By degrees, as the pupil learns to command her horse riding in this form she must be instructed once more to give free and mobile action to the arm at the shoulder joint, as when riding on both snaffle and curb reins. But at first firmness of the arm is essential to give steadiness to the hand. A good deal has been said about turning horses by pressure of the rein against the neck without acting upon the metal in his mouth; and opinions very diverse have been expressed on this point. With all deference to the disputants, I submit that both are right and both wrong in some respects. For instance, when the rider has the reins divided and the hands well apart (a section of the lady equitation I propose to say something about hereafter), if the rider turns the horse square to the right or left he must use his legs as well as his hands, and imperceptibly perhaps to himself (even if he has not been taught by rule) he closes both the outward leg and feels the outward rein firmly, in order to support the horse and prevent him from falling, which otherwise he would be in danger of doing. Now, this support with the outward rein causes it to press against the horse's neck, and to some extent gives him the indication of the rider's will. But still it is simply impossible to do this without acting on the snaffle or bit rein, as the case may be, on one side or the other, as long as the reins are attached to a bit of any sort. And after all, it is the leg which gives the surest indication of the rider's will. One sees a lad in an Irish fair riding with a flat-headed halter turned through the horse's mouth, and, with the rope only on one side, he will put the horse through his paces, jump him, and turn him to either hand. There is no metal at all in the mouth, although the hemp is not a bad substitute; but the rope being only on one side, it is evident that it is not pressure upon the neck that turns the horse, but the action of the boy's leg against the intercostal muscles of the horse, and the inflection of the lad's body to the hand he desires to turn to.