OF THE FORCES OF THE HORSE.
_Of their causes and effects._--The horse, like all organized beings, is
possessed of a weight and a force peculiar to himself. The weight
inherent to the material of which the animal is composed, renders the
mass inert, and tends to fix it to the ground. The force, on the
contrary, by the faculty it gives him of moving this weight, of dividing
it, of transferring it from one of his parts to another, communicates
movement to his whole being, determines his equilibrium, speed and
direction. To make this truth more evident, let us suppose a horse in
repose. His body will be in perfect equilibrium, if each of its members
supports exactly that part of the weight which devolves upon it in this
position. If he wishes to move forward at a walk, he must first transfer
that part of the weight resting on the leg he moves first to those that
will remain fixed to the ground. It will be the same thing in other
paces, the transfer acting from one diagonal to the other in the trot,
from the front to the rear, and reciprocally in the gallop. We must not
then confound the weight with the force; the latter determines, the
former is subordinate to it. It is by carrying the weight from one
extremity to the other that the force puts them in motion, or makes them
stationary. The slowness or quickness of the transfers fixes the
different paces, which are correct or false, even or uneven, according
as these transfers are executed with correctness or irregularity.
It is understood that this motive power is subdivided _ad infinitum_,
since it is spread over all the muscles of the animal. When the latter
himself determines the use of them, the forces are instinctive; I call
them transmitted when they emanate from the rider. In the first case,
the man governed by his horse remains the plaything of his caprices; in
the second, on the contrary, he makes him a docile instrument,
submissive to all the impulses of his will. The horse, then, from the
moment he is mounted, should only act by transmitted forces. The
invariable application of this principle constitutes the true talent of
the horseman.
But such a result cannot be attained instantaneously. The young horse,
in freedom, having been accustomed to regulate his own movements, will,
at first, submit with difficulty to the strange influence which comes to
take the entire control of them. A struggle necessarily ensues between
the horse and his rider, who will be overcome unless he is possessed of
energy, patience, and, above all, the knowledge necessary to gain his
point. The forces of the animal being the element upon which the rider
must principally work, first to conquer, and finally to direct them, it
is necessary he should fix his attention upon these before anything
else. He will study what they are, whence they spring, the parts where
they contract the most for resistance, the physical causes which
occasion these contractions. When this is discovered, he will proceed
with his pupil by means in accordance with his nature, and his progress
will then be rapid.
Unfortunately, we search in vain in ancient or modern authors, on
horsemanship, I will not say for rational principles, but even for any
data in connection with the forces of the horse. All speak very prettily
about resistances, oppositions, lightness and equilibrium; but none of
them have known how to tell us what causes these resistances, how we can
combat them, destroy them, and obtain this lightness and equilibrium
they so earnestly recommend. It is this gap that has caused the great
doubts and obscurity about the principles of horsemanship; it is this
that has made the art stationary so long a time; it is this gap that, I
think, I am able to fill up.
And first, I lay down the principle that all the resistances of young
horses spring, in the first place, from a physical cause, and that this
cause only becomes a moral one by the awkwardness, ignorance and
brutality of the rider. In fact, besides the natural stiffness peculiar
to all these animals, each of them has a peculiar conformation, the more
or less of perfection in which constitutes the degree of harmony that
exists between the forces and the weight. The want of this harmony
occasions the ungracefulness of their paces, the difficulty of their
movements; in a word, all the obstacles to a good education. In a state
of freedom, whatever may be the bad structure of the horse, instinct is
sufficient to enable him to make such a use of his forces as to maintain
his equilibrium; but there are movements it is impossible for him to
make until a preparatory exercise shall have put him in the way of
supplying the defects of his organization by a better combined use of
his motive power. A horse puts himself in motion only in consequence of
a given position; if his forces are such as to oppose themselves to this
position, they must first be annulled, in order to replace them by the
only ones which can lead to it.
Now, I ask, if before overcoming these first obstacles, the rider adds
to them the weight of his own body, and his unreasonable demands, will
not the animal experience still greater difficulty in executing certain
movements? The efforts we make to compel him to submission, being
contrary to his nature, will they not find in it an insurmountable
obstacle? He will naturally resist, and with so much the more advantage,
that the bad distribution of his forces will of itself be sufficient to
paralyze those of the rider. The resistance then emanates, in this case,
from a physical cause: which becomes a moral one from the moment when,
the struggle going on with the same processes, the horse begins of his
own accord to combine means of resisting the torture imposed on him,
when we undertake to force into operation parts which have not
previously been supplied.
