PREFACE 



I CAXXOT too strongly recommend this excellent and 

 comprehensive work of Colonel Blacque Belair's to all 

 students of the Art of Equitation. It has been of the 

 utmost assistance to those who have, during the past 

 year, been entrusted with the task of teaching, though 

 perforce hurriedly, the elements of this complex 

 subject. 



It has, I think, been conclusively proved, more 

 than ever during the present war, that any time spent 

 on Equitation, whether applied to trooper or troop 

 horse, has not been wasted. 



As the life-taking mechanical appliances improve 

 in efficiency, so must the Cavalry, by means of their 

 training, increase their power to manoeuvre rapidly, 

 and adopt with the maximum speed and smoothness, 

 formations which are at the same time elastic and 

 comprehensive. 



The Germans, in March, 1918, found to their cost 

 that without Cavalry their army was not able to reap 

 the fruits of victory. The Allies, by means of theirs, 

 have been able to strike decisive blows in all the many 

 theatres of war. 



Equitation is the basis on which the whole training 



