Usage in Horse Sports
A horse is better balanced when on the correct lead of the canter, that is to say, the lead which corresponds to the direction of travel. If a horse is on the wrong lead, it may be unbalanced and will have a much harder time making turns. However, there is an exception to this general rule, the counter canter, or counter-lead, a movement used in upper-level dressage, where a horse may be deliberately asked for what would normally be the "wrong" lead in order to show obedience and balance.
Read more about this topic: Lead (leg)
Famous quotes containing the words usage, horse and/or sports:
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, “It depends.” And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)
“We read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp before him had a hard bottom. The boy replied that it had. But presently the traveller’s horse sank in up to the girths, and he observed to the boy, “I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom.” “So it has,” answered the latter, “but you have not got half way to it yet.” So it is with the bogs and quicksands of society; but he is an old boy that knows it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It was so hard to pry this door open, and if I mess up I know the people behind me are going to have it that much harder. Because then there’s living proof. They can sit around and say, “See? It doesn’t work.” I don’t want to be their living proof.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)