Chapter XII: Conclusion

Everybody complains now-a-days of the degeneration of our breeds of horses. Apprehensive too late of a state of things which threatens even the national independence,[U] patriotic spirits are seeking to go back to the source of the evil, and are arranging divers systems for remedying it as soon as possible. Among the causes which have contributed the most to the loss of our old breeds, they forget, it seems to me, to mention the decline of horsemanship, nor do they consider that the revival of this art is indispensable in bringing about the regeneration of the horse.

[U] Much in this chapter, though written for France, applies
with great appropriateness to our own country.

The difficulties of horsemanship have long been the same, but formerly constant practice, if not taste, kept it up; these stimulants exist no longer. Fifty years ago, every man of rank was expected to be able to handle a horse with skill, and break one if necessary. This study was an indispensable part of the education of young people of family; and as it obliged them to devote two or three years to the rough exercises of the _manège_, in the end they all became horsemen, some by taste, the rest by habit. These habits once acquired were preserved throughout life; they then felt the necessity of possessing good horses, and men of fortune spared nothing in getting them. The sale of fine horses thus became easy; all gained by it, the breeder as well as the horse. It is not so now; the aristocracy of fortune, succeeding to that of birth, is very willing to possess the advantages of the latter, but would dispense with the onerous obligations which appertained to an elevated rank. The desire of showing off in public places, or motives still more frivolous, sometimes lead gentlemen of our times to commence the study of horsemanship, but, soon wearied of a work without satisfactory results, they find only a monotonous fatigue where they sought a pleasure, and are satisfied they know enough as soon as they can stick passably well in the saddle. So insufficient a knowledge of horsemanship, as dangerous as it is thoughtless, must necessarily occasion sad accidents. They then become disgusted with horsemanship and horses, and as nothing obliges them to continue the exercise, they give it up nearly altogether, and so much the more easily as they naturally care very little about the breeds of horses and their perfection. We must then, as a preliminary measure in the improvement of horses, raise up horsemanship from the low state into which it has fallen. The government can undoubtedly do much here; but it is for the masters of the art to supply, if necessary, what it leaves undone. Let them render attractive and to the purpose studies which have hitherto been too monotonous and often barren; let rational and true principles make the scholar see a real progress, that each of his efforts brings a success with it; and we will soon see young persons of fortune become passionately fond of an exercise which has been rendered as interesting to them as it is noble, and discover, with their love for horses, a lively solicitude for all that concerns their qualities and education.

But horsemen can aim at still more brilliant results. If they succeed in rendering easy the education of common horses, they will make the study of horsemanship popular among the masses; they will put within reach of moderate fortunes, so numerous in our land of equality, the practice of an art that has hitherto been confined to the rich. Such has been the aim of the labors of my whole life. It is in the hope of attaining this end that I give to the public the fruit of my long researches.

But I should say, however, that if I was upheld by the hope of being one day useful to my country, it was the army above all that occupied my thoughts. Though counting many skillful horsemen in its ranks, the system they are made to follow, impotent in my eyes, is the true cause of the equestrian inferiority of so many, as well as of their horses being so awkward and badly broken. I might add that to the same motive is to be attributed the little taste for horsemanship felt by the officers and soldiers. How can it be otherwise? The low price allowed by government for horses of remount, causes few horses of good shape to be met with in the army, and it is only of these that the education is easy. The officers themselves, mounted upon a very common sort of horses, strive in vain to render them docile and agreeable. After two or three years of fatiguing exercise, they end by gaining a mechanical obedience, but the same resistances and the same faults of construction are perpetually recurring. Disgusted by difficulties that appear insurmountable, they trouble themselves no more about horses and horsemanship than the demands of the service actually require.

Yet it is indispensable that a cavalry officer be always master of his horse, so much so as to be able, so to say, to communicate his own thoughts to him; the uniformity of manoeres, the necessities of command, the perils of the battle-field, all demand it imperatively. The life of the rider, every one knows, often depends upon the good or bad disposition of his steed; in the same way the loss or the gain of a battle often hangs on the degree of precision in manoeuvring a squadron. My method will give military men a taste for horsemanship, a taste which is indispensable in the profession they practise. The nature of officers' horses, considered as so defective, is exactly the one upon which the most satisfactory results may be obtained. These animals generally possess a certain degree of energy, and as soon as we know how rightly to use their powers by remedying the physical faults that paralyze them, we will be astonished at the resources they will exhibit. The rider fashioning the steed by degrees will regard him as the work of his hand, will become sincerely attached to him, and will find as much charm in horsemanship as he previously felt _ennui_ and disgust. My principles are simple, easy in their application, and within the reach of every mind. They can everywhere make (what is now so rare) skillful horsemen. I am sure that if my method is adopted and well understood in the army, where the daily exercise of the horse is a necessary duty, we will see equestrian capacities spring up among the officers and sub-officers by thousands. There is not one among them who, with an hour a day of study would not soon be able to give any horse in less than three months the following qualities and education:

1. General suppling.

2. Perfect lightness.

3. Graceful position.

4. A steady walk.

5. Trot steady, measured, extended.

6. Backing as easily and freely as going forward.

7. Gallop easy with either foot, and change of foot by the touch.

8. Easy and regular movement of the haunches, comprising ordinary and reversed _pirouettes_.

9. Leaping the ditch and the bar.

10. _Piaffer._

11. Halt from the gallop, by the aid of first, the pressure of the legs, and then a light support of the hand. I ask all conscientious men: have they seen many horsemen of renown obtain similar results in so short a time?

