APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO THE PERFORMANCE
OF THE HORSES, PARTISAN, CAPITAINE, NEPTUNE, AND BURIDAN.
The persons who systematically denied the efficacy of my method ought,
necessarily, also to deny the results shown to them. They were forced to
acknowledge that my performance at the _Cirque-Olympique_ was new and
extraordinary, but attributed it to causes, some more strange than
others; all the while insisting that the equestrian talent of the rider
did not go for nothing in the expertness of the horse. According to
some, I was a second Carter, accustoming my horses to obedience by
depriving them of sleep and food; according to others, I bound their
legs with cords, and thus held them suspended to prepare them for a kind
of puppet-show; some were not far from believing that I fascinated them
by the power of my looks. Finally, a certain portion of the public,
seeing these animals perform in time to the sound of the charming music
of one of my friends, M. Paul Cuzent, insisted seriously that they
undoubtedly possessed, in a very great degree, the instinct of melody,
and that they would stop short with the clarionets and trombones. So,
the sound of the music was more powerful over my horse than I was
myself! The animal obeyed a _do_ or a _sol_ nicely touched; but my legs
and hands went for nothing in their effects. Would it be believed that
such nonsense was uttered by people that passed for riders? I can
comprehend their not having understood my means at first, since my
method was new; but before judging it in so strange a manner, they
ought, at least, it seems to me, to have sought to understand it.
I had found the round of ordinary feats of horsemanship too limited,
since it was sufficient to execute one movement well to immediately
practise the others with the same facility. So, it was proved to me that
the rider who passed with precision along a straight line sideways (_de
deux pistes_) at a walk, trot and gallop, could go in the same way with
the head or the croup to the wall, with the shoulder in, perform the
ordinary or reversed volts, the changes and counterchanges of hands,
etc., etc. As to the _piaffer_, it was, as I have said, nature alone
that settled this. This long and fastidious performance had no other
variations than the different titles of the movements, since it was
sufficient to vanquish one difficulty to be able to surmount all the
others. I then created new figures of the _manege_, the execution of
which rendered necessary more suppleness, more _ensemble_, more finish
in the education of the horse. This was easy to me with my system; and
to convince my adversaries that there was neither magic nor mystery in
my performance at the _Cirque_, I am going to explain by what processes
purely equestrian, and even without having recourse to _piliers_,
cavessons or horse-whips, I have brought my horses to execute the
sixteen figures of the _manege_ that appear so extraordinary.
1. Instantaneous flexion and support in the air of either one of the
fore legs, while the other three legs remain fixed to the ground.
The means of making the horse raise one of his fore legs is very simple,
as soon as the animal is perfectly supple and _rassemble_. To make him
raise, for example, the right leg, it is sufficient to incline his head
slightly to the right, while making the weight of his body fall upon the
left side. The rider's legs will be sustained firmly (the left a little
more than the right), that the effect of the hand which brings the head
to the right should not react upon the weight, and that the forces which
serve to fasten to the ground the over-weighted part may give the
horse's right leg enough action to make it rise from the ground. By a
repetition of this exercise a few times, you will succeed in keeping
this leg in the air as long a time as you wish.
2. Mobility of the haunches, the horse resting on his fore legs, while
his hind legs balance themselves alternately the one over the other;
when the hind leg which is raised from left to right is moved, and is
placed on the ground to become pivot in its turn, the other to be
instantly raised and to execute the same movement.
The simple mobility of the haunches is one of the exercises that I have
pointed out for the elementary education of the horse. We can complicate
this performance by multiplying the alternate contact of the legs, until
we succeed in easily carrying the horse's croup, one leg over the other,
in such a way that the movement from left to right and from right to
left cannot exceed one step. This exercise is good to give great nicety
of touch to the rider, and to prepare the horse to respond to the
lightest effects.
3. Passing instantly from the slow _piaffer_ to the precipitate
_piaffer_, and _vice versa_.
