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Having obtained these conditions, I am certain to presently succeed in placing my horse in a proper position for the canter, and to immediately get the canter which I wish the horse to do, and not the one he desires to perform.
If the horse obeys the legs, I shall be able to prevent him from going sideways, which is an extremely bad habit, and which is better to prevent than to punish. It is much more difficult to straighten a horse which is accustomed to throw his hind quarters to the right or left, than to teach him to canter straight from the beginning.[1]
At the canter, the rider ought to keep his body straight. If he leans too much forward, each stride of the canter will throw him on to the animal's neck. If he is too far back, the loins will become hollow, and the body will consequently become stiff.
The horse canters either on the near fore or off fore. He is said to lead with the off leg, when the right legs are in
In the school, when a pupil wishes to make his horse strike off into the canter with the outside leg, he generally puts him too much sideways. I take for granted that he is going to the left, and wishes his horse to strike off with the off fore. He will then carry his hands to the left, which will be all right, if he does it only just enough to put the weight on the left shoulder. But if he does not succeed, he will probably carry his hands more and more to the left and he will turn his horse into the position of shoulder-in. The horse at this period of breaking does not know how to do the shoulder-in at a canter ; because his teacher should have begun by making him canter straight on the inward and outward legs before doing that. The pupil thus succeeds only in destroying all impulse, and in making the canter impossible, by causing the horse to get behind his bit. He should, therefore, carry the hands to the left only just enough to put the weight on the left shoulder, but not sufficient to place the animal sideways. If the horse puts himself in an oblique position, he should not insist on making him canter, but should straighten him, and should begin starting him off again, while holding him straight.
Starting well is not everything. We should keep the horse straight.
When the horse canters with the outward leg leading, the rider, at starting, and also to keep up the pace, has always a great tendency to place the horse sideways by bringing the shoulders in, and by placing the horse on two tracks. If we persist in this fault, all progress will be impossible ; because the horse can never canter correctly on two tracks, if he has not learned at first to canter straight on the outward leg. ↩︎