Page:Equitation.djvu/404

 same spot. The movement, therefore, cannot be executed if the horse is already in motion.

A jump of this sort is especially disconcerting to an inexperienced rider, since, like any movement which does not carry the animal forward, it tends to a considerable derangement of the seat. Oftentimes, the bound arises from nothing more than exuberance of life or lack of exercise; and in this case, plenty of hard work will correct the fault. Often, on the other hand, the horse bounds in order to free himself from the rider's weight. In this case, the bounding becomes a defense.

The rider should, then, study the position taken by the horse's head and neck shortly before and during the bound. He will observe that the mouth has closed and is rigid, and that the neck is stretched forward and stiff. The bound itself involves a contraction of the muscles which lie along the spine, and a projection upward of the body by the action of the hocks and knees.

As soon, therefore, as the rider feels by his seat that the horse's spine is becoming rigid, he should separate the two snaffle reins, and then, by raising one hand after the other alternately, quite high, he should lift the horse's head, and with it the neck. The head and neck, being up, cannot be contracted preliminary to the bound. The rider should then turn the horse sharply, let us say to the right, by the tension of the right rein and the effect of his right leg; and immediately afterwards, to the left