The education of the men's horses, being less complicated than that of those intended for officers, would on that account be more rapid. The principal things will be the supplings and the backing, followed by the walk, the trot and the gallop, while keeping the horse perfectly in hand. The colonels will soon appreciate the excellent results of this exercise, in consequence of the precision with which all the movements are made. The important flexions of the fore-hand can be executed without leaving the stables, each rider turning his horse around in the stall. It is not for me to point out to the colonels of regiments the exact way of putting my method in practice; it is enough for me to lay down my principles and to explain them. The instructors will themselves supply the details of application too long to enumerate here.

I must again repeat, this book is the fruit of twenty years of observation constantly verified by practice. A long and painful work without doubt, but what compensation I have found in the results I have been happy enough to obtain. In order to let the public judge of the importance of my discoveries, it is sufficient here to give their nomenclature, and I present these processes as new ones, because I can conscientiously say that they never were practised before me. I have added then successively to the manual of the horseman the following principles and innovations:

1. New means of obtaining a good seat.

2. Means of making the horse come to the man, and rendering him steady to mount.

3. Distinction between the instinctive forces of the horse and the communicated forces.

4. Explanation of the influence of a bad formation upon the horse's resistances.

5. Effect of bad formations on the neck and croup, the principal focuses of resistance.

6. Means of remedying the faults, or supplings of the two extremities, and the whole of the horse's body.

7. Annihilation of the instinctive forces of the horse, in order to substitute for them forces transmitted by the rider, and to give ease and beauty of motion to the ungraceful animal.

8. Equality of sensibility of mouth in all horses; adoption of a uniform bit.

9. Equality of sensibility of flanks in all horses; means of accustoming them all to bear the spur alike.

10. All horses can place their heads in the position of _ramener_ and acquire the same lightness.

11. Means of bringing the centre of gravity in a badly-formed horse to the place it occupies in a well-formed one.

12. The rider disposes his horse for a moment, but he does not determine the movement.

13. Why sound horses often are faulty in their paces. Means of remedying this in a few lessons.

14. For changes of direction, use of the leg opposite to the side towards which we turn, so that it may precede the other one.

15. In all backward movements of the horse the rider's legs ought to precede the hands.

16. Distinction between the _reculer_ and the _acculement_; the good effect of the former in the horse's education; the bad effect of the latter.

17. The use of the spurs as a means of education.

18. All horses can _piaffer_; means of rendering this movement slow or precipitate.

19. Definition of the true _rassembler_; means of obtaining it; of its usefulness to produce grace and regularity in complicated movements.

20. Means of bringing all horses to step out freely at a trot.

21. Rational means of putting a horse at a gallop.

22. Halt at a gallop, the legs or the spur preceding the hand.

23. Force continued in proportion to the forces of the horse; the rider should never yield until after having _annulled_ the horse's resistances.

24. Education of the horse in parts, or means of exercising his forces separately.

25. Complete education of horses of ordinary formation in less than three months.

26. Sixteen new figures of the _manège_ proper for giving the finishing touch to the horse's education, and for perfecting the rider's touch.

It is understood that all the details of application appertaining to these innovations are new also, and likewise belong to me.

THE END.

INDEX.

Backing, 64-107

Back to, with a halt, 111

Bit, false and true, yielding to the, 55
" form of, 57
" pressure of the, 54

Breaking, succinct exposition of the method of, 113

Croup, flexions of the, 59

Gallop, of the, 91

Horse, concentration by the rider of the forces of the, 78
" education of the, 23
" " " first lesson, 100
" " " second lesson, 101
" " " third " , 101
" " " fourth " , 102
" " " fifth " , 102
" employment of the forces of the, by the rider, 69
" gathering the, 88
" how to make him come to you, 35
" of the forces of the, 35
" resting his chin on his breast, 53
" education of Partisan, Capitaine, Neptune and Buridan, 104

Jaw, flexion of the, 36

Knees, flexions of the, 22

Leaping, 94

Legs, flexions of the, 21

Neck, depression of the, 40
" direct flexions of the head and, 48
" lateral " " on foot, 45
" " " " " horseback, 47

Piaffer, the, 94

Riding, preparatory lessons for, 19

Saddles, exercises in the, 19

Seat, new means for obtaining a good, 17
" of the rider, 18

Spurs, the use of the, 78

Supplings, the head and neck, 32-58
" Recapitulations, 67

Trot, the, 74
" " backward, 109

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