New Method of Horsemanship Part 6

The rider's employment of force, when properly applied, has a moral effect also on the horse, that accelerates the results. If the impulse given by the legs finds in the hand the energy and _apropos_ necessary to regulate its effects, the pain the animal sustains will be always proportioned to his resistances, and his instinct will soon make him understand how he can diminish, and even avoid altogether this constraint, by promptly yielding to what we demand of him. He will hasten then to submit, and will even antic.i.p.ate our desires. But, I repeat, it is only by means of tact and delicate management that we will gain this important point. If the legs give too vigorous an impulse, the horse will quickly overcome the motion of the hands, and resume with his natural position all the advantages it gives him to foil the efforts of the rider. If, on the contrary, the hand presents too great a resistance, the horse will soon overcome the legs, and find a means of defending himself by backing. Yet these difficulties must not be allowed to frighten us; they were only serious ones when no rational principle gave the means of surmounting them. The application of my method will enable ordinary hors.e.m.e.n to obtain results that otherwise could be obtained only by the most favored equestrian organizations.

When the animal becomes accustomed by means of the spur to such oppositions, it will become easy enough to combat with the spur all the resistances that may afterwards manifest themselves. Since the resistances are always caused by moving the croup sideways, or getting it too far back, the spur, by immediately bringing the hind legs towards the centre of the body, prevents the support of the hocks, which were able to oppose the proper harmony of forces, and prevent the right distribution of the weight.

This is the means I always employ to make the horse pa.s.s from a swift gallop to a halt, without straining his hocks, or injuring any of the joints of his hind-parts. In fact, since it is the hocks which propel the ma.s.s forward, it suffices to destroy their motion to stop the bound.

The spur, by instantly bringing the hind legs under the horse's belly, destroys their power from the moment the hand comes in the nick of time to fix them in that position. Then the haunches bend, the croup is lowered; the weight and forces arrange themselves in the order most favorable to the free and combined play of each part, and the violence of the shock, infinitely decomposed, is scarce perceptible to either horse or rider.

If, on the contrary, we stop the horse by making the hand move first, the hocks remain far in the rear of the plumb-line; the shock is violent, painful for the animal, and especially injurious to his physical organization. Horses that are thus stopped, set themselves against the bit, extending their neck, and require an arm of iron and a most violent opposing force. Such is the custom of the Arabs, for example, in halting suddenly their horses, by making use of murderous bits that break the bars of their horses' mouths. Thus, notwithstanding the wonderful powers with which nature has gifted them, are these excellent animals injured. The use of the spur must not be commenced till by gathering him we get the horse well in hand; then the first touch of the spur should be made felt. We will continue to make use of it, at long intervals, until the horse, after his bound forward, presents no resistance to the hand, and avoids the pressure of the bit, by bringing in his chin towards his chest, of his own accord. This submission once obtained, we can undertake the use of the spurs with oppositions, but we must be careful to discontinue them when the horse is in hand. This means has the double advantage of acting morally and physically. The first attacks will be made with a single spur, and by bearing on the opposite rein; these transverse oppositions will have a better effect and give more prompt results. When the horse begins to contain himself, the two spurs being used separately, we can make them felt together and with an equal gradation.[Q]

[Q] I would never have thought that this means, which serves as a corrective to the processes used by all hors.e.m.e.n, would have aroused the sensibility of some amateurs. These latter have preferred to be affected by exaggerated or erroneous reports, rather than satisfy themselves by observation, that this pretended cruelty is in fact the most innocent thing in the world. Must we not teach the horse to respond to the spur as well as to the legs and the hand? Is it not by this spurring, judiciously applied, that we bring in at will the hind legs more or less near the centre of gravity? Is not this the only way of increasing or diminishing the leverage of the hocks, whether for extending or raising them in motion, or for the purpose of halting?

To the work, then, cavaliers! If you will follow my principles, I can promise you that your purse will be less often emptied into the hands of horse-dealers, and that you will render the meanest of your hacks agreeable. You will charm our breeders of horses, who will attribute to their efforts of regeneration that elegance and grace that your art alone could have given to your chargers.

