New Method of Horsemanship Part 7

I have developed all the means to be employed in completing the horse's education; it remains for me to say how the horseman ought to divide his work, in order to connect the different exercises and pa.s.s by degrees from the simple to the complicated.

Two months of work, consisting of two lessons a day of a half hour each--that is to say, one hundred and twenty lessons--will be amply sufficient to bring the greenest horse to perform regularly all the preceding exercises. I hold to two short lessons a day, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon; they are necessary to obtain good results.

We disgust a young horse by keeping him too long at exercises that fatigue him, the more so as his intelligence is less prepared to understand what we wish to demand of him. On the other hand, an interval of twenty-four hours is too long, in my opinion, for the animal to remember the next day what he had comprehended the day before.

The general work will be divided into five series or lessons, distributed in the following order:

_First lesson. Eight days of work._--The first twenty minutes of this lesson will be devoted to the stationary exercise for the flexions of the jaw and neck; the rider first on foot, and then on horseback, will follow the progression I have previously indicated. During the last ten minutes, he will make the horse go forward at a walk without trying to animate him, but applying himself all the while to keeping his head in the position of _ramener_. He will content himself with executing a single change of hand, in order to go as well to the right hand as to the left. The fourth or fifth day, the rider, before putting his horse in motion, will make him commence some slight flexions of the croup.

_Second lesson. Ten days of work._--The first fifteen minutes will be occupied in the stationary supplings, comprising the flexions of the croup performed more completely than in the preceding lesson; then will begin the backing. We will devote the other half of the lesson to the moving straight ahead, once or twice taking the trot at a very moderate pace. The rider during this second part of the work, without ceasing to pay attention to the _ramener_, will yet commence light oppositions of hands and legs, in order to prepare the horse to bear the combined effects, and to give regularity to his paces. We will also commence the changes of direction at a walk, while preserving the _ramener_, and being careful to make the head and neck always go first.

_Third lesson. Twelve days of work._--Six or eight minutes only will at first be occupied in the stationary flexions; those of the hind-parts should be pushed to the completion of the reversed _pirouettes_. We will continue by the backing; then all the rest of the lesson will be devoted to perfecting the walk and the trot, commencing at this latter pace the changes of direction. The rider will often stop the horse, and continue to watch attentively the _ramener_ during the changes of pace or direction. He will also commence the exercise _de deux pistes_ at a walk, as well as the rotation of the shoulders around the haunches.

_Fourth lesson. Fifteen days of work._--After five minutes being devoted to the stationary supplings, the rider will first repeat all the work of the preceding lessons; he will commence, with a steady foot, the _attaques_,[S] in order to confirm the _ramener_ and prepare the _ra.s.sembler_. He will renew the _attaques_ while in motion, and when the horse bears them patiently, he will commence the gallop. He will content himself in the commencement with executing four or five lopes only before resuming the walk, and then start again with a different foot, unless the horse requires being exercised more often on one foot than the other. In pa.s.sing from the gallop to the walk, we should watch with care that the horse resumes this latter pace as quickly as possible without taking short steps on a trot, all the while keeping the head and neck light. He will only be exercised at the gallop at the end of each lesson.

[S] The use of the spurs.

_Fifth lesson. Fifteen days of work._--These last fifteen days will be occupied in a.s.suring the perfect execution of all the preceding work, and in perfecting the pace of the gallop until we can execute easily changes of direction, changes of feet at every step, and pa.s.saging. We can then exercise the horse at leaping the bar and at the _piaffer_.

Thus in two months, and upon any horse, we will have accomplished a work that formerly required years, and then often gave incomplete results.

And I repeat, however insufficient so short a s.p.a.ce of time may appear, it will produce the effect I promise, if you follow exactly all my directions. I have demonstrated this upon a hundred different occasions, and many of my pupils are able to prove it as well as myself.

In establishing the above order of work, be it well understood that I found myself on the dispositions of horses in general. A horseman of any tact will soon understand the modifications that he ought to make in their application, according to the particular nature of his pupil. Such a horse, for example, will require more or less persistence in the flexions; another one in the backing; this one, dull and apathetic, will require the use of the spurs before the time I have indicated. All this is an affair of intelligence; it would be to insult my readers not to suppose them capable of supplying to the details what it is elsewhere impossible to particularize. You can readily understand that there are irritable, ill-disposed horses, whose defective dispositions have been made worse by previous bad management. With such subjects it is necessary to put more persistence into the supplings and the walk. In every case, whatever the slight modifications that the difference in the dispositions of the subjects render necessary, I persist in saying that there are no horses whose education ought not to be completed by my method in the s.p.a.ce I designate. I mean here, that this time is sufficient to give the forces of the horse the fitness necessary for executing all the movements; the finish of education depends finally on the nicety of touch of the rider. In fact, my method has the advantages of recognizing no limits to the progress of equitation, and there is no performance _equestrianly_ possible that a horseman who understands properly applying my principles cannot make his horse execute. I am about to give a convincing proof in support of this a.s.sertion, by explaining the sixteen new figures of the _manege_ that I have added to the collection of the old masters.

CHAPTER IX.

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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 t.i.tles 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 _ra.s.semble_. 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 repet.i.tion 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. Pa.s.sing 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 quant.i.ty 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 _ra.s.sembler_, 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 quant.i.ty 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 _ra.s.semble_ 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 _ra.s.sembler_ 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 _ra.s.sembler_, 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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.