86 KiDiiq^a akd training saddle-hokses. 



so that lie shall, in fact, make no account at all of his 

 own will, but execute that of the man instead. 



'We are aware that this sounds like an impossibility, 

 but any one who will faithfully study and practice Bau- 

 cher's system, will soon see that any horse of tolerable 

 form and strength, and of average courage and temper, 

 may be brought to this state of discipline without diffi- 

 culty. 



The peculiarities of the method are thus set forth by 

 Mr. Phillipps : *'It begins by enabling the horseman to 

 take complete possession of the horse's faculties while at 

 rest and in slow motion. This ascendency, once gained, 

 need neyer be lost ; because a good horseman is always 

 able to reduce his horse to that state in which it can be 

 successfully re-asserted. The horse is, in this manner, 

 soon made to perceiye that if he escapes from the equilib- 

 rium required by his rider, when at a pace which gives 

 him the opportunity of doing so, he will immediately 

 find himself brought back to a pace at which he may be 

 forcibly prevented from doing so. When he once under- 

 stands this truth, his self-will is subdued forever." 



Baucher teaches that the horse does his work easily to 

 himself and pleasantly to his rider only when he moves 

 under the rider's weight, and in obedience to his direc- 

 tions, with the same ease and gi^ace, the same perfect 

 equilibrium, as when playing with horses in an open pas- 

 ture. A horse moving in a state of freedom carries his 

 hind-legs so far under him that they carry the weight of 

 the hinder part of his body in the easiest way, and so 

 give the front-legs only their proper share of work to do. 

 The neck is left perfectly free to carry the head in what- 



