X PROLOGUE 



stand the art of sitting a horse, and putting a 

 horse at a fence, whether it be in the show-ring 

 or the hunting field, or in steeplechasing. Haute 

 ecole is a subject I am not proficient enough to 

 tackle. It is a branch of training that is hardly 

 kno\Mi at all in this country. It is very fascin- 

 ating, but lacks the practical value so dear to the 

 heart of an Englishman. Its home is in Paris, 

 where this form of horsemanship has been brought 

 to its highest pitch through the energies of a few 

 highly skilled instructors who are themselves past 

 masters in the art. The Italians are, perhaps, 

 more practical. At their great training school 

 they go on the principle that a highly trained 

 man and horse can go anywhere and do any- 

 thing. A precept with which I heartily concur, 

 and which it will be my endeavour to exemplify 

 in the following pages. 



The sketches, which illustrate the various 

 chapters, were drawn within the gloomy walls of 

 a prisoners' camp in Germany. I make claim to 

 but little artistic skill, and I found the task none 

 the easier for the absence of the usual facilities 

 for portraying the action of a horse and rider in 

 motion. My intention was to have them com- 

 pletely redrawn, but Major Gonne, R.A., who 

 kindly consented to prepare them for the printer, 

 considered that they should be left as they were 

 originally drawn. This being the case, I must ask 

 my readers to consider them as diagrams only, and 

 not as accurate representations of either action or 

 conformation. 



