Page:Equitation.djvu/207

 and behind the hand." Raabe asked the horse to be "before the rider's legs and in the hand." The scientific equitation calls for a horse "before the legs and upon the hand."

WHEN the horse is "upon the hand," there is a state of contact of the lower jaw upon the bit which makes possible the communication of sensation in both directions by way of the reins, between the horse's bars and the rider's hand.

Orator and musician must be in communication with their hearers by means of voice or instrument. It is not otherwise with the horse. From the bit, the sensations pass along the nerves to the brain, the will is formed, and the appropriate message is returned along the nerves to the muscles. These, contracting upon the joints, produce the movement. But as soon as this contact ceases, there is an end to the series of sensation, transmission, volition, and act. The horse passes under the control of its own instinctive forces, and is no longer subject to the will of the rider.

It is like the blind man led by his dog. So long as the cord between them remains tight, so long will the man follow it. But if the dog stops, the cord slackens; and the man also stops, uncertain and hesitating, because communication is broken. The case is exactly the same when for the blind man we substitute the horse, and for the dog the rider. The