_Lowering the hand._--The lowering the hand consists in confirming the horse in all his lightness--that is, in making him preserve his equilibrium without the aid of the reins. The suppleness given to all parts of the horse, the just oppositions of hands and legs, lead him to keep himself in the best possible position. To find out exactly whether we are obtaining this result, we must have recourse to frequent lowering of the hand. It is done in this way: After having slipped the right hand to the buckle, and having a.s.sured yourself that the reins are even, you will let go of them with the left hand, and lower the right slowly to the pommel of the saddle. To do this regularly, the horse must neither increase nor diminish the speed of his pace, and his head and neck continue to preserve their proper position. The first few times that the horse is thus given up to himself, he will perhaps only take a few steps while keeping in position, and at the same rate of speed; the rider ought then to make his legs felt first, and the hand afterwards, to bring him into his previous position. The frequent repet.i.tion of this lowering of the hand, after a complete placing of the horse's head in a perpendicular position, will give him a most exquisite mouth, and the rider a still greater delicacy of touch. The means of guiding employed by the latter will immediately be answered by the horse, if his forces have been previously disposed in a perfectly harmonious state.

The lowerings of the hand ought to be practised first at a walk, then at a trot, afterwards at a gallop. This semblance of liberty gives such confidence to the horse that he gives up without knowing it; he becomes our submissive slave, while supposing that he is preserving an entire independence.

_Of gathering the horse, or ra.s.sembler._--The preceding exercise will render easy to the rider that important part of horsemanship called _ra.s.sembler_. This has been a great deal talked about by people, as they have talked about Providence, and all the mysteries that are impenetrable to human perception. If it were allowable for us to compare small things to great, we might say that the more or less absurd theories that have been put forward upon the subject of divine power have not, fortunately, hindered in any way the unchangeable march of nature; but with regard to the progress of horsemanship, the case is not the same as to what has been said and written on the subject of the _ra.s.sembler_. The false principles propagated on this subject have made the horse the plaything and the victim of the rider's ignorance.

I proclaim it, the gathering a horse has never been understood or defined before me, for it cannot be perfectly executed without the regular application of the principles that I have developed for the first time. You will be convinced of this truth when you know that the _ra.s.sembler_ demands:

1. The suppling, partial and general, of the neck and haunches.

2. The perfect position that results from this suppling.

3. The entire absorption of the forces of the horse by the rider.

Now, as the means of obtaining these different results have never been pointed out in any treatise on horsemanship, am I not justified in saying that the true _ra.s.sembler_ has never been practised until now? It is, nevertheless, one of the indispensable conditions of the horse's education; consequently I think I am right in saying that before my method, horses of defective formation have never been properly broken.

How is the _ra.s.sembler_ defined in the schools of horsemanship? _You gather your horse by raising the hand and closing the legs._ I ask, what good can this movement of the rider do upon an animal badly formed, contracted, and that remains under the influence of all the evil propensities of its nature? This mechanical support of the hands and legs, far from preparing the horse for obedience, will only make him redouble his means of resistance, since, while giving him notice that we are about to demand a movement on his part, we remain unable to dispose his forces in such a way as to force him to it.

The real _ra.s.sembler_ consists in collecting the forces of the horse in his centre in order to ease his extremities, and give them up completely to the disposition of the rider. The animal thus finds himself transformed into a kind of balance, of which the rider is the centre-piece. The least touch upon one or other of the extremities, which represent the scales, will immediately send them in the direction we wish. The rider will know that his horse is completely gathered when he feels him ready, as it were, to rise from all four of his legs. The proper position first, and then the use of the spurs, will make this beautiful execution of the gathering easy to both horse and rider; and what splendor, grace and majesty it gives the animal! If we have been obliged at first to use the spurs in pushing this concentration of forces to its farthest limits, the legs will afterwards be sufficient to obtain the gathering necessary for the precision and elevation required in all complicated movements.

Need I recommend discretion in your demands? I think not. If the rider, having reached this stage of his horse's education, cannot comprehend and seize that fineness of touch, that delicacy of process indispensable to the right application of my principles, it will prove him devoid of every feeling of a horseman; nothing I can say can remedy this imperfection of his nature.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FORCES OF THE HORSE BY THE RIDER.

