Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army / of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and Training

by United States. War Department

To sum up: The trooper should take a relaxed sitting position, squarely on his buttocks, with the thighs inclined downward.

The various defects of position are overcome by suitable suppling exercises (pars. 209-220).

200. The aids.—The legs, the reins, and the weight are the means of controlling the horse in riding. They are called the aids.

201. The legs: The legs serve to urge the horse forward, to increase his pace or gait, and to engage the hind quarters or move them laterally. The legs act by the pressure of the calves. If pressure alone is insufficient the trooper increases the action by blows with his calves.

It is essential to obtain from the horse perfect obedience to the action of the legs. He should respond to the simultaneous and equal action of both legs by engaging his hindquarters and moving forward; to the predominant action of one leg by moving his haunches to the opposite side.

202. The reins: The reins serve to prepare the horse to move, to decrease or increase his pace, to change the gait, or to change direction.

Contact is a light bearing of the mouth of the horse on the hand of the rider. It should be constantly maintained.

The reins are held in the full hand, the thumb pressing them lightly upon the second joint of the forefinger. By means of closing and relaxing the fingers and flexing the wrist, arm, and shoulder, the trooper, while maintaining contact and keeping the reins taut, follows easily the movements of the head of the horse without anticipating or interfering with these movements. The hand is then said to be passive. It is kept so as long as the trooper is not required to change the pace, gait, or direction.

203. The direct rein: When the trooper, with the hands separated and the reins adjusted, closes his fingers upon the reins without raising the hands he exercises an action from front to rear, called the effect of the direct reins. This effect, when on one rein only, is called that of the right (or left) direct rein.

204. The leading rein: When the trooper carries the right hand to the right and forward in a manner to preserve contact but not to increase pressure on the bit the effect is called that of the right leading rein.