304 Among Men and Horses. 



about high school riding, and, if possible, buying a well- 

 broken manege horse. 



Had we not been people of impulse, we would have 

 thought out the matter, made due inquiries, and would have 

 refrained from invading the capital of France at a time when 

 ' everyone ' was out of it ; but then the great pleasure of 

 yielding to the temptation of the moment would have been 

 lost. We were disappointed chiefly at not being able to see 

 Mr James Fillis, who had gone to Berlin under an engage- 

 ment to ride in Renz's Circus. We had an obliging and 

 efficient guide in M. Charles Sorel, who being a Parisian, 

 a high school rider, and an assistant at the Cirque d'Ete, 

 knew all the places which would be interesting to us. 

 Besides, as he was well acquainted with the English system 

 of riding, having lived in England and also stayed with 

 Captain Fitzgerald at the Royal Military Riding School, 

 Gloucester Crescent ; he was able to understand our difficul- 

 ties, and explain the points of variance between the English 

 methods and those of the high school. In this research I 

 must acknowledge the great assistance I received from the 

 reading of Dr Le Bon's book, Equitation Actuelle, in which 

 many instructive and original views of this subject are 

 described. Our experience in Paris taught us the very note- 

 worthy truth, which had hitherto remained unknown to us, 

 that Pequitation savante (to adopt the term which French 

 high school professors love to apply to their art) is a system 

 of horse dancing, or horse deportment. However useful it 

 may be as a 'setting-up drill,' it is inapplicable to ordinary 

 and long-continued requirements, on account of progression, 

 according to it, being performed under unusually fatiguing 

 conditions, and because the horse is deprived of the initia- 

 tive. For a long journey or for cross country work, keeping 

 a horse at the rassembler would be as appropriate as attempt- 

 ing to utilise the 'goose step' for a day's march. The 

 required abnormal ' collection ' is obtained principally by the 

 spur, one of the chief maxims of la haute ecole being beaucoup 



