Page:Equitation.djvu/136

 Jerking the bit is, then, a proof of lack of both kindness and competence on the rider's part. For after several repetitions, the horse, remembering the pain, expects still another jerk whenever the rider does anything with the reins; and in order to protect itself, it raises the head very high. In this position, the jerk cannot be operated. If the rider tries it, the horse will get away at high speed and become unmanageable.

The horse's mouth is extremely sensitive, and needs, more than any other part, the study of the rider and the practice of the principle of strength of effects rather than effects of strength. Strength of effects means intelligence. Effects of strength mean jerk and saccade. Brutality belongs to the nature of an animal; but intelligence is the great gift of man. It is not by making the horse afraid of the bit that we make it understand the meaning of its effects. Only by the agreeable contact of the bit upon the bars, and by the sensitive repetition of this contact, does the horse come to understand, without fear, the fingering, the equestrian tact of its rider.

The first action of any animal, man included, on feeling pain in the mouth, is to shut it. But when a horse shuts its mouth forcibly on the bit, no mere two hundred pounds of human rider can pull it open by any effect of strength alone. But strength of effects, the taking and giving of the rider's hand, will release the tension and open the mouth, not