For the pirouette, turn your back to the door. The hinges are now the horse's hind legs, and your single pair are the horse's fore legs. Once more, swing the door from right to left, and follow it with your feet, by shifting the right foot across in front of the other, and then passing the left foot between the door and the right to its usual position.
Do not, I repeat, attempt to execute these figures on horseback, until you are sure that you understand precisely each detail. After that, if you proceed with moderation, the movements are so easy that, like everybody else who has tried it, you will laugh at the novices who have not yet caught the idea.
When the pirouette is properly done at the walk, it can be tried at the trot, but only after the horse has so far advanced in its education as to trot properly. The chief difficulty with the pirouette at the trot is to gauge accurately the horse's sensitiveness to each of your effects. Otherwise, it may cross its legs too quickly, and in order to avoid the tendency to fall, which is greater at the trot than at the walk, it is likely to change to the gallop, preferring to execute the figure at this gait rather than at the trot.
At the gallop, the pirouette should always be asked at the same hand or same side at which the horse leads—the right-hand pirouette to the right, and vice versa.
