THE SCIENTIFIC EQUITATION 



horse knows that I have the spurs ready at my dis- 

 posal, I put him at the manege walk, at the slowest 

 possible gait, step by step. Then I begin to activate 

 the entire mechanism, but not by any quicker ac- 

 tion of my legs or fingers. I keep the same tempo, 

 with an even more accurately measured power of 

 my effects, and I incline my body slightly forward, 

 so as to shift the center of gravity and lighten the 

 loins. At the slightest disorder, I stop everything, 

 reestablish calm, and begin again. 



It is very seldom that I have to start over more 

 than three times before I obtain one or two move- 

 ments of the loins. For the rider who has not had 

 the experience, it is a strange sensation that he now 

 receives through the seat. As the horse flexes its 

 haunches and hocks below its pelvis, one feels as if 

 the horse were on the point of kicking, first with one 

 leg and then with the other. It is really nothing of 

 that sort. It is simply the first of the two indica- 

 tions that the croup is lifting higher. If, after this 

 first manifestation, you know how to recompense, 

 to calm, and to rest, it becomes easy to secure two 

 or four or six. Do not accept an odd number of 

 actions, because this will tend to make the horse 

 unequal, with one side more indolent or backward 

 than the other. 



The rest is easy, merely a question of time, pro- 

 gression, and moderation, in order for the horse to 

 develop the necessary strength. The slower the 

 action, the more difficult and the more brilliant, so 



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