This page has been validated.

and weak, but with a well-proportioned neck and good bars. The first horse, having ample strength to carry its load, is a good deal at its ease. At the beginning of its training, it will pull. But the hand of the rider being fixed, the horse will very soon find that pulling brings no relief to the sensation on the bars. Thereupon, its jaw will more or less relax; and since the rider's fingers now also relax, the horse finds it profitable not to bear against the bit. Meanwhile, the rider does not allow the horse to take any initiative, but pushes it forward at will, by the effects of his legs. Since the horse is well conformed and carries the weight without too much effort, it complies with the rider's wishes without objection.

Turn now to the other horse. Because of its weakness in legs and spine, this animal cannot carry its load without constraint and a general contraction of all its muscles, so that its balance becomes disturbed. It stiffens the muscles of its neck. The contraction spreads from the neck to the lower jaw. The bars are set. The horse pulls against the hand, and is called hard-mouthed. The longer the training continues, the harder-mouthed does it become, up to the time when the gymnastic exercises have developed its strength sufficiently for it to carry its rider and execute its commands with ease and comfort. Then it becomes like the first horse.

I hold — my experience compels me to hold — that the well-bred, well-conformed horse, strong