Patroclus and Penelope: A Chat in the Saddle

by Theodore Ayrault Dodge

You cannot perfectly, but you may partially do this under saddle. Whenever you are on a walk you may, as a habit, let your horse have his head, and encourage him to keep at his best gait. A dull walker is a nuisance. A little motion of the hands or heels and an occasional word will keep him lively and at work, and get him into the habit of walking well, if he has enough ambition. The School-rider keeps his horse "collected" on the walk at all times, and though the steps are thus shortened, they become quicker and more springy, and the speed is not diminished. I do either way, as the mood takes me, for though I incline to the method of the School-riders, I do not think that it hurts a horse to have entire freedom now and then.

Some amblers are slow walkers, but the five-mile amble takes the place of the rapid walk, and is often more agreeable. Few horses walk more than three and a half miles an hour. A four-mile walk is a good one. Exceptionally, you may reach the ideal five miles. I once knew a horse in Ohio who walked (and not a running walk either, but a square "heel and toe" walk) six miles in an hour, on wagers. But our confab, Tom, often gets too diffuse. Let us go on with our lesson.

XXXV.

Here we are quietly walking along the road. Suppose you draw up the reins a bit, the curb somewhat the more. Nelly will at once bring up her head, and very naturally stick out her nose in the endeavor to avoid the pressure of the curb chain. At the same time, as you see, she will shorten her steps. Don't jerk or worry her, but still exert a gentle pressure on the curb, and keep up a slight vibrating movement of the hands, speaking to her kindly. In a moment or two, she will arch her neck, and the bit will hang loosely in her mouth. There, you see, her nose comes down, and a handsome head and neck she has! Now pat her, and speak caressingly to her, and after a few seconds release her head. When these exercises are done on the stable floor, the use of the snaffle will accomplish the same result, and this is very desirable. But if you begin these flexions on the road you must use the curb, because Nelly now understands the snaffle to be for another purpose. The use of the curb is apt to lower a horse's head, and with some horses too much. The snaffle may be employed to correct this low carriage, but this use of it involves more than I can explain to you now. If Nelly's head gets too low, raise your hands a bit.

Try it over again, and each time prolong the period of holding her head in poise. But never hold it so long that her neck will ache and she begin to lean upon the bit. If she should do so before you release her head, play gently with the rein for an instant to get her back to the soft mouthing of the bit, caress her, and then release her head. This is on the principle that you should always have your way with a horse, and not he his. And kindness alone accomplishes this much more speedily and certainly than severity. If the occasion ever comes when you cannot have your way with Nelly, give a new turn to the matter by attracting her attention to something else, so as not to leave on her mind the impression that she has resisted you.

Notice two things, Tom, while Nelly is thus champing her bit. She has an almost imperceptible hold of your hands and her gait is shorter and more elastic. This has the effect of a semi-poised position, from which she can more readily move into any desired gait than from the extended looseness of the simple walk. This is one step towards what horsemen call being "in hand," or "collected;" and grooms, "pulled together," though indeed the "pulling together" of the groom but very distantly approaches the fine poise of the Schools.

Of all means of destroying a good mouth, to allow the horse to lean upon the curb is the surest. Avoid this by all means. But so long as Nell will bring in her head and play with the bit, keep her doing so at intervals. After a week or two she will be ready to walk quite a stretch with her head in position, and you will both of you have gained something in the way of schooling her mouth and your hands. You can then try her on a trot, and if you can keep your seat without holding on by the reins, she will learn to do the same thing at this gait too, and later at the canter and the gallop. But unless your own seat is firm and your hands are light, you will only be doing her future education an injury. Every twitch on her sensitive mouth, occasioned by an insecure seat or jerky hands, will be so much lost. Moreover, your curb chain must neither be too long nor too short. If too long, Nelly will not bring down her head at all. If too short, it will worry her unnecessarily. You can judge of it by her willingness gradually to accustom herself to it without jerking her head or resisting it, and without lolling her tongue.

This suppling of Nelly's neck which you will give her on her daily ride is only of the muscles governing the direct up and down motion of the head and neck. You are not overcoming the lateral rigidities. This requires stable exercises. If you have leisure for these (and you very likely will make some when you find the strides in comfort and elegance Nelly is making), you will buy one of the manuals I have told you about. What you have taught her, however, is excellent so far as it goes, and is time well employed. It will serve its purpose upon the road, if it does not suffice for the more perfect education.