COMMENTARIES ON BAUCHER. 339 



his horse, and thus obtain two or three powerful strides, which 

 will enable him to win. Such a force has the appearance of 

 being transmitted, but in reality the jockey simply stimulates 

 by his vigorous action, all the remaining energy of the horse, 

 and makes him go at his maximum speed for two or three 

 ■seconds. 



Let us take another case of horses being exhausted when 

 returning from a long hunt, and when going down a steep 

 incline, at the bottom of which there is a ditch, at which some 

 of them, not being well supported by their rider's legs, stumble 

 or fall. One of the riders, on the contrary, spurs his animal 

 sharply and thus prevents him making a mistake, by doing 

 which he appears to transmit force to him at that moment. 

 In reality, he only stimulates the energy of his horse^ whose 

 natural force saves them both. 



Let us take a high school horse, when he is at the end of 

 his work and has lost his "go," as sometimes happens. If 

 I wish him to do some energetic movements, I am obliged to 

 have recourse to the spurs, and I use a certain amount of vigour 

 to make him answer to their attacks ; but instead of trans- 

 mitting force to him, I merely awaken his energy, which he 

 puts into action. 



To .sum up : the rider does not transmit force to his horse, 

 whose natural forces he directs, moderates, or excites at his 

 pleasure. 



I am inclined to think that Baucher simply wished to say 

 that whenever a horse tries to take the initiative in using his 

 own natural forces, the rider should stop or direct them, 

 especially if the animal wants to " play up," as, for instance, by 

 plunging, rearing, or spinning round. But w^hen a horse puts 

 forth all his energy to do a good walk, a grand trot, or a well- 

 marked canter, I don't think that we ought to try to destroy it. 

 Baucher neither destroyed nor transmitted forces ; he directed 

 them. He obtained control of the horse's powers by suppling 



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