disposed to unite himself, endeavour to get from him some Times of the Passage. – They succeed in their Attempt, and immediately conclude that they can passage their Horse whenever they will, and so press him to it, before he has been sufficiently suppled and taught to go forward readily, and without retaining himself. – Hence arise all the Disorders into which Horses plunge themselves, which, if they had been properly managed at first, would have been innocent of all Vice. – Farther, you ought to study well the Nature of every Horse; you will discover of what Temper he is from the first Moment you see him passage, and to what he is most inclin'd by Nature.

If he has any Seeds of the Ramingue in him, his Action will be short and together; but it will be retain'd and loitering, the Horse craving the Aids, and only advancing in proportion as the Rider gives them, and drives him forward. – If he is light and active, quick of Feeling, and willing, his Action will be free and diligent, and you will perceive that he takes a Pleasure to work of himself, without expecting the Aids. – If he be of a hot and fiery Nature, his Actions will be quick and sudden, and will shew that he is angry and impatient of the Subjection. If he wants Inclination and Will, he will be unquiet, he will cross his Legs, and his Actions will be perplex'd. If he is fiery, and heavy at the same time, his Action will be all upon the Hand. If besides this, he has but little Strength, he will abandon himself entirely upon the Apuy. Lastly, if he is cold and sluggish in his Nature, his Motion will be unactive and dead; and even when he is enliven'd by good Lessons, you will always be able to discover his Temper by seeing the Aids, which the Rider is oblig'd to give him from time to time, to hinder him from slackening or stopping the Cadence of his Passage.

Having acquir'd a thorough Knowledge of your Horse's Character, you should regulate all your Lessons and Proceedings conformable to it. – If it hurts a Horse who partakes of the Ramingue to be kept too much together, unite him by little and little, and insensibly as it were, and quite contrary to putting him to a short and united Passage all at once. Extend and push him forward, passing one while from the Walk to that of the Trot, and so alternatively.

If your Horse is hot and impatient, he will cross his Steps, and not go equal; keep such a Horse in a less degree of Subjection, ease his Rein, pacify him, and retain or hold him in no more than is sufficient to make him more quiet. – If with this he is heavy, put him to a Walk somewhat shorter and slower than the Passage, and endeavour to put him upon his Haunches insensibly, and by degrees. By these means you will be enabled by Art to bring him to an Action, by so much the more essential, as by this alone a Horse is taught to know the Hands and Heels, as I have already observed, without ever being perplex'd or disordered.