PREFACE 



and is^divided into military, racing, steeple-chasing, 

 polo, and the promenade. Only the last of these is 

 treated in this work. 



Riding is one of the most wholesome of recrea- 

 tions, both for mind and body. It does, however, 

 necessitate a certain special and natural aptitude. 

 Anybody, reasonably well conformed morally and 

 physically, can practice the ordinary equitation as 

 a health-giving exercise, easy to acquire. But rid- 

 ing practiced as an art or as a science offers serious 

 and multiplied difficulties, in the solution of which 

 by the student is found all the mental pleasure of 

 the avocation. .,, 



The two greatest masters of the art are Baucher 

 and Fillis. With them, in the light of their princi- 

 ples, riding has become truly an art, because these 

 masters have been satisfied to set forth their prac- 

 tices, without giving the reason, the wherefore, of 

 the acts which they dictate. For example, the two 

 effects of the rider's hand upon the lower jaw of the 

 horse impel the animal to the right or to the left. 

 The pressure of the rider's legs upon the horse's 

 flanks gives two more sensations. Here, then, are 

 four signs, by means of which the rider communi- 

 cates with his mount and thereby controls its en- 

 tire mechanism. These sensations, caused in a liv- 

 ing animal, certainly have for it a meaning: they 

 oblige certain parts to act. The rider closes his leg 

 upon the horse's right flank, and the horse turns 

 to the right. But what is the mechanical reason? 



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