26 ANGLO-FRENCH HORSEMANSHIP 



different airs of the High School, I could not hide from 

 myself the fact that the result was not always the same 

 with my pupils ; many of whom made their horses 

 restive. It therefore became necessary to avoid this 

 inconvenience, and I tried whether in treating the 

 flanks with that gentleness which proved so successful 

 with the mouth I could not attain the same results. 

 I accordingly tried spurs with round, smooth-edged 

 rowels, and obtained such excellent results that I 

 definitely adopted them." 



Baucher also expressed the opinion that it was as 

 dangerous to allow a bad horseman to wear sharp 

 spurs as to place a razor in the hands of a 

 monkey. 



The effect of a spur apphed against the flanks 

 should be to cause a horse to pick up a hind leg and 

 bring it forward * : consequently it makes him lengthen 

 or shorten his stride according as it is applied on the 

 side of the hind leg which is prepared to come forward, 

 or on the other side ; it is not so much the prick that 

 the horse objects to as the confusion consequent on the 

 application of both spurs at the same time to the 

 flanks ; if only one is used, the horse readily answers 

 to the order ; if both spurs are applied, one should 

 touch the flanks, and the other near the elbow, so that 

 the horse can answer to one spur with a hind leg, and 

 to the other with a fore leg, and raise his action. When 

 applied in these ways the spurs are an aid ; when both 

 strike the sides opposite one another sharply, they are a 

 punishment, or collectors. 



Lieutenant de Saint Phalle in his excellent treatise 

 says that " he cannot bring himself to consider the 



* This can be taught with a spxir stick, an assistant touching 

 the hind leg with a whip as the spur is applied to the side. 