After having brought the horse to display great mobility of the legs, we
ought to regulate the movement of them. It is by the slow and alternated
pressure of his legs that the rider will obtain the slow _piaffer_. He
will make it precipitate by multiplying the contact. Both these
_piaffers_ can be obtained from all horses; but as this is among the
great difficulties, perfect tact is indispensable.
4. To back with an equal elevation of the transverse legs, which leave
the ground and are placed again on it at the same time, the horse
executing the movement with as much freedom and facility as if he were
going forward, and without apparent aid from the rider.
Backing is not new, but it certainly is new upon the conditions that I
lay down. It is only by the aid of a complete suppling and _ramener_
that we succeed in so suspending the horse's body that the distribution
of the weight is perfectly regular and the extremities acquire energy
and activity alike. This movement then becomes as easy and graceful as
it is painful and devoid of elegance when it is changed into
_acculement_.[T]
[T] _Acculement_ and _reculer_ have been previously explained;
one is the horse backing falsely, the other backing correctly.
--TRANSLATOR.
5. Simultaneous mobility of the two diagonal legs, the horse stationary.
After having raised the two opposite legs, he carries them to the rear
to bring them back again to the place they first occupied, and
recommences the same movement with the other diagonal.
The suppling, and having got the horse in hand, make this movement easy.
When he no longer presents any resistance, he appreciates the lightest
effects of the rider, intended in this case to displace only the least
possible quantity of forces and weight necessary to set in motion the
opposite extremities. By repeating this exercise, it will in a little
while be rendered familiar to the horse. The finish of the mechanism
will soon give the finish of intelligence.
6. Trot with a sustained extension; the horse, after having raised his
legs, carries them forward, sustaining them an instant in the air before
replacing them on the ground.
The processes that form the basis of my method reproduce themselves in
each simple movement, and with still more reason in the complicated
ones. If equilibrium is only obtained by lightness, in return there is
no lightness without equilibrium; it is by the union of these two
conditions that the horse will acquire the facility of extending his
trot to the farthest possible limits, and will completely change his
original gait.
7. Serpentine trot, the horse turning to the right and to the left, to
return nearly to his starting point, after having made five or six steps
in each direction.
This movement will present no difficulty if we keep the horse in hand
while executing the flexions of the neck at the walk and trot; you can
readily see that such a performance is impossible without this
condition. The leg opposite to the side towards which the neck turns
ought always to be pressed.
8. Instant halt by the aid of the spurs, the horse being at a gallop.
When the horse, being perfectly suppled, will properly bear the
_attaques_ and the _rassembler_, he will be fit to execute the halt upon
the above conditions. In the application of this we will start with a
slow gallop, in order to go on successively to the greatest speed. The
legs preceding the hand, will bring the horse's hind legs under the
middle of his body, then a prompt effect of the hand, by fixing them in
this position, will immediately stop the bound. By this means we spare
the horse's organization, which can thus be always kept free from
blemish.
9. Continued mobility or pawing, while stationary, of one of the horse's
fore legs; the horse, at the rider's will, executing the movement by
which he, of his own accord, often manifests his impatience.
This movement will be obtained by the same process that serves to keep
the horse's leg in the air. In the latter case, the rider's legs must
impress a continued support, in order that the force which holds the
horse's leg raised keep up its effect; while, for the movement now in
question, we must renew the action by a quantity of slight pressures, in
order to cause the motion of the leg held up in the air. This extremity
of the horse will soon acquire a movement subordinate to that of the
rider's legs, and if the time is well seized, it will seem, so to say,
that we make the animal move by the aid of mechanical means.
10. To trot backwards, the horse preserving the same cadence and the
same step as in the trot forwards.
The first condition, in order to obtain the trot backwards, is to keep
the horse in a perfect cadence and as _rassemble_ as possible. The
second is all in the proceedings of the rider. He ought to seek
insensibly by the combined effects to make the forces of the fore-hand
exceed those of the hind-parts, without affecting the harmony of the
movement. Thus we see that by the _rassembler_ we will successively
obtain the _piaffer_ stationary, and the _piaffer_ backwards, even
without the aid of the reins.
