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breaking, it would be evidently wrong to let him turn to the right, if we wanted him to go to the left ; but at present we should consider only his acts of resistance. It is certainly a great point gained to be able to prove to him that he cannot get us out of the saddle. If he succeeds in doing this, we may be certain he will continue to try on the same form of defence.
The danger of at first requiring the horse to turn to whichever side we wish, consists in the fact that by doing this we run the risk of prompting the animal to add a second act of resistance to the first one. In fact, when we wish to turn the horse to the left, for instance, we are obliged to take a strong pull on the left rein, and may thus make him pointe (half rear) or rear[1] by throwing too much weight on his hind quarters.
The pointe or lançade is a forward spring in which the forehand is kept higher than the croup. Like all other forward movements, it is not dangerous, because its displacing effect is not great.[2] The movements of the loins and croup are, however, very disconcerting to the rider. When the horse rears, he stands up on his hind legs, which he keeps fixed on the ground. This is a very dangerous form of resistance and may cause the animal to fall backwards.
In my youth, when my horse reared, I used to put both arms
We may succeed in preventing the rear or the "pointe" by the vigorous use of the spurs. But to do so, we should seize with precision the fleeting moment when the horse holds himself back and is about to throw his weight on his hind quarters. If the spurs are driven in at this moment, they will send him forward in a disordered manner, no doubt ; but that does not matter, because they will have prevented him from fixing his hind legs on the ground. If the rider allows this critical moment to pass, the use of the spurs will be dangerous, because it will still further prompt the animal to rear. ↩︎
In the half-rear the rider ought to bring his body forward, keep his legs close to the animal's sides, hold his hands low, and leave the reins slack (Fig. 65). In this illustration, the off reins are lightly felt because I was trying to make the horse canter to the right on three legs. We can see that the near snaffle rein is quite loose. ↩︎