INTRODUCTION 



riders and teachers developed the principles which 

 govern the use of these instruments. Such masters 

 as Pignatelli, Gaspard, Saulnier, Pembroke, the 

 Duke of Newcastle, Comte de la Gueriniere, and 

 others, worked out the theory of mounting and 

 dismounting, of seat, of the lateral effect, of the 

 bridle, of the use of the spurs, and of the pillars. In 

 all this they considered, not only the improvement 

 of the rider's seat, but also the collection or bal- 

 ance of the horse. Of this last, however, they had 

 only a confused and elementary conception. They 

 thought that the horse, when mounted and in 

 action, would always find its proper balance for 

 itself; and so they devised series of movements, 

 which, executed by the horse at walk, trot, and 

 gallop, should practice the animal in carrying itself 

 with its load. There is, nevertheless, a vast differ- 

 ence between such purely instinctive training, and 

 the rational equitation which understands the 

 reasons for the horse's condition of equilibrium, 

 and allows him to execute the various movements 

 only while retaining this state. The early masters 

 of equitation were ignorant of many facts of 

 animal motion now known to science, and they had 

 no clear idea of the animal mechanism involved. 

 Ignoring the theory of levers, they controlled the 

 horse by the lateral effect of the rider's hand and 

 leg acting on the same side. It is, therefore, per- 

 fectly fair to call this kind of equitation, instinctive, 

 usual, lateral. 



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