CHAPTER XX
PLACING THE HORSE AND THE VARIANTS FROM THE "IN HAND"
AFTER the discussions of the preceding chapters, there still remain certain matters, which either have not been touched upon at all or else require still further elucidation at this point.
PLACING THE HORSE
TO "place the horse " is to put him into whatever position he needs to take in order to understand or to execute the particular movement which is next to be asked of him. This is really one of the difficult parts of the art of equitation; but the esquire who understands placing has always the assurance that the following movement will be correctly performed, since it is by the proper position that the rider appeals to the animal's intelligence and at the same time paralyzes any sign of insubordination. The principle seems paradoxical to the rider who merely experiments, but for the experienced master, the position thus taken by the four legs of the animal is the only one which supports the weight equally on all its members. It is, therefore, the sine qua non of equilibrium, without which the movement is impossible.
Nothing, therefore, is more invariably true than
