THE PASSAGE BACKWARD 



THE GALLOP BACKWARD 



FOR the gallop backward, the horse must be of 

 perfect conformation, especially in its hind quarters, 

 and must be educated to the point where it can 

 interpret almost imperceptible effects of the rider. 

 Its equilibrium and assemblage must be perfect 

 the sine qua non of this air, since the gait is very 

 precise and the beats equal and uniform and its 

 strength must be sufficient to sustain without appar- 

 ent exertion the gallop terre-a-terre. (Figure 41.) 



In the gallop terre-a-terre, as in the piaffer, the 

 horse is like a ball resting on one pole and movable 

 by the slightest force. If, then, the rider's effects, 

 by their lack of equality, timing, fineness, or uni- 

 formity, disturb this perfect equilibrium, the gallop 

 terre-a-terre becomes impossible. But if the rider's 

 effects are precisely correct, the horse will continue 

 to gallop on the same spot, like the ball resting on 

 a pole. Under these conditions, if the rider's weight 

 shifts on the seat to throw the center of gravity 

 backward of the perpendicular around which the 

 whole mechanism has centered, the horse will be 

 forced to move backward in order to prevent falling. 



Meanwhile, of course, the rider, by his effects, 

 must continue to maintain the equilibrium and the 

 gait of the gallop. If either is disturbed ("evap- 

 orated" is the expression I use with my pupils), the 

 horse loses either its equilibrium and then its gallop, 

 or else its gallop and then its equilibrium. In either 



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