THE PASSAGE 



ment, who has already, in his youth, spoiled several 

 horses, before being several times successful. One 

 cannot hope to put a horse successfully at the pas- 

 sage until after he has trained five or ten horses. 

 For when a master first begins the passage, the 

 great, the nearly insurmountable difficulty is to 

 obtain the first two or three manifestations of the 

 cadence. But it is absolutely impossible for these 

 first two or three steps to be at all pronounced or 

 decided. They are like the ripples in a teacup com- 

 pared to the steady undulation of the sea. But if 

 the master does not recognize at once this earli- 

 est almost insensible ripple, and so continues to 

 ask it of the horse, the horse becomes more and 

 more confused. Neither understands what is being 

 asked. 



These first signs of the passage are, then, I say, 

 very nearly imperceptible. But if they are recog- 

 nized and rewarded, they are stored in the horse's 

 memory. And since these first steps are the most 

 difficult to obtain, everything possible must be 

 done to fix the lesson in the animal's mind. 



Both Fillis and I, at the first adumbrations of the 

 passage, stop the horse, jump down, take off the 

 curb chain and bridle, blanket the horse, give him 

 some pieces of carrot, sugar, or apple, and dismiss 

 him to the stable. 



At the next lesson, I bridle the horse myself, us- 

 ing calmness and tact, and have him go through 

 some movements in the state of perfect equilibrium, 



287 



