EQUITATION AND HORSE TRAINING. 13 



tions took the place of tourneys, and at the death of 

 Henry II the latter disappeared entirely. 



Pluvinel, who was successively first equerry to Henry 

 III and director of the royal stables under Henry IV, 

 founded the first academies in France. 



Equitation as taught in these academies was still slow 

 and restricted. The seat in the high saddle was always 

 straight and stiff. Immoderate use was made of the 

 spur and switch, and the methods of training were based 

 principally on the use of the cavesson and of the posts. 



Seventeentli century. — In the seventeenth century the 

 principal riding masters were Solleysel (1617-1680), 

 who published the Parfait Marechal and translated the 

 works of Newcastle; Du Plessis; De Lavallee; Ven- 

 DEUiL, who was De la Gueriniere's teacher; and Gaspard 

 Sauniee (1663-1746), who wrote Treatise on the Complete 

 Knowledge of Horses, The True Principles of Cavalry, 

 and The Art of Cavalry. In England, the Marquis of 

 Newcastle is worthy of mention. 



Equitation was still about the same, but they began to 

 work outside the riding hall. Solleysel took up condition- 

 ing and published a Method of Preparing Horses to Cover 

 Extraordinary Distances. Gaspard Saunier insists on 

 the necessity of working horses out of doors. He tells 

 us that the best horses of the Versailles school, when 

 put on the road in the campaign of 1691, had great 

 difficulty in becoming accustomed to this new work, 

 and that ''they stumbled and seemed to have scarcely 

 enough strength to stand up." 



Eighteenth century. — It was not until the eighteenth 

 century that the French school was really and definitely 

 founded, and the honor of establishing it is due to M. de 

 la Gueriniere. He was the first to conceive the idea 

 of the natural seat. He had the pommel and cantle of 

 the manage saddle cut dpwn and taught that the rider 

 should seek a firm seat in the balance and uprightness 