(_Continuation._)

_Of the gallop._--I have said that, until now, the greater part of the resources of horsemanship have not been understood, and had I need of another proof to support my opinion, I would draw it from the error, the suppositions, the innumerable contradictions that have been heaped together in order to explain so simple a movement as the gallop. What contrary opinions upon the means to employ to make the horse go off with his right foot? It is the support of the rider's right leg which determines the movement, one pretends; it is that of the left leg, says another; it is the equal touch of the two legs, affirms a third; no, some others remark, very seriously, you must let the horse act naturally.

How can the truth be made out in the midst of this conflict of such contrary principles? Besides, they come from such respectable sources; the most of their authors were possessed of t.i.tles and dignities which are generally only granted to merit. Have they all been deceived for a hundred and fifty years? This is not possible; for many of them joined to long practice a perfect knowledge of physics, anatomy, mathematics, etc., etc. To doubt such authorities would be as presumptuous as imprudent; it would have been considered a crime of high treason against horsemanship. So the riders kept their ignorance and the horses their bad equilibrium; and if any one succeeded, after two or three years of routine labor, in making certain horses of a privileged organization start with the desired foot, and in making them change feet finally, at a fixed point, the difficulty then was to prevent them from always repeating this movement at the same place.

Thus it is that the most palpable errors gain credit, and often are perpetuated, until there comes a practical mind, gifted with some amount of common sense, who contradicts by practice all the learned theories of its predecessors. They try hard at first to deny the knowledge of the innovator; but the ma.s.ses who instinctively know the true, and judge from what they see, soon range themselves on his side, turn their backs upon his detractors, and leave them to their solitude and vain pretensions.

To the ma.s.s of hors.e.m.e.n I address myself, when I say, either the horse is under the influence of your forces, and entirely submissive to your power, or you are struggling with him. If he gallops off with you, without your being able to modify or direct with certainty his course, it proves that, although subject to a certain extent to your power in thus consenting to carry you about, he, nevertheless, uses his instinctive forces. In this case, there is a perpetual fight going on between you and him, the chances of which depend on the temperament and caprice of the animal, upon the good or bad state of his digestion.

Changes of foot, in such a state, can only be obtained by inclining the horse very much to one side, which makes the movement both difficult and ungraceful.

If, on the contrary, the animal is made submissive to a degree that he cannot contract any one of his parts without the intervention and aid of the rider, the latter can direct at his pleasure the whole of his moving parts, and, consequently, can easily and promptly execute changes of feet.

We know the contraction of any one part of the horse reacts on the neck, and that the stiffness of this part prevents the proper execution of every movement. If, then, at the moment of setting off on a gallop, the horse stiffens one of his extremities, and consequently his neck, of what use in determining him in starting with the right foot can be the support of one or the other leg of the rider, or even of that of both at once? These means will evidently be ineffectual until we go back to the source of the resistance, for the purpose of combating and destroying it. Here, as in every other case, we see that suppleness and lightness alone can make the execution of the work easy.

If, when we wish to make the horse start with the right foot, a slight contraction of one part of the animal disposes him to start with the left foot, and we persist in inducing the pace, we must employ two forces on the same side, viz.: the left leg and the left hand; the first to determine the movement, the second to combat the contrary disposition of the horse.

But when the horse, perfectly supple and gathered, only brings his parts into play after the impression given them by the rider, the latter, in order to start with the right foot, ought to combine an opposition of forces proper for keeping the horse in equilibrium, while placing him in the position required for the movement. He will then bear the hand to the left, and press his right leg. Here we see that the means mentioned above, necessary when the horse is not properly placed, would be wrong when the animal is properly placed, since it would destroy the harmony then existing between his forces.

This short explanation will, I hope, suffice to make it understood that things should be studied thoroughly before laying down any principles of action. Let us have no more systems, then, upon the exclusive use of such or such leg to determine the gallop; but a settled conviction that the first condition of this or any other performance is to keep the horse supple and light--that is _ra.s.semble_; then, after this, to make use of one or the other motive power, according as the animal, at the start, preserves a proper position, or seeks to leave it. It must also be understood that, while it is the force that gives the position to the horse, it is position alone upon which the regularity of movement depends.

