11. Soothings and Animations
The voice and the hand, the leg, and the whole body, may be employed to soothe and encourage. High-mettled or fretful horses, it is often necessary to soothe, and timid ones to encourage. A spirited animal is frequently impatient when first mounted, or, if a horse or a carriage pass him at a quick rate; and some horses are even so ardent and animated, as to be unpleasant to ride when with others. In either of these cases, the rider should endeavour to soothe her horse, by speaking to him in a calm, gentle tone. She should suffer the whip to be as motionless as possible, and take even more than usual care that its lash do not touch the flank. Her seat should be easy, her leg still, and her bridle-hand steady. The bit should not be made to press on the horse's mouth with greater severity than is necessary to maintain the rider's command; and, as the horse gradually subsides from his animation, its bearing should be proportionately relaxed. The perfection of soothing consists in the rider's sitting so entirely still and easy, as not to add in the least to the horse's animation;--at the same time being on her guard, so as to be able to effect any of her defences in an instant, should occasion render them needful.
There is scarcely any difference between soothings and encouragements; except that, in the latter, it is advisable to pat, and, as it were, caress the horse with the right hand, holding the whip in the left. A shy or timid horse may often be encouraged to pass an object that alarms him, to cross a bridge, enter a gateway, or take a leap, when force and correction would only add to his fear, and, perhaps, render him incorrigibly obstinate.
Animations are intended to produce greater speed, or, to render the horse more lively and on the alert, without increasing his pace. Some animals scarcely ever require animations; while others are so dull and deficient in mettle as to call them frequently into use. The slightest movement of the body, the hand, or the leg, is enough to rouse the well-bred and thoroughly-trained animal; but it is necessary for the animations to be so spirited and united, with sluggish horses, as almost to become corrections: in fact, what is a mere animation to one horse, would be a positive correction to another.
The aids of the hand, the whip, the leg, and the body, which we have before described, are animations; so, also, are pattings with the hand, the tones of the voice, &c. Animations should be used in all cases, when the horse, contrary to the rider's inclination, either decreases his speed, droops his head, bears heavily and languidly on the bit, or, begins to be lazy or slovenly in the performance of his paces. A good rider foresees the necessity of an animation before the horse actually abates his speed, or loses the ensemble of his action, and the grace and spirit of his deportment. It is much easier to keep up, than to restore, a horse's animation: therefore, the whip, the leg, the hand, or the tongue, should do its office a few moments before, rather than at, the moment when its movements are indispensable.
A slight motion of the fingers of the bridle-hand serves as an excellent animation: it reminds the horse of his duty, awakens the sensibility of his mouth, and preserves a proper correspondence between that and the hand.
