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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: roughness he will drop it; then when the smooth is given him instead,
he is delighted with its smoothness, and whatever he has learnt before
upon the rough, he will perform with greater relish on the smooth. He
may certainly, out of contempt for its very smoothness, perpetually
try to get a purchase on it, and that is why we attach large discs to
the smooth bit, the effect of which is to make him open his mouth, and
drop the mouthpiece. It is possible to make the rough bit of every
degree of roughness by keeping it slack or taut.
[4] See Morgan, op. cit. p. 144 foll.
But, whatever the type of bit may be, let it in any case be flexible.
If it be stiff, at whatever point the horse seizes it he must take it
On Horsemanship |