Pa.s.sing frequently from the gallop with the right foot to that with the left, in a straight line, and with halts, will soon bring the horse to make these changes of feet by the touch without halting. Violent effects of force should be avoided, which would bewilder the horse and destroy his lightness. We must remember that this lightness which should precede all changes of pace and direction, and make every movement easy, graceful and inevitable, is the important condition we should seek before everything else.

It is because they have not understood this principle, and have not felt that the first condition to dispose a horse for the gallop is to destroy all the instinctive forces of the animal (forces that oppose the position the movement demands), that hors.e.m.e.n have laid down so many erroneous principles, and have all remained unable to show us the proper means to be employed.

_Of leaping the ditch and the bar._--Although the combinations of equestrian science alone cannot give to every horse the energy and vigor necessary to clear a ditch or a bar, there are, nevertheless, principles by the aid of which we will succeed in partly supplying the deficiencies in the natural formation of the animal. By giving a good direction to the forces, we will facilitate the rise and freedom of the bound. I do not pretend by this, to say, that a horse of ordinary capabilities will attain the same height and elegance in this movement as one that is well const.i.tuted, but he will, at least, be able to display in it all the resources of his organization to more purpose.

The great thing is to bring the horse to attempt this performance with good will. If all the processes prescribed by me for mastering the instinctive forces of the animal, and putting him under the influence of ours, have been punctually followed, the utility of this progression will be recognized by the facility we have of making the horse clear all the objects that are encountered in his way. For the rest, recourse must never be had, in case of a contest, to violent means, such as a whip in the hands of a second person; nor should we seek to excite the animal by cries; this could only produce a moral effect calculated to frighten him. It is by physical means that we should before all bring him to obedience, since they alone will enable him to understand and execute.

We should then carry on the contest calmly, and seek to surmount the forces that lead him to refuse, by acting directly on them. To make the horse leap, we will wait till he responds freely to the legs and spur, in order to have always a sure means of government.

The bar will remain on the ground until the horse goes over it without hesitation; it will then be raised some inches, progressively increasing the height until the animal will be just able to clear it without too violent an effort. To exceed this proper limit would be to risk causing a disgust on the part of the horse that should be most carefully avoided. The bar having been thus gradually raised, ought to be made fast, in order that the horse, disposed to be indolent, should not make sport of an obstacle which would be no longer serious, when the touch of his feet sufficed to overturn it. The bar ought not to be wrapped in any covering that would lessen its hardness; we should be severe when we demand possibilities, and avoid the abuses that always result from an ill-devised complaisance.

Before preparing to take the leap, the rider should hold himself sufficiently firm to prevent his body preceding the motion of the horse.

His loins should be supple, his b.u.t.tocks well fixed to the saddle, so that he may experience no shock nor violent reaction. His thighs and legs exactly enveloping the body and sides of the horse will give him a power always opportune and infallible. The hand in its natural position will feel the horse's mouth in order to judge of the effects of impulsion. It is in this position that the rider should conduct the horse towards the obstacle; if he comes up to it with the same freedom of pace, a light opposition of the legs and hand will facilitate the elevation of the fore-hand, and the bound of the posterior extremity. As soon as the horse is raised, the hand ceases its effect, to be again sustained when the fore legs touch the ground, and to prevent them giving way under the weight of the body.

We should content ourselves with executing a few leaps in accordance with the horse's powers, and, above all, avoid pushing bravado to the point of wishing to force the animal to clear obstacles that are beyond his powers. I have known very good leapers that people have succeeded in thus disgusting forever, so that no efforts could induce them to clear things only half the height of those that at first they leaped with ease.

_Of the piaffer._[R]--Until now, hors.e.m.e.n have maintained that the nature of each horse permits of only a limited number of movements, and that if there are some that can be brought to execute a _piaffer_ high and elegant, or low and precipitate, there are a great number of them to whom this exercise is for ever interdicted. Their construction, they say, is opposed to it; it is then nature that has so willed it; ought we not to bow before this supreme arbiter, and respect its decrees?

