A New System of Horsemanship

CHAP. IV.

Of the Trot

When a Horse trots, his Legs are in this Position, two in the Air and two upon the Ground, at the same time cross-wise; that is to say, the Near-foot before, and the Off-foot behind are off the Ground, and the other two upon it; and so alternately of the other two. This Action of his Legs is the same as when he walks, except that in the Trot his Motions are more quick. All Writers, both ancient and modern, have constantly asserted the Trot to be the Foundation of every Lesson you can teach a Horse; there are none likewise who have not thought proper to give general Rules upon this Subject, but none have been exact enough to descend into a Detail of particular Rules, and to distinguish such Cases as are different, and admit of Exceptions, tho' such often are found from the different Make and Tempers of Horses, as they happen to be more or less suited to what they are destin'd; so that by following their general Maxims, many Horses have been spoil'd, and made heavy and aukward, instead of becoming supple and active; and as much Mischief has been occasion'd by adopting their Principles, although just, as if they had been suggested by Ignorance itself.

Three Qualities are essentially necessary to make the Trot useful, it ought to be extended, supple, and even or equal; these three Qualities are related to, and mutually depend upon each other: In effect, you can't pass to the supple Trot, without having first work'd your Horse upon the extended Trot; and you can never arrive at the even and equal Trot, without having practised the Supple.

I mean by the extended Trot, that in which the Horse trots out without retaining himself, being quite strait, and going directly forwards; this consequently is the kind of Trot, with which you must begin; for before any thing else ought to be meditated, the Horse should be taught to embrace and cover his Ground readily, and without fear.

The Trot however may be extended without being supple, for the Horse may go directly forward, and yet not have that Ease and Suppleness of Limbs, which distinguishes and characterizes the Supple.

I define the supple Trot to be that in which the Horse at every Motion that he makes bends and plays all his Joints; that is to say, those of his Shoulders, his Knees and Feet, which no Colts or raw Horses can execute, who have not had their Limbs suppled by Exercise, and who always trot with a surprizing Stiffness and Aukwardness, and without the least Spring or Play in their Joints. The even or equal Trot, is that wherein the Horse makes all his Limbs and Joints move so equally and exactly, that his Legs never cover more Ground one than the other, nor at one Time more than another: To do this, the Horse must of necessity unite and collect all his Strength, and if I may be allowed the Expression, distribute it equally through all his Joints.

To go from the extended Trot, to the supple, you must gently, and by degrees, hold in your Horse; and when by Exercise he has attain'd sufficient Ease and Suppleness to manage his Limbs readily, you must insensibly hold him in, still more and more, and by degrees you will lead him to the equal Trot.

The Trot is the first Exercise to which a Horse is put; this is a necessary Lesson, but if given unskilfully it loses its End, and even does harm.

Horses of a hot and fretful Temper have generally too great a Disposition to the extended Trot; never abandon these Horses to their Will, hold them in, pacify them, moderate their Motion by retaining them judiciously, and their Limbs will grow supple; they will acquire at the same time that Union and Equality, which is so essentially necessary.

If you have a Horse that is heavy, consider if this Heaviness or Stiffness of his Shoulders or Legs is owing to a Want of Strength, or of Suppleness; whether it proceeds from his having been exercised unskilfully, too much, or too little. If he is heavy, because the Motions of his Legs and Shoulders are naturally cold and sluggish, tho' at the same time his Limbs are good, and his Strength is only confin'd and shut up, if I may so say, a moderate but continual Exercise of the Trot will open and supple his Joints, and render the Action of his Shoulders and Legs more free and bold; hold him in the Hand, and support him in the Trot, but take care so to do it, as not to check or slacken his Pace: Aid him and drive him forward, while you support him; remember at the same time, that if he is loaded with a great Head, the Continuation of the Trot, will make his Apuy hard and dull, because he will by this means abandon himself still more, and weigh upon the Hand. All Horses that are inclined to be remingue, should be kept to the extended Trot; every Horse who has a Tendency to be remingue is naturally disposed to collect all his Strength, and to unite himself; your only way with such Horses is to force them forward: In the Instant that he obeys, and goes freely on, retain him a little; yield your Hand immediately after, and you will find soon that the Horse of himself will bend his Joints, and go united and equally.

