Xenophon, On the Art of Horsemanship, chapter 3, section 5

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A horse with jaws unequally sensitive is detected by the exercise called the “ring,”¹ but much more by changing the exercise.² For many do not attempt to bolt unless they have a bad mouth, and the road along which they can bolt home gives them their chance.³ It is likewise necessary to know whether, when going at full speed he can be pulled up sharp, and whether he turns readily.

1 i.e., the “volte”; see note at 7.13.

2 i.e., by riding on the other hand. The allusion, as Hermann saw, is not to the inverted volte.

3 The meaning is, that if, for example, the road on the right leads home, the horse with a more sensitive right jaw will try to bolt down it.

Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 7. E. C. Marchant, G. W. Bowersock, tr. Constitution of the Athenians. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1925.

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Xenophon, On the Art of Horsemanship
E. C. Marchant, G. W. Bowersock, tr. Constitution of the Athenians., Ed.

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Xenophon, On the Art of Horsemanship E. C. Marchant, G. W. Bowersock, tr. Constitution of the Athenians., Ed.

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Xenophon, On the Art of Horsemanship
E. C. Marchant, G. W. Bowersock, tr. Constitution of the Athenians., Ed.