Introduction. ix 



I persuade myself that M. Baucher's system 

 is one which will stand this test. The simple 

 and obvious method of manipulation by which 

 it imparts lightness and elasticity to the dull, 

 or calmness and docility to the fretful horse, 

 can be tried without the slightest difficulty 

 by any practised horseman ; nor do I believe 

 that any practised horseman who fairly tries 

 it will deny its efficiency. That I neither 

 profess to be an accomplished master of its 

 resources, nor an implicit believer in the 

 magical properties which some of its admirers 

 ascribe to it, will appear hereafter. But I am 

 convinced that its elementary lessons may be 

 employed with perfect ease, and with most 

 satisfactory effect, by any man who has an 

 awkward hack which he wishes to make a 

 clever one. 



I have however, in the present work, 

 attempted something more than this. I 

 must confess that I have never seen any 

 book upon horsemanship which I thought 

 likely to be useful to a beginner. The old 

 treatises on manege-riding, being founded on 