When things get into this state, they can only grow worse. The rider,
soon disgusted with the impotence of his efforts, will cast back upon
the horse the responsibility of his own ignorance; he will brand as a
jade an animal possessing the most brilliant resources, and of whom,
with more discernment and tact, he could have made a hackney as docile
in character, as graceful and agreeable in his paces. I have often
remarked that horses considered indomitable are those which develop the
most energy and vigor, when we know how to remedy those physical defects
which prevent their making use of them. As to those which, in spite of
their bad formation, are by a similar system made to show a semblance of
obedience, we need thank nothing but the softness of their nature; if
they can be made to submit to the simplest exercises, it is only on
condition that we do not demand anything more of them, for they would
soon find their energy again to resist any further attempts. The rider
can then make them go along at different paces to be sure; but how
disconnected, how stiff, how ungraceful in their movements, and how
ridiculous such steeds make their unfortunate riders look, as they toss
them about at will, instead of being guided by them! This state of
things is all perfectly natural, unless we destroy the first cause of
it: _the bad distribution of their forces, and the stiffness caused by a
bad conformation_.
But, it is objected, since, you allow that these difficulties are caused
by the formation of the horse, how is it possible to remedy them? You do
not possibly pretend to change the structure of the animal and reform
the work of nature? Undoubtedly not; but while I confess that it is
impossible to give more breadth to a narrow chest, to lengthen too short
a neck, to lower too high a croup, to shorten and fill out long, weak,
narrow loins, I do not the less insist that if I prevent the different
contractions occasioned by these physical defects, if I supply the
muscles, if I make myself master of the forces so as to use them at
will, it will be easy for me to prevent these resistances, to give more
action to the weak parts, and to moderate those that are too vigorous,
and thus make up for the deficiencies of nature.
Such results, I do not hesitate to say, were and still are forever
denied to the old methods. But if the science of those who follow the
old beaten track finds so constant an obstacle in the great number of
horses of defective formation, there are, unfortunately, some horses
who, by the perfection of their organization, and the consequent
facility of their education, contribute greatly to perpetuate the
impotent routines that have been so unfavorable to the progress of
horsemanship. A well constituted horse is one, all of whose parts being
regularly harmonized, induce the perfect equilibrium of the whole. It
would be as difficult for such a subject to leave this natural
equilibrium, and take up an improper position for the purpose of
resistance, as it is at first painful for the badly formed horse to come
into that just distribution of forces, without which no regularity of
movement can be hoped for.
It is then only in the education of these last that the real
difficulties of horsemanship consist. With the others the breaking ought
to be, so to say, instantaneous, since all the springs being in their
places, there is nothing to be done but to put them in motion; this
result is always obtained by my method. Yet the old principles demand
two or three years to reach this point, and when by feeling your way
without any certainty of success, the horseman gifted with some tact and
experience, ends by accustoming the horse to obey the impressions
communicated to him, he imagines that he has surmounted great
difficulties, and attributes to his skill a state so near that of nature
that correct principles would have obtained it in a few days. Then as
the animal continues to display in all his movements the grace and
lightness natural to his beautiful formation, the rider does not scruple
to take all the merit to himself, thus showing himself as presumptuous
in this case as he was unjust when he would make the badly formed horse
responsible for the failure of his attempts.
If we once admit these truths:
That the education of the horse consists in the complete subjection of
his powers;
That we can only make use of his powers at will by annulling all
resistances;
And that these resistances have their source in the contractions
occasioned by physical defects;
The only thing will be to seek out the parts where these contractions
operate, in order to endeavor to oppose and destroy them.
Long and conscientious observations have shown me that, whatever be the
fault of formation that in the horse prevents a just distribution of his
forces, it is always in the neck that the most immediate effect is felt.
There is no improper movement, no resistance that is not preceded by the
contraction of this part of the animal; and as the jaw is intimately
connected with the neck, the stiffness of the one is instantly
communicated to the other. These two points are the prop upon which the
horse rests, in order to annul all the rider's efforts. We can easily
conceive the immense obstacle they must present to the impulsions of the
latter, since the neck and head, being the two principal levers by which
we direct the animal, it is impossible to obtain anything from him until
we are master of these first and indispensable means of action. Behind,
the parts where the forces contract the most for resistance, are the
loins and the croup (the haunches).
The contractions of these two opposite extremities are, mutually the one
to the other, causes and effects, that is to say, the stiffness of the
neck induces that of the haunches, and reciprocally. We can combat the
one by the other; and as soon as we have succeeded in annulling them, as
soon as we have re-established the equilibrium and harmony that they
prevented between the fore and hind-parts, the education of the horse
will be half finished. I will now point out the means of infallibly
arriving at this result.