PREFACE 



It was when hunting and fighting other men, 

 hunted and fought by other men, on horseback 

 night and day, that I came to realize the truth of 

 the formula, that seat is the rider's sine qua non. 



In the army, for the cavalryman to be able to 

 ride is all that the manual asks, since the discipline is 

 unalterable when moving in troop. But, for the in- 

 dividual, the French army protects and encourages 

 studies of the different methods of the various mas- 

 ters of the equestrian art. Before I entered the 

 army, while still at the college, I followed a course 

 of instruction under Baucher, who was then teach- 

 ing in the school at Collin, Maneye du Rhone. 



Although Baucher's method was never adopted 

 by the French army, his ideas have very deeply af- 

 fected cavalry traditions, because of the great num- 

 ber of officers who have been sent to Saumur and 

 Luneville to study and report upon his system. 

 Several of these officers were my instructors after I 

 entered the cavalry; and my studies of the art con- 

 tinued under their very able direction. 



Experiment with different methods is, however, 

 nearly impossible in the army; so that it was only 

 after I came to the United States in 1872, and, as a 

 civilian, became proprietor of riding-schools, man- 

 ager of schools and riding-clubs, head instructor 

 in New York and Boston, that I was able to de- 

 velop certain principles, certain means, certain ef- 

 fects, which had before not been clear in my mind. 



Equitation is the sixth branch of horsemanship; 



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