314 HIGH-SCHOOL RIDING. 



that this piaffer is done, like the ordinary piaffer, by the 

 diagonal, notwithstanding the see-saw lateral. It is very 

 difficult to indicate, with mathematical precision, the exact 

 moment when the rider ought to use any particular rein or 

 leg ; the action of the two reins and of two legs being made 

 by a succession of movements which follow each other so 

 closely that it is almost continuous. Here equestrian tact, 

 which is the supreme quality of a rider, displays itself in all 

 its beauty. I can only say that I increase the action of the 

 right spur to obtain the forward movement of the near hind, 

 and to help to keep the near fore in the air. But at the same 

 time I strongly use my left leg to prevent the near hind from 

 going to the left, because it gets its stimulus from my right 

 leg. 



For the backward movement I feel both reins, the near 

 rein a little more than the off, at the moment when the near 

 fore has to be brought back. 



During the whole time the rider ought to freely use his 

 legs and even the spurs, but the off rein hardly at all, and the 

 near rein very little. 



CANTER WITHOUT GAINING GROUND AND CANTER TO 

 THE REAR. 



The canter without gaining ground is a canter which is 

 shortened as much as possible. It is similar in every way to 

 the forward canter, except that the legs do not gain ground. 

 It is very near to the backward canter, which is a regular pace 

 of four time, exactly like the forward canter in the rassembler. 

 It is the most difficult and most complicated school exercise. 

 My advice is that it should be tried only at the extreme end 

 of training, and with selected horses, whose loins and hocks 

 should be exceptionally good to bear the rassembler at its 

 maximum, without which it is impossible to obtain this 

 movement. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