11. To gallop backwards, the time being the same as in the ordinary
gallop; but the fore legs once raised, in place of coming to the ground,
are carried backwards, that the hind-parts may execute the same backward
movement as soon as the fore-feet are placed on the ground.
The principle is the same as for the preceding performance; with a
perfect _rassembler_, the hind legs will find themselves so brought
under the centre, that by raising the fore-hand, the movement of the
hocks can only be an upward one. This performance, though easily
executed with a powerful horse, ought not to be attempted with one not
possessing this quality.
12. Changing feet every step, each time of the gallop being done on a
different leg.
In order to practise this difficult performance, the horse ought to be
accustomed to execute perfectly, and as frequently as possible, changing
feet at the touch. Before attempting these changes of feet every step,
we ought to have brought him to execute this movement at every other
step. Everything depends upon his aptness, and above all, on the
intelligence of the rider; with this latter quality, there is no
obstacle that is not to be surmounted. To execute this performance with
the desirable degree of precision, the horse should remain light, and
preserve the same degree of action; the rider, on his part, should also
avoid roughly inclining the horse's fore-hand to one side or the other.
13. Ordinary _pirouettes_ on three legs, the fore leg on the side
towards which we are turning: remaining in the air during the whole time
of the movement.
Ordinary _pirouettes_ should be familiar to a horse broken after my
method, and I have above shown the means to make him hold up one of his
fore feet. If these two movements are well executed separately, it will
be easy to connect them in a single performance. After having disposed
the horse for the _pirouette_, we will prepare the mass in such a way as
to raise the fore leg; this once in the air, we will throw the weight on
the part opposite to the side towards which we wish to turn, by bearing
upon this part with the hand and leg. The leg of the rider placed on the
converging side, will only act daring this time so as to carry the
forces forward, in order to prevent the hand producing a retrograde
effect.
14. To back with a halt at each step, the right leg of the horse
remaining in front motionless and held out at the full distance that the
left leg has passed over, and _vice versa_.
This movement depends upon the nicety of touch of the rider, as it
results from an effect of forces impossible to specify. Though this
performance is not very graceful, the experienced rider will do well to
often practise it, in order to learn to modify the effects of forces,
and acquire all the niceties of his art in perfection.
15. Regular _piaffer_ with an instant halt on three legs, the fourth
remaining in the air.
Here, also, as for the ordinary _pirouettes_ upon three legs, it is by
exercising the _piaffer_ and the flexion of one leg separately, that we
will succeed in uniting the two movements in one. We will interrupt the
_piaffer_ by arresting the contraction of three of the legs so as to
leave it in one only. It is sufficient, then, in order to accustom the
horse to this performance, to stop him while he is _piaffing_, by
forcing him to contract one of his legs.
16. Change of feet every time at equal intervals, the horse remaining in
the same place.
This movement is obtained by the same proceedings as are employed for
changing feet every time while advancing; only it is much more
complicated, since we must give an exact impulsion sufficiently strong
to determine the movement of the legs without the body advancing. This
movement consequently demands a great deal of tact on the rider's part,
and cannot be practised except on a perfectly broken horse, but broken
as I understand it.
Such is the vocabulary of the new figures of the _manege_ that I have
created, and so often executed before the public. As you see, this
performance, which appeared so extraordinary that people would not
believe it belonged to equestrianism, becomes very simple and
comprehensible as soon as you have studied the principles of my method.
There is not one of these movements in which is not discovered the
application of the precepts I have developed in this book.
But, I repeat, if I have enriched equitation with a new and interesting
work, I do not pretend to have attained the farthest limits of the art;
and one may come after me, who, if he will study my system and practise
it with intelligence, will be able to pass me on the course, and add
something yet to the results I have obtained.