A Horse of a sluggish and cold Disposition, which has nevertheless Strength and Bottom, should likewise be put to the extended Trot; as he grows animated, and begins to go free, keep him together by little and little, in order to lead him insensibly to the supple Trot; but if while you keep him together, you perceive that he slackens his Action, and retains himself, give him the Aids briskly, and push him forward, keeping him nevertheless gently in Hand; by this means he will be taught to go freely and equally at the same time.

If a Horse of a cold and sluggish Temper is weak in his Legs and Loins, you must manage him cautiously in working him in the Trot, or otherwise you will enervate and spoil him. Besides, in order to make the most of a Horse, who is not over strong, endeavour to give him Wind, by working him slowly, and at Intervals, and by increasing the Vigour of his Exercise by degrees; for you must remember that you ought always to dismiss your Horse, before he is spent and overcome with Fatigue. Never push your Lesson too far in hopes of suppling your Horse's Limbs by means of the Trot; instead of this you will falsify and harden his Apuy, which is a Case which happens but too frequently.

Farther, it is of Importance to remark, that you ought at no time, neither in the extended, supple or equal Trot, to confine your Horse in the Hand in Expectation of raising him, and fixing his Head in a proper Place; if his Apuy be full in the Hand, and the Action of his Trot should be check'd and restrain'd by the Power of his Bridle, his Bars would very soon grow callous, and his Mouth be harden'd and dead; if, on the contrary, he has a fine and sensible Mouth, this very Restraint would offend and make him uneasy. You must endeavour then, as has already been said, to give him by degrees, and insensibly, a true and just Apuy, to place his Head, and form his Mouth, by Stops and Half-stops; by sometimes moderating and restraining him with a gentle and light Hand, and yielding it to him immediately again; and by sometimes letting him trot without feeling the Bridle at all.

There is a Difference between Horses who are heavy in the Hand, and such as endeavour to force it. The first Sort lean and throw all their Weight upon the Hand, either as they happen to be weak, or too heavy and clumsy in their Fore-parts, or from having their Mouths too fleshy and gross, and consequently dull and insensible. The second pull against the Hand, because their Bars are lean, hard, and generally round; and the first may be brought to go equal, and upon their Haunches, by means of the Trot and slow Gallop; and the other may be made light and active by Art, and by settling them well in their Trot, which will also give them Strength and Vigour. Horses of the first sort are generally sluggish, the other kind are for the most part impatient and disobedient, and upon that very account more dangerous and incorrigible.

The only Proof, or rather the most certain Sign of your Horse's trotting well, is, that when he is in his Trot, and you begin to press him a little, he offers to Gallop.

After having trotted your Horse sufficiently upon a strait Line, or directly forward, work him upon large Circles; but before you put him to this, walk him gently round the Circle, that he may comprehend and know the Ground he is to go over. – This being done, work him in the Trot; a Horse that is loaded before, and heavily made, will find more Pains and Difficulty in uniting his Strength, in order to be able to turn, than in going strait forward. – The Action of turning trys the Strength of his Reins, and employs his Memory and Attention, therefore let one Part of your Lessons be to trot them strait forward; finish them in the same Manner, observing that the Intervals between the Stops (which you should make very often) be long, or short, as you judge necessary: I say you should make frequent Stops, for they often serve as a Correction to Horses that abandon themselves, force the Hand, or bear too much upon it in their Trot.

There are some Horses who are supple in their Shoulders, but which nevertheless abandon themselves; this Fault is occasion'd by the Rider's having often held his Bridle-hand too tight and strict in working them upon large Circles: To remedy this, trot them upon one Line or Tread, and very large; stop them often, keeping back your Body and outward Leg, in order to make them bend and play their Haunches.

