If he refuses to trot, the Person who holds the Chambriere will animate him, by hitting him, or striking the Ground with it. If he offers to gallop instead of trotting, the Groom must shake or jirk the Cord that is tied to the Caveson, and he will fall into his Trot.
In this Lesson you may decide more readily upon the Nature, the Strength, the Inclination, and Carriage of the Horse, than you can of one that has already been rode, as it is more easy to consider and examine all his Motions; whereas when he is under his Rider, being naturally inclin'd to resist at first, to free himself from Restraint, and to employ all his Strength and Cunning to defend himself against his Rider, it is morally impossible to form a true Judgment of his Disposition and Capacity.
CHAP. V.
Of the Stop.
The most certain Method to unite and assemble together the Strength of a Horse, in order to give him a good Mouth, to fix and place his Head, as well as to regulate his Shoulders, to make him light in the Hand, and capable of performing all Sorts of Airs, depends entirely upon the Perfection and Exactness of the Stop.
In order to mark or form the Stop justly, you must quicken him a little, and in the Instant that he begins to go faster than the usual Cadence or Time of his Pace, approach the Calves of your Legs, and immediately afterwards fling back your Shoulders; always holding your Bridle more and more tight, till the Stop is made, aiding the Horse with the Calves of your Legs, in order to make him bend and play his Haunches.
By varying the Times of making your Stops, and the Places where you make them, you will teach your Horse to obey exactly the Hand and Heel; which is the End that every one should propose to attain in every Kind of Exercise of the Manege.
With a raw and young Horse make but very few Stops, and when you make them, do it by degrees, very gently, and not all at once, because nothing so much strains and weakens the Hocks of a stiff and aukward Horse, as a sudden and rude Stop.
It is agreed by every Body, that nothing so much shews the Vigour and Obedience of a Horse as his making a beautiful and firm Stop, at the End of a swift and violent Career. There are however many Horses that have a good deal of Vigour and Agility, who can't stop without feeling Pain, while there are others who are not so strong and active, who stop very easily; the Reason of this is plain.
In the first place, the Facility of stopping depends upon the natural Aptness and Consent of the Horse; in the next place, his Make, and the Proportions which the different Parts of his Body have to each other, must be consider'd: Therefore we must measure the Merit of a Stop by the Strength and Temper of the Horse, by the Steadiness of his Head and Neck, and the Condition of his Mouth and Haunches.