"Amongst our young oificers there are many excellent
'passive' riders, who sit well over jumps and are all right
till the struggle comes, but then their art fails them, and
they do not know what to do. The best would be to con-
tinue sitting still, but, as a rule, they do the reverse, and
cutting and spurring in mimicry of the good 'active' riders.
Rosenberg's Hints. iSy

they throw their horses out of their strides, fail altogether
to collect them,and ultimately reach the judge's box a good
two lengths worse off than thej- would have done had they
confined their efforts to sitting still. It is just the same in
the school ; a man who tries to ride 'actively' without being
able really to do so, may ride 'shoulder in' and 'passage,' and
from a distance appear to do it very well, but actually the
horse is not jjroperly bent or collected — in a word, it is
merely 'eyewash.' To reduce an obstinate animal to obe-
dience by punishment belongs also to 'active' horsemanship.