The principal Effects then of the Trot, are to make a Horse light and active, and to give him a just Apuy. In reality, in this Action he is always supported on one Side by one of his Fore-legs, and on the other by one of his Hind-legs: Now the fore and hind Parts being equally supported cross-wise, the Rider can't fail to supple and loosen his Limbs, and fix his Head; but if the Trot disposes and prepares the Spirits and Motions of a sinewy and active Horse for the justest Lessons, if it calls out and unfolds the Powers and Strength of the Animal, which before were buried and shut up, if I may use the Expression, in the Stiffness of his Joints and Limbs; if this first Exercise to which you put your Horse, is the Foundation of all the different Airs and Manages, it ought to be given in Proportion to the Strength and Vigour of the Horse.

To judge of this you must go farther than mere outward Appearances. A Horse may be but weak in the Loins, and yet execute any Air, and accompany it with Vigour, as long as his Strength is united and intire; but if he becomes disunited, by having been work'd beyond his Ability in the Trot, he will then falter in his Air, and perform it without Vigour and Grace.

There are also some Horses, who are very strong in the Loins, but who are weak in their Limbs; these are apt to retain themselves, they bend and sink in their Trot, and go as if they were afraid of hurting their Shoulders, their Legs or Feet. This Irresolution proceeds only from a natural Sense they have of their Weakness. – This kind of Horses should not be too much exercised in the Trot, nor have sharp Correction; their Shoulders, Legs, or Hocks would be weaken'd and injur'd; so that learning in a little Time to hang back, and abandon themselves on the Apuy, they would never be able to furnish any Air with Vigour and Justness.

Let every Lesson then be weigh'd; the only Method by which Success can be insured, is the Discretion you shall use, in giving them in proportion to the Strength of the Horse, and from your Sagacity in deciding upon what Air or Manage is most proper for him; to which you must be directed by observing which seems most suited to his Inclination and Capacity.

I finish this Chapter by describing the Manner of trotting a Colt, who has never been back'd. Put a plain Snaffle in his Mouth, fit a Caveson to his Nose, to the Ring of which you will tie a Longe of a reasonable Length; let a Groom hold this Longe, who having got at some Distance from the Colt, must stand still in the Middle of the Circle, which the Horse will make; let another follow him with a long Whip or Chambriere in his Hand. – The Colt being alarm'd, will be forced to go forward, and to turn within the Length of the Cord. – The Groom must hold it tight in his Hand, by this means he will draw in or towards the Center the Head of the Colt, and his Croupe will consequently be out of the Circle. – In working a young Horse after this Manner, don't press or hurry him, let him walk first, afterwards put him to the Trot; if you neglect this Method his Legs will be embarras'd, he will lean on one Side, and be more upon one Haunch than the other; the inner Fore-foot will strike against the outward, and the Pain which this will occasion, will drive him to seek some Means of Defence, and make him disobedient.

If he refuses to trot, the Person who holds the Chambriere will animate him, by hitting him, or striking the Ground with it. If he offers to gallop instead of trotting, the Groom must shake or jirk the Cord that is tied to the Caveson, and he will fall into his Trot.

In this Lesson you may decide more readily upon the Nature, the Strength, the Inclination, and Carriage of the Horse, than you can of one that has already been rode, as it is more easy to consider and examine all his Motions; whereas when he is under his Rider, being naturally inclin'd to resist at first, to free himself from Restraint, and to employ all his Strength and Cunning to defend himself against his Rider, it is morally impossible to form a true Judgment of his Disposition and Capacity.

CHAP. V.

Of the Stop

The most certain Method to unite and assemble together the Strength of a Horse, in order to give him a good Mouth, to fix and place his Head, as well as to regulate his Shoulders, to make him light in the Hand, and capable of performing all Sorts of Airs, depends entirely upon the Perfection and Exactness of the Stop.

