THE PASSAGE BACKWARD 



ternale change from side to side still continuing, 

 then the horse will trot backward. The hand has 

 nothing to do with the action, except to maintain 

 the equilibrium, by means of the fingering. 



When once the piaffer is obtained, the backward 

 trot follows without much difficulty; but the move- 

 ment needs moderation, and should begin with a 

 few steps at first, the number increasing with prac- 

 tice. (Figure 38.) 



The speed of the backward trot is not the test of 

 its execution. A three-inch step, taken equally by 

 each diagonal biped, and with the same cadence, 

 tempo, and elevation as for the piaffer, is proof of a 

 better equilibrium and a better training, than is any 

 precipitate rush rearward in which the horse avoids 

 the state of equilibrium by moving as it pleases. 

 The air should always seem to be executed without 

 exertion and without compulsion. The horse bal- 

 ances itself with an easy action of the limbs in di- 

 agonal, moves backward, returns to the piaffer, 

 changes into the passage, returns to the piaffer, 

 takes the backward trot. The rider's hands are im- 

 mobile. The position of his body, as it swings like a 

 pendulum into the correct place, is the force which 

 actuates the mechanism. 



With this animal mechanism, the backward trot 

 is in perfect accord. The movement is entirely 

 natural, when it is done in equilibrium from the 

 piaffer. But if it is obtained by severity of hand, 

 spurs, or whip, it becomes precisely contrary to the 



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