THE PIAFFER 



to be the caricature which I bought. I explain these 

 points, not to dwell upon my own ideas, but to aid 

 the reader in understanding the different proce- 

 dures of the different grand masters which I shall 

 now discuss. 



The difference between the quick piaffer and the 

 slow is that in the quick piaffer the horse's legs, 

 acting in diagonal, fall more quickly to the ground 

 under the pull of gravity. But in any case, the two 

 diagonal legs which support the body are acting 

 only during the time during which the other two 

 are in the air. Evidently, then, if two diagonal 

 members remain longer upon the ground, the other 

 two will have to stay longer in the air, and vice 

 versa. 



Now the question is, which requires the greater 

 effort on the part of the horse, to keep its body 

 balanced for the longer time on two feet, or to hold 

 two legs off the ground and flexed? 



But the shorter the time the feet remain in the 

 air, the more rapid is the action, as in the quick 

 piaffer. On the other hand, the slower the action, 

 the greater the loss of the original upward impulse. 

 The more powerful, therefore, must be the muscu- 

 lar contraction and the more accurate the equilib- 

 rium. Evidently, then, the horse needs more energy 

 for the slow piaffer than for the quick; and more for 

 the quick piaffer than for the passage, trot, or gal- 

 lop, since in these last the animal, is helped by its 

 own forward motion. 



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