[R] "The _piaffer_ is the horse's raising his legs diagonally, as in the trot, but without advancing or receding."--_Baucher's_ "_Dictionnaire d'Equitation._"

This opinion is undoubtedly convenient for justifying its own ignorance, but it is none the less false. _We can bring all horses to piaffer_, and I will prove that in this particularly, without reforming the work of nature, without deranging the formation of the bones, or that of the muscles of the animal, we can remedy the consequences of its physical imperfections, and change the vicious disposition occasioned by faulty construction. There is no doubt that the horse whose forces and weight are collected in one of his extremities will be unfit to execute the elegant cadence of the _piaffer_. But a graduated exercise, the completion of which is the _ra.s.sembler_, soon allows us to remedy such an inconvenience. We can now reunite all these forces in their true centre of gravity, and the horse that bears the _ra.s.sembler_ perfectly has all the necessary qualifications for the _piaffer_.

For the _piaffer_ to be regular and graceful, it is necessary that the horse's legs, moved diagonally, rise together and fall in the same way upon the ground at as long intervals as possible. The animal ought not to bear more upon the hand than upon the legs of the rider, that his equilibrium may present the perfection of that balance of which I have spoken in another place. When the centre of the forces is thus disposed in the middle of the body, and when the _ra.s.sembler_ is perfect, it is sufficient, in order to induce a commencement of _piaffer_, to communicate to the horse with the legs a vibration at first slight, but often repeated. By vibration I mean an invigoration of forces, of which the rider ought always to be the agent.

After this first result, the horse will be put at a walk, and the rider's legs gradually brought close, will give the animal a slight increase of action. Then, but only then, the hand will sustain itself in time with the legs, and at the same intervals, in order that these two motive powers, acting conjointly, may keep up a succession of imperceptible movements, and produce a slight contraction which will spread itself over the whole body of the horse. This reiterated activity will give the extremities a first mobility, which at the beginning will be far from regular, since the increase of action that this new exercise makes necessary will for the moment break the harmonious uniformity of the forces. But this general action is necessary in order to obtain even an irregular mobility, for without it the movement would be disorderly, and there would be a want of harmony among the different springs. We will content ourselves, for the first few days, with a commencement of mobility of the extremities, being careful to stop each time that the horse raises or puts down his feet, without advancing them too much, in order to caress him, and speak to him, and thus calm the invigoration that a demand, the object of which he does not understand, must cause in him. Nevertheless, these caresses should be employed with discernment, and when the horse has done well, for if badly applied they would be rather injurious than useful. The fit time for ceasing with the hands and legs is more important still; it demands all the rider's attention.

The mobility of the legs once obtained, we can commence to regulate it, and fix the intervals of the cadence. Here again, I seek in vain to indicate with the pen the degree of delicacy necessary in the rider's proceedings, since his motions ought to be answered by the horse with an exactness and _a propos_ that is unequaled. It is by the alternated support of the two legs that he will succeed in prolonging the lateral balancings of the horse's body, in such way as to keep him longer on one side or the other. He will seize the moment when the horse prepares to rest his fore leg on the ground, to make the pressure of his own leg felt on the same side, and add to the inclination of the animal in the same direction. If this time is well seized, the horse will balance himself slowly, and the cadence will acquire that elevation so fit to bring out all its elegance and all its majesty. These times of the legs are difficult, and require great practice; but their results are too splendid for the rider not to strive to seize the light variations of them.

The precipitate movement of the rider's legs accelerates also the _piaffer_. It is he, then, who regulates at will the greater or less degree of quickness of the cadence. The performance of the _piaffer_ is not elegant and perfect until the horse performs it without repugnance, which will always be the case when the forces are kept together, and the position is suitable to the demands of the movement. It is urgent, then, to be well acquainted with the amount of force necessary for the performance of the _piaffer_, so as not to overdo it. We should, above all, be careful to keep the horse _ra.s.semble_, which, of itself, will induce the movement without effort.

CHAPTER VIII.

DIVISION OF THE WORK.