In order to mark or form the Stop justly, you must quicken him a little, and in the Instant that he begins to go faster than the usual Cadence or Time of his Pace, approach the Calves of your Legs, and immediately afterwards fling back your Shoulders; always holding your Bridle more and more tight, till the Stop is made, aiding the Horse with the Calves of your Legs, in order to make him bend and play his Haunches.

By varying the Times of making your Stops, and the Places where you make them, you will teach your Horse to obey exactly the Hand and Heel; which is the End that every one should propose to attain in every Kind of Exercise of the Manege.

With a raw and young Horse make but very few Stops, and when you make them, do it by degrees, very gently, and not all at once, because nothing so much strains and weakens the Hocks of a stiff and aukward Horse, as a sudden and rude Stop.

It is agreed by every Body, that nothing so much shews the Vigour and Obedience of a Horse as his making a beautiful and firm Stop, at the End of a swift and violent Career. There are however many Horses that have a good deal of Vigour and Agility, who can't stop without feeling Pain, while there are others who are not so strong and active, who stop very easily; the Reason of this is plain.

In the first place, the Facility of stopping depends upon the natural Aptness and Consent of the Horse; in the next place, his Make, and the Proportions which the different Parts of his Body have to each other, must be consider'd: Therefore we must measure the Merit of a Stop by the Strength and Temper of the Horse, by the Steadiness of his Head and Neck, and the Condition of his Mouth and Haunches.

It will be in vain to look for the Justness and Perfection of the Stop in a Horse that is any ways defective, the Bars being too delicate, or too hard, a thick Tongue, the Channel of his Mouth narrow, the Thropple confin'd, Neck short, Fore-hand heavy, or too low, weak Loins, or too stiff, too much Heat, or too much Flegm in his Temper, or Sluggishness; here are a Number of Faults not easily to be corrected.

A Horse, though he is strong in his Shoulders, in his Legs and Loins, yet if he is low before, will have much Difficulty to collect himself upon his Haunches, so as to make a good Stop; on the contrary, if his Shoulders and Neck are high and raised, he will have the greater Part of the Qualities requisite to it.

A Horse who is long in the Back generally stops very aukwardly, and without keeping his Head steady; a Horse that is short and truss'd, with a thick Neck, generally stops upon his Shoulders. The first finds too much Difficulty to collect his Strength so suddenly, in order to put himself upon his Haunches, and the other is not able to call it out, and distribute it with Vigour through his Limbs. – In effect, when a Horse gallops, the Strength of his Loins, of his Haunches and Hocks, is all employed in pushing the whole Machine forwards, and that of his Shoulders and Fore-legs, to support the Action: Now the Force of his hinder Parts being thus violently agitated, and approaching too near that which lies in the fore Parts, a short-body'd Horse can't find all at once, that Counterpoise, that just Equilibre which characterizes a beautiful Stop.

A Horse which can't stop readily, misemploys very often his Strength in running; examine him, and you will find that he abandons himself entirely upon his Shoulders; consider likewise the Proportions of his Neck and his Thropple, the Condition of his Feet, the Make of his Loins and Hocks; in short, apply yourself to the Discovery of his Temper, Character and Humour. – That Horse whose Neck is hollow, or Ewe-neck'd, instead of ballancing himself upon his Haunches, will arm himself against his Chest, and will thereby make his Stops harsh and disagreeable: Weak Feet, or Hocks that give him Pain, will make him hate the Stop. – He will either endeavour to avoid it, or will make it with Fear, so that he will be totally abandon'd upon the Apuy. If he carries his Nose high, and is hollow-back'd at the same time, it will be impossible for him to unite and put himself together, so as to be ready, and to present his Front, if I may be allow'd the Word, to the Stop; because the Strength of the Nape of the Neck depends upon the Chine; and his Powers being thus disunited and broken, he will make his Stop upon his Shoulders.

