trainer should be satisfied. He should then proceed, by calmness, moderation, and equestrian tact, to regulate and to establish the rhythm and cadence of each diagonal stride, their height and tempo. With time and moderation, the horse, more or less excited at the beginning, will calm itself, will understand better the cadence demanded by the esquire, and with the habit of calmness will respond to the timing of the effects of hands and legs. Then, by diminishing little by little the rapidity of the step, the horse is finally brought to the slow piaffer, the only really perfect and scientific form.
The slow piaffer is the poetry of action of the horse in motion and is admitted by all schools to be the crown of the scientific equitation. Baucher, Fillis, and I employ the quick piaffer only as a means of obtaining the slow, since we consider this to be the only difficult and desirable form. The two grand masters regard the slow piaffer as the absolute proof of the state of equilibrium in motion, and therefore as the most difficult of the low airs. I too accept the slow piaffer as the proof of equilibrium in motion, but I also employ it as a part of my system of physical culture, to develop the muscles of the horse's back, loins, and haunches. (Figures 34, 35.)
Baucher and Fillis, as I have already explained, do not attempt the piaffer with their horses until the diagonal effect is well understood, as in the Spanish walk, Spanish trot, and passage. Baucher,
