Part 7

A HORSE, though he is strong in his Shoulders, in his Legs and Loins, yet if he is low before, will have much Difficulty to collect himself upon his Haunches, so as to make a good Stop; on the contrary, if his Shoulders and Neck are high and raised, he will have the greater Part of the Qualities requisite to it.

A HORSE who is long in the Back generally stops very aukwardly, and without keeping his Head steady; a Horse that is short and truss'd, with a thick Neck, generally stops upon his Shoulders. The first finds too much Difficulty to collect his Strength so suddenly, in order to put himself upon his Haunches, and the other is not able to call it out, and distribute it with Vigour through his Limbs.--In effect, when a Horse gallops, the Strength of his Loins, of his Haunches and Hocks, is all employed in pushing the whole Machine forwards, and that of his Shoulders and Fore-legs, to support the Action: Now the Force of his hinder Parts being thus violently agitated, and approaching too near that which lies in the fore Parts, a short-body'd Horse can't find all at once, that Counterpoise, that just Equilibre which characterizes a beautiful Stop.

A HORSE which can't stop readily, misemploys very often his Strength in running; examine him, and you will find that he abandons himself entirely upon his Shoulders; consider likewise the Proportions of his Neck and his Thropple, the Condition of his Feet, the Make of his Loins and Hocks; in short, apply yourself to the Discovery of his Temper, Character and Humour.--That Horse whose Neck is hollow, or Ewe-neck'd, instead of ballancing himself upon his Haunches, will arm himself against his Chest, and will thereby make his Stops harsh and disagreeable: Weak Feet, or Hocks that give him Pain, will make him hate the Stop.--He will either endeavour to avoid it, or will make it with Fear, so that he will be totally abandon'd upon the Apuy. If he carries his Nose high, and is hollow-back'd at the same time, it will be impossible for him to unite and put himself together, so as to be ready, and to present his Front, if I may be allow'd the Word, to the Stop; because the Strength of the Nape of the Neck depends upon the Chine; and his Powers being thus disunited and broken, he will make his Stop upon his Shoulders.

THERE is another Sort of Horses, who in hopes of avoiding the Constraint of stopping upon their Haunches, plant themselves upon their two Hind-legs; yield the Hand to them, in the Instant, and press them forward, you will insensibly correct them of their Defence, which happens only in Cases, where you stop them upon declining or uneven Ground.

THERE are many People, who imagining they can unite their Horses by the means of making a great Number of precipitate Stops, take little heed whether the Creature which they undertake is too weak, or has Strength sufficient for his Task.--The Horse, who, though strong, has suffer'd in his Chine, in making the first Stop, will meditate a Defence in his second or third; this will be to prevent the Rider in his Design: And being alarm'd at the slightest Motion of the Hand he will stop all at once, leaning with all his Force upon his Shoulders, and lifting up his Croupe; which is a capital Fault, and not easy to be remedied.

THUS it may happen, that a Horse may make his Stops very defectively, either from some natural or accidental Faults in the different Parts of his Body; or it may be owing to the Unskilfulness and Ignorance of the Rider, or the Effect of Faults and bad Lessons all together. Principles that are true and just will assist and reform Nature, but a bad School gives birth to Vice and Defences that are often not to be conquer'd. It behoves us then to follow with Exactness those Lessons which are capable of bringing a Horse to form a perfect Stop; that is to say, to such a Point as to be able to make his Stop short, firm, and in one time; and in which he collects and throws his Strength equally upon his Haunches and Hocks, widening and anchoring, if I may so say, his two Hind-feet exactly even on the Ground, in such a Manner that one does not stand before the other, but both are in a Line.

IT would be a Proof of great Ignorance to undertake to reduce a Horse to the Justness of the Stop, before he had been work'd and push'd out in the Trot and Gallop to both Hands, or before he was so ready as never to refuse to launch out immediately into a full Gallop; for if he should happen to be restiff, should disobey the Spurs, or refuse to turn to either Hand, the Means that then must be used to fix his Head, would contribute towards confirming him in one or other of these Vices.

IF your Horse has not readily obey'd in making his Stops, make him go backwards, it is a proper Punishment for the Fault. If in stopping he tosses up his Nose, or forces the Hand, in this Case keep your Bridle-hand low and firm, and your Reins quite equal; give him no Liberty, press upon his Neck with your Right-hand, till he has brought down his Nose, and then immediately give him all his Bridle; this is the surest Method to bring him into the Hand.

