“Poise” or “counting.”

The ability to feel the position of the horse’s feet is an important skill and communicating with and controlling them is considered to be of the first importance. Much time is spent “counting cadence” in every ride. In this exercise, the horse is not asked to go forward but merely to shift his balance laterally off of the given foot and raise it at the rider’s behest.

A: Edward Anderson on a Morgan; B: Hiram Tuttle with his Morgan-Thoroughbred Buster; C: Albert Ostermaier and a Thoroughbred on the back lot of a Hollywood studio.