To Bend the Neck to Right and Left.—You can now, if you please, substitute a stiff crop for the flexible whip you have so far made use of. Having taken your place in the saddle and got your horse light in hand review the previous lesson; then, having your horse still carefully light in hand and light on foot—that is, with hind-feet well under him—draw gently upon the left snaffle-rein. When the horse's head has come around to your knee, keep it in that position an instant, and then put it straight again by drawing upon the right rein, insisting that his face remains perpendicular during the whole operation. Now go through the same process with the right snaffle-rein, and then repeat the whole operation with the curb. These flexions of the neck may now seem to you of doubtful utility, but as the education of the horse advances, your opinion will change. It is as rare for horses as for people to have a noble and graceful carriage; and while you cannot, of course, really change the shape of your mount, yet you can, by care, entirely change his
BENDING THE NECK TO RIGHT AND LEFT.
appearance. His various gaits you can indeed improve, but for his style he depends, nine times out of ten, entirely upon you, and if you are indifferent he will be careless and probably clumsy.
