16 EQUITATION AND HORSE TRAINING. 



In 1814 the Restoration suppressed the school at St. 

 Germain and founded a new one at Saumur. The latter 

 was abolished in 1822, following General Berton's con- 

 spiracy, and the decree of 1823 established a school of 

 application for cavalry at Versailles. 



The Riding School of the Pages, under the direction of 

 O'Hegarty, formed a branch of the Versailles school. 

 But this new organization lasted only a year and on No- 

 vember 11, 1824, the cavalry school was definitely estab- 

 lished at Saumur. 



Contemporary equitation. — ^We now come to contem- 

 porary equitation, for a long time divided into two schools; 

 a new school, that of Baucher, and the d'Aure school, 

 which continued the methods taught at Versailles. 



Baucher. — ^Little is known of Baucher's antecedents. 

 At the age of 15 he set out for Italy with one of his uncles, 

 who was an instructor in riding schools. He returned to 

 France a few years later and located in Paris. First he 

 gave lessons in a small riding academy in the Rue Mont- 

 martre; then he went into a circus in order to popularize 

 his methods. The minister of war had his system tested 

 in the army on two different occasions; one trial was at 

 Saumur. The Baucher system, however, was never offi- 

 cially adopted in the cavalry. 



Baucher's methods were entirely different from those 

 taught at the Versailles school. Much more complicated 

 than the Count d'Aure' s method, it marked in a way a 

 return to the suppling of the early riding masters. The 

 formula that Baucher often repeated was this: ''Destroy 

 the instinctive forces and replace them by transmitted 

 forces." To carry out this programme it was necessary 

 to begin with a series of supplings: ''Flexions of the jaw; 

 flexions of the neck, lateral flexions and mobilizing the 

 hind quarters about the shoulders; swinging the fore 

 quarters about the haunches; combination of the play of 

 both extremities or backing." 



