84 NEW METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



prevent his defending himself, and also to remedy the 

 ungracefulness of his form, I allude to the combination 

 of forces of which I have been treating, or, rather, of 

 the removal of the centre of gravity from one place to 

 another. This result obtained, the education of the 

 horse is complete. When the horseman succeeds in 

 obtaining it, his talent becomes a truth, since it trans- 

 forms ugliness into grace, and gives elegance and light- 

 ness to movements which were before heavy and con- 

 fused.* 



The rider's employment of force, when properly 

 applied, has a moral effect also on the horse, that accele- 

 rates the results. If the impulse given by the legs finds 

 in the hand the energy and cipropos necessary to regulate 

 its effects, the pain the animal sustains will be always 

 proportioned to his resistances, and his instinct will soon 

 make him understand how he can diminish, and even 

 avoid altogether this constraint, by promptly yield- 

 ing to Avhat we demand of him. He will hasten then 

 to submit, and will even anticipate our desires. But, I 

 repeat, it is only by means of tact and delicate manage- 

 ment that we will gain this important point. If the legs 



* I have often proved that horses that were considered dull, or unable 

 to move their shoulders freely, have not the defect that is supposed ; in 

 ether words, that it is very rare that they are paralyzed m their shoulders so 

 as to injure the regularity and speed of their paces^ principally as regards 

 trotting. The shoulders of the horse, if I may use the comparison, resemble 

 the wings of a windmill; the impulse given by the hocks replaces the 

 motive force. Thore undoubtedly exi^'^ some local complaints that affect the 

 shoulders ; but this is very rare ; the defect, if there is one, has its origin in 

 the hind-parts. For my part, I have been able to make all such horses very 

 free in their movements, and that after fifteen days of exercise, half an 

 hour a day. The means, like all I employ, are very simple. They consist in 

 suppling the neck to get the horse in hand, and then, by the aid of the legs, 

 and afterwards slight use of the spurs, in bringing his haunches nearer t-he 

 centre. Then the hocks will obtain a leverage, by which they can propel 

 the mass forward, and give the shoulders a freedom that people would not 

 expect. 



