translator's preface. 25 



Thus, thirty-five lessons have sufficed to 

 perfect the instruction of the tractable as 

 well as the intractable horses confided to 

 me. The first rough work with the horse 

 — that is to say, the exercises with the 

 snaffle prescribed by the orders — used to 

 take up as much time as this, and then we 

 scarcely dared to touch the curb-rein. In 

 this view, the new system is of great utility 

 for cavalry. 



" But the promptness with which we can 

 put new horses in the ranks is not the only 

 advantage the new method presents; it 

 guarantees, besides, the preservation of the 

 horse; it develops his faculties and his pow- 

 ers ; these increase by the harmony and pro- 

 per application of the forces among them- 

 selves, and by their rational and opportune 

 use. It is not the immoderate employment 

 of force which conquers a rebellious horse, 

 but the well-combined use of an ordinary 



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