54 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA 



doctor remained at the court, the Raja must of course die ; 

 but that if he was removed, no accident could occur. So 

 the Raja sent a petition to Government for the recall of the 

 doctor, who thus lost a good appointment that he might have 

 held for the many years during which the Raja continued 

 spirit-proof. 



At St. Petersburg, Ciniselli's circus is a great rendezvous 

 for the world and his wife on Sunday evenings. This 

 circus was established under imperial patronage by Gaetano 

 Ciniselli, who was a distinguished school rider and pupil 

 of Baucher, the great high priest of la 'haiite e'cole. I may 

 explain that this is the art by which a rider can make his 

 horse do such things as cantering backwards, cantering on 

 three legs, performing the Spanish trot, and other wonderful 

 and equally useless airs de manege, the performance of which 

 are regarded by Russian officers as the highest proofs of 

 good training and fine horsemanship. To do any of these 

 movements, the horse has to go through a long course of 

 special instruction ; and after that, he is not more capable 

 than he was before, of doing anything spontaneous. For 

 instance, the best school rider in the world on the most 

 highly trained school horse, could not get him to change 

 from a trot into an amble without the animal having been 

 previously taught to do so. I venture here to repeat some 

 remarks I made on high school riding in Among Men and 

 Horses, which book is now out of print and will not be 

 again published. To obtain the desired precision in this 

 circus work, it is necessary that the horse should resign the 

 initiative absolutely to his rider, who, consequently, has to 

 continue the application of certain aids (reins, whip and spurs), 

 or change them as may be required. For instance, if a horse 

 is cantering forward with the off fore leading, and the rider 

 turns him to the left without altering the aids, the animal 

 will continue to lead with the off fore, instead of changing 



