We should exercise great care in teaching the horse to change his leg.

It is very difficult to lay down in a book the exact time when a horse is ready to learn changes of leg. I can only say, in a general way, that the proper time is when he has become free, supple, light, and well balanced in all his paces, obedient, and above all things, attentive to the " aids," by means of the exercises we have described.

We have now arrived at the point when the horse will start freely into the canter with the off fore leading when going to the right, and with the near fore when going to the left, and that he will do so with equal freedom on both legs.

To obtain a change of leg, I proceed in the following manner :^[1] I start the horse into the canter on the off fore while going to the right. When he has gone some strides on this leg, I stop him and make him start off on the near fore while circling to the right, and taking care to hold him as straight as possible. I repeat this work several times, and continue it until I feel that the horse is perfectly light in hand, and that he will start off into the canter at the slightest pressure of the legs, without hurrying himself and without trying to carry his haunches out of the straight line.

To make sure that the horse does not carry himself sideways, we should start him at about a yard away from the wall, although it is difficult to do so.^[2] The result of this is to make the rider keep the horse very straight, without the help of the wall, and, at the same time, to make him more precise in his work.

We should not try to get the horse to change his leg away from the wall, before making him do so, while going along it. The horse should also very readily start into the canter on the