TO compel a Horse to stop upon his Haunches, nothing is so efficacious as Ground that is a little sloping; this is of service to exercise such Horses upon as are naturally too loose in their Paces, who are heavy and apt to abandon themselves upon the Hand, by this means they become light before; you must nevertheless examine if his Feet, his Loins, his Shoulders and Legs are sufficiently able to bear it, for otherwise your Horse would soon be spoil'd: The whole therefore depends in this Case, as in all others, upon the Sagacity and Experience of the Horseman.

WHEN a Horseman puts his Horse to the Stop, in such a Place as I have mentioned, he should put the Stress of his Aids rather in his Thighs and Knees, than in his Stirrups; one of the most trying Lessons a Horse can be put to, is to stop him, and make him go backwards up Hill; therefore upon these Occasions you must ease the fore Part of the Horse as much as you can, and throw your whole Weight upon the hinder. We have already said, that there are some Horses, which from Weakness in their Make, can never be brought to form a just and beautiful Stop. There are others likewise, who are apt to stop too suddenly and short upon their Shoulders, tho' otherwise naturally too much raised before, and too light. These employ all their Power in order to stop all at once, in hopes either of putting an end to the Pain they feel, from the Rudeness of the Stop; or else perhaps that some Defect of Sight makes them apprehend they are near something that they fear, for almost all Horses, blind of one Eye, or of both, stop with the greatest Readiness: take care never to make this sort of Horses go backward; on the contrary, stop them slowly and by degrees, in order to embolden them, remembring never to force, or keep them in too great a degree of Subjection.

I HAVE thus shown, that a Stop that is made with Ease, Steadiness, and according to the Rules, will contribute a great deal towards putting a Horse upon his Haunches, and giving him that firm, equal, and light Apuy, which we always desire to gain; because a just Stop makes a Horse bend and sink his hinder Parts; I have made it likewise appear, that a sudden and ill-executed Stop raises the fore Parts too much, stiffens the Hocks, and rather takes a Horse off his Haunches, than sets him upon them. Let us now proceed to the Lesson of teaching a Horse to go backward.

CHAP. VI.

Of teaching a Horse to go backward.

THE Action of a Horse, when he goes backward, is to have always one of his hinder Legs under his Belly, to push his Croupe backward, to bend his Haunches, and to rest and ballance himself, one time on one Leg, one on the other; this Lesson is very efficacious to lighten a Horse, to settle him in the Hand, to make him ready to advance and go forward, and to prepare him to put himself together, and sit down upon his Haunches.

IT should not however be practised, till the Horse has been well laid out and worked in the Trot, and his Limbs are become supple; because, till he is arrived to this Point, you should not begin to unite or put him together: Care must be taken, that this Action of going backward be just, and that in performing it, the Horse keeps his Head steady, fixt, and in a right Place; that his Body be trussed or gathered up, as it were, under him; that his Feet be even; that he be not upon his Shoulders, but on the contrary, on his Haunches; for if he should be false as to any of these Particulars, this Lesson, very far from putting him together, would have the contrary Effect, and dis-unite him.

IN order that a Horse may be able to execute what is required of him, he must first comprehend what it is that is asked of him, and for this Purpose the Horseman should make his Lessons short, and demand but little at a Time; begin then to make him go backward, when he is arrived far enough to understand what you expect him to do; but at first be contented with a little, it is sufficient if he understands what you want.

THERE are Horses, who can go backward, not only with great Ease, but do it even with the Exactness of Horses that are perfectly drest; if you examine these Horses, you will find that all the Parts of their Body are exactly proportioned; they have Strength, and Nature herself has taught them to unite themselves; but there are others, who can't go backwards without great Difficulty; these are weak in the Back, or otherwise imperfect in their Make; don't demand too much of these, work them with caution, for Rigour with such Horses, is never successful.

THERE are another sort of Horses, who never can be reconciled to Subjection; whenever you try to make them go backward, they fix their fore Feet fast upon the Ground, and arm themselves; in this Case you must endeavour to win them, as it were insensibly, and by degrees. For this Purpose, raise your hand a little, remove it from your Body, at the same time shake your Reins, and you will find that by degrees you will accustom your Horse to obey; but remember at the same time, that you would have a less share of Reason, than the Animal you undertake to dress, were you to expect to reduce him to Obedience all at once; your Horse answering to the Reins which you shake, will move perhaps only one of his fore Feet, leaving the other advanced; this Posture without doubt is defective, because he is dis-united; but as Perfection can't be gained at once, Patience and gentle Usage are the only certain Methods of bringing your Horse to perform what you want. There are others, who when they go backward, do it with Fury and Impatience; these you should correct, briskly, and support lightly with your Legs, while they go backward. There are another sort, who work their lower Jaw about as if they wanted to catch hold of the Bit, who bear upon the Hand, and endeavour to force it; to such Horses you must keep your Hand extremely low, and your Reins exactly even, distribute equally the Power of each, by rounding your Wrist, and keeping your Nails exactly opposite your Body.

