THE SCIENTIFIC EQUITATION 



and you will have won the ne plus ultra of the sci- 

 entific equitation, the slow piaffer. 



My own horse, " Why-Not," does the slow piaffer 

 at the cadence of the walk, without advancing. 

 But the taller a horse is, the more difficult is the 

 slow piaffer for the horse to execute and for the 

 rider to obtain. 



As for the pillars, by means of these a horse can 

 be trained to any sort of trick, to kneel down, to 

 extend the legs, to lie down, and the like. But since 

 these tricks are not recognized by the reasoned 

 equitation, there is no need to touch upon them. 

 It is only to obtain the piaffer that the new school 

 admits the use of the pillars, copying in this the 

 principles of the old school. 



The horse is put in the pillars, and by means of 

 the whip, is taught to raise and keep up one leg 

 after the other, beginning with the fore limbs. By 

 touching the chest with the whip, alternately on 

 the right and left sides, the horse will very soon 

 learn to raise his fore feet, by flexing his legs at the 

 knees, first at the walk and then at the trot, as the 

 whip is applied more rapidly. 



When this movement is obtained from the front 

 legs, the trainer operates in the same way with the 

 hind legs. 



This done, the problem is to get all four legs to 

 act together in diagonal. Repeated touches of the 

 whip upon the haunches, given in the cadence of 

 the movement, tend to make the horse go forward. 



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