Bauchers Horse. 71 



enigma to the untrained one, that he is unable to 

 ride him at even his quiet gaits. 



One of my friends in Touraine used in his 

 youth to be a pupil of the famous Baucher. He 

 once told me how, at the instigation of his class- 

 mates, he begged hard for many days to be al- 

 lowed to ride the master's favorite horse, with 

 whom he was apt to join his higher classes. My 

 friend flattered himself that he could manage any 

 horse, as he had long ridden under Baucher's in- 

 struction. As an example to the class, the master 

 finally gave way. But the experiment was short. 

 My friend soon found that he was so much less 

 accomplished than the high-strung beast that he 

 was utterly unable to manage or control him, 

 much less to perform any of the School airs, and 

 he was by no means sorry when his feat of equi- 

 tation was terminated by so dangerous a rear that 

 Baucher deemed it wise to come to the rescue. 

 My friend's hands, though well drilled, were so 

 much less delicate than the horse's mouth, that 

 the latter had at first mistaken some peculiar un- 

 steadiness as the indication for a pirouette, to 

 which he had obediently risen ; but then, on feel- 

 ing some additional unsteadiness of the reins, he 

 had, in his uncertainty and confusion, reared quite 

 beyond control. Yet under the master this horse's 

 habit of obedience was so confirmed that he was 

 apparently as moderate as any courageous horse 



