Page:Equitation.djvu/143

 BY "legs" one means always the leg below the knee. The thighs remain always in permanent contact with the saddle, and always entirely independent of any movement or pressure of the calves. The common expressions of riding-teachers, "Close your legs," "Use your legs," "Fermez les jambes," refer, then, only to the free portion of the limb. They do not mean, as many beginners mistakenly suppose, that the horse's body is to be enveloped by the whole leg from hip to ankle! The legs, including the feet, are the second mobile part of the rider's body and the most important means of controlling the horse. They and their effects are the essential promoters of every action of the horse, physical and moral. They must, therefore, act to just the right amount, neither too much nor too little; at just the right instant, neither before nor after, in accord with the fingering of the reins and the cadence of the stride; not interfering with the step, but reestablishing the tempo if lost; coordinated with the sensibility, nervousness, energy, or the lack of these, of the animal. The action of the legs demands, therefore, the highest "tact" on the part of the rider. Many