There is another Sort of Horses, who in hopes of avoiding the Constraint of stopping upon their Haunches, plant themselves upon their two Hind-legs; yield the Hand to them, in the Instant, and press them forward, you will insensibly correct them of their Defence, which happens only in Cases, where you stop them upon declining or uneven Ground.

There are many People, who imagining they can unite their Horses by the means of making a great Number of precipitate Stops, take little heed whether the Creature which they undertake is too weak, or has Strength sufficient for his Task. – The Horse, who, though strong, has suffer'd in his Chine, in making the first Stop, will meditate a Defence in his second or third; this will be to prevent the Rider in his Design: And being alarm'd at the slightest Motion of the Hand he will stop all at once, leaning with all his Force upon his Shoulders, and lifting up his Croupe; which is a capital Fault, and not easy to be remedied.

Thus it may happen, that a Horse may make his Stops very defectively, either from some natural or accidental Faults in the different Parts of his Body; or it may be owing to the Unskilfulness and Ignorance of the Rider, or the Effect of Faults and bad Lessons all together. Principles that are true and just will assist and reform Nature, but a bad School gives birth to Vice and Defences that are often not to be conquer'd. It behoves us then to follow with Exactness those Lessons which are capable of bringing a Horse to form a perfect Stop; that is to say, to such a Point as to be able to make his Stop short, firm, and in one time; and in which he collects and throws his Strength equally upon his Haunches and Hocks, widening and anchoring, if I may so say, his two Hind-feet exactly even on the Ground, in such a Manner that one does not stand before the other, but both are in a Line.

It would be a Proof of great Ignorance to undertake to reduce a Horse to the Justness of the Stop, before he had been work'd and push'd out in the Trot and Gallop to both Hands, or before he was so ready as never to refuse to launch out immediately into a full Gallop; for if he should happen to be restiff, should disobey the Spurs, or refuse to turn to either Hand, the Means that then must be used to fix his Head, would contribute towards confirming him in one or other of these Vices.

If your Horse has not readily obey'd in making his Stops, make him go backwards, it is a proper Punishment for the Fault. If in stopping he tosses up his Nose, or forces the Hand, in this Case keep your Bridle-hand low and firm, and your Reins quite equal; give him no Liberty, press upon his Neck with your Right-hand, till he has brought down his Nose, and then immediately give him all his Bridle; this is the surest Method to bring him into the Hand.

To compel a Horse to stop upon his Haunches, nothing is so efficacious as Ground that is a little sloping; this is of service to exercise such Horses upon as are naturally too loose in their Paces, who are heavy and apt to abandon themselves upon the Hand, by this means they become light before; you must nevertheless examine if his Feet, his Loins, his Shoulders and Legs are sufficiently able to bear it, for otherwise your Horse would soon be spoil'd: The whole therefore depends in this Case, as in all others, upon the Sagacity and Experience of the Horseman.

When a Horseman puts his Horse to the Stop, in such a Place as I have mentioned, he should put the Stress of his Aids rather in his Thighs and Knees, than in his Stirrups; one of the most trying Lessons a Horse can be put to, is to stop him, and make him go backwards up Hill; therefore upon these Occasions you must ease the fore Part of the Horse as much as you can, and throw your whole Weight upon the hinder. We have already said, that there are some Horses, which from Weakness in their Make, can never be brought to form a just and beautiful Stop. There are others likewise, who are apt to stop too suddenly and short upon their Shoulders, tho' otherwise naturally too much raised before, and too light. These employ all their Power in order to stop all at once, in hopes either of putting an end to the Pain they feel, from the Rudeness of the Stop; or else perhaps that some Defect of Sight makes them apprehend they are near something that they fear, for almost all Horses, blind of one Eye, or of both, stop with the greatest Readiness: take care never to make this sort of Horses go backward; on the contrary, stop them slowly and by degrees, in order to embolden them, remembring never to force, or keep them in too great a degree of Subjection.