USUAL OR INSTINCTIVE EQUITATION
and is still the most practiced. In the infancy of the art of horsemanship, men taught themselves by instinct and habit, not yet having even the most elementary principles. Soon, however, from custom and from the practice of experienced riders, there arose certain theories and methods, which were taught to beginners.
Even in the earliest times riders had the idea of balance; but they applied it only to the seat of the man on the horse, and did not at all consider the balance of the horse under the weight of the man. This was assumed to be taken care of by the animal's own instincts.
When, later, this instinctive horsemanship had still further progressed, and there had been invented saddle, bridle, stirrups, and spurs, the experience of
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