Page:Equitation.djvu/303

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ters, they also will obtain the step mounted and without aid.

I have now arrived at the point which I had in view, when, in discussing such movements as gallop, change of direction, shoulder-in, and the like, I disputed the ideas of Baucher and Fillis as to the effects which should be applied. The reader will find that what now follows will be clearer if he will refer back to the portions of the book where these topics were earlier discussed.

Baucher and Fillis teach the Spanish walk only when mounted, just as I do. Why, then, have, these grand masters fallen into the error of applying certain principles to certain movements, and yet disallowing these same principles in similar cases?

I quote, by way of example, Baucher's theory of the Spanish walk, the italics mine. To the portion in italics, I call the reader's special attention.

"One understands by Spanish walk the action of a horse which, in walking, gives all the extension possible to each of its front legs alternately. ... In order to obtain this movement, it is first necessary to force the horse to sustain one of its legs in the air. One will arrive at this promptly by flexing the head of the horse, for example, to the right with the rein of the snaffle or the bridle. That position taken, one will carry the hand holding the bridle to the left, while at the same time sustaining the horse strongly by means of his own legs. Nevertheless, the left [leg] will be applied to the flank with more energy, to make opposition to