AFTER having made your Horse go backward, let him advance two or three Steps, if he obeys the Hand readily.--This will take off any Dislike or Fear, he may entertain from the Constraint of going backward; if he forces the Hand in going backward, these three Steps forward will contribute to bring him into it again; and lastly, they prevent any Vice, that this Lesson might otherwise produce.

AFTER having advanced three Steps, let him stop, and turn him; you will by these means support him, and take him off from any ill Designs, which the Treatment you are obliged to observe towards him, in order to make him stop and go backward with Precision and Order, might otherwise give rise to.--After having turned him, make him go backward, you will prevent his having too great Desire of going too soon from the Place where he stopp'd, as well as from that to which he turned.

THE Moment the Stop is made, give him his Bridle; by stopping you have augmented the Degree of the Apuy in the Horse's Mouth; you must increase it still more, in order to make him go backwards; hence a hard Hand and bad Mouth.

THIS Reasoning is plain, and these Principles are true; notwithstanding which, there are few Horsemen who attend to it, either because they never think and reflect, or else that the Force of bad Habits overcomes them.

THIS Lesson, if well weigh'd and given properly, is a necessary and certain Method of teaching Horses to make a good Stop, of rendering them light and obedient when they pull or are beyond the Degree of what is call'd full in the Hand.--But if given improperly, or if too often repeated, it then grows to be a Habit, and a Habit is no Correction. Never practise it long with Horses who are hot, and who have hard Mouths, their Impatience and Heat, join'd to Habit and Custom, would prevent them from knowing the Cause, and feeling the Effects. It is the same with those who have short Fore-hands; for as they are generally thick-shoulder'd and heavy, the Difficulty they feel to collect themselves upon their Haunches, naturally disposes them to press the Branches of the Bit against their Chest, by which means this Lesson becomes quite ineffectual.

CHAP. VII.

Of the uniting or putting a Horse together.

THE End which the Horseman proposes to attain by his Art, is to give to the Horses, which he undertakes, the Union, without which, no Horse can be said to be perfectly drest; every one allows that the whole of the Art depends upon this, yet few People reason or act from Principles and Theory, but trust entirely to Practice; hence it follows, that they must work upon Foundations false and uncertain, and so thick is the Darkness in which they wander, that it is difficult to find any one who is able to define this Term of uniting or putting a Horse together, which is yet so constantly in the Mouth of every Body; I will undertake, however, to give a clear and distinct Idea of it; and for that Purpose shall treat it with Order and Method.

THE uniting then or putting together, is the Action by which a Horse draws together and assembles the Parts of his Body, and his Strength, in distributing it equally upon his four Legs, and in re-uniting or drawing them together, as we do ourselves, when we are going to jump, or perform any other Action which demands Strength and Agility. This Posture alone is sufficient to settle and place the Head of the Animal, to lighten and render his Shoulders and Legs active, which from the Structure of his Body, support and govern the greater Part of his Weight; being then by these means made steady, and his Head well placed, you will perceive in every Motion that he makes, a surprizing Correspondence of the Parts with the whole. I say, that from the natural Structure of a Horse's Body, his Legs and Shoulders support the greatest Part of his Weight, in reality his Croupe or Haunches carry nothing but his Tail, while his fore Legs, being perpendicular, are loaded with the Head, Neck, and Shoulders; so that, let the Animal be ever so well made, ever so well proportioned, his fore Part, either when he is in Motion, or in a State of Rest, is always employed, and consequently in want of the Assistance of Art to ease it; and in this consists the Union or putting together, which by putting the Horse upon his Haunches, counterballances and relieves his fore Part.

THE Union not only helps and relieves the Part of the Horse that is the weakest, but it is so necessary to every Horse, that no Horse that is dis-united can go freely, he can neither Leap nor Gallop with Agility and Lightness, nor run without being in manifest Danger of falling and pitching himself headlong, because his Motions have no Harmony, no Agreement one with another. It is allowed, that Nature has given to every Horse a certain Equilibre, by which he supports and regulates himself in all his Motions; we knew that his Body is supported by his four Legs, and that his four Legs have a Motion, which his Body must of necessity follow; but yet this natural Equilibre is not sufficient. All Men can walk, they are supported on two Legs, notwithstanding this we make a great Difference between that Person to whom proper Exercises have taught the free Use of his Limbs, and him whose Carriage is unimproved by Art, and consequently heavy and aukward.