Page:Equitation.djvu/372

 however, very seldom defend itself against the first sensation of an unknown pain, but only if the pain be prolonged or repeated. Furthermore, a horse does not enter immediately into the state of revolt.

At the beginning, it simply hesitates to act and move as it has been doing. Then it tries to stop. Finally, it does stop, and thereupon enters into complete rebellion. The moment when the horse first tries to stop is, of course, the point at which the rider should quell the approaching revolt. The rider, therefore, so to say, takes hold of the horse's legs and forces these to carry the body forward, at any gait, in order that the animal may not feel that its limbs have any possibility of stopping. Whatever the horse may think, the rider's only argument is: "Yes; forward and straight."

Consequent to this first sign of revolt, the refusal to go forward, there is a contraction of the muscles of the spinal column and of the white and yellow cords, the animal is in revolt against the rider and his main controls are lost, and the defenses become possible. These defenses are of four sorts, rearing, kicking, backing, and bolting. All other defenses depend on the possibility of these four primordial ones.

refuses when, because of its moral state, it uses its great physical strength to disobey the