lish, and which is detailed in the ecole du cavalier in the French
cavalry ordonnance, is wholly vicious. There are no directions at all
given for this in the treatise on military equitation in the regulations
for the English cavalry, nor have I ever met with any in any book,
foreign or English, except in the French ordonnance. To shorten the
right rein on the French system, bring the thumbs together, take the
right rein with the thumb and first finger of the left hand, the thumbs
touching, raise the left hand, and let the right rein slip till the
thumbs are one inch apart. With the right rein thus, one inch shorter
than the left, when it is required to shorten the left equally, by
management you may bring the two thumbs together again without loosening
the left rein. I say, by management, you may do so, but the chances are
that the longest rein is invariably thus slackened previously to being
shortened, and consequently, that the bearing on the horse's mouth is
disturbed. But supposing it possible to manage this by an inch at a
time, it is quite impossible to manage it at a greater distance. If,
therefore, you have to shorten both reins a foot, you cannot effect it
without twenty-four operations. This is not at all an unlikely
occurrence in riding unruly horses, for such horses are commanded by
being made to bend or collect themselves. Their most frequent defence is
jerking their heads away and extending themselves; and the facility of
adjusting the length of the reins to the degree in which they extend or
collect themselves, makes the difference of whether you can ride such
horses or not. If, in riding a half-broken, hot, or violent horse, he
jerks his head down so as to draw one rein six inches longer than the
other, it is impossible to bring the thumbs together without slackening
the longest rein--at the moment you wish it tightened--four or five
inches. I need not dilate on the effect of this in riding such a horse
as I have supposed.

This French military system, then, of shortening the reins in two-handed
riding is actually ridiculous. But a ridiculous system is better than no
system at all. And except this French system, I know of _none taught_
save those which I have attempted to teach in this chapter.

What mistakes are made in this way, even by the _finest untaught_
horseman, are shown in the last paragraph of this chapter.

In all the practices enjoined above, the hand which quits the rein
should slide alo