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CHAPTER IX. 



COMMENTARIES ON BAUCHER. 



Baucher was certainly the greatest and most clever high- 

 school rider we have ever had.* There is no doubt that he 

 did not invent the high school, which is the result of the work 

 of many generations of horsemen, but he invented and co- 

 ordinated a new and astonishing method. Prior to his time, 

 no horseman had obtained such marvellous results. He con- 

 quered many difficulties, and removed a great number of 

 obstacles which a man who wishes to break-in a school horse 

 always meets. 



He invented new exercises, which he did with remarkable 



* As regards myself, I claim to be a follower of Baucher. My teacher, 

 Fran9ois Caron, was his pupil. I have thoroughly studied the method of 

 Baucher in all its parts. Without Baucher I would not know as much as I do of 

 riding. 



I would be very ungrateful to mention the name of Baucher without at the 

 same time rendering well-merited homage to his rival, Victor Franconi, from 

 whom I have received many excellent lessons. By his pluck, strength of seat, 

 and by the impulse he gave to his horses, his style of equitation resembled much 

 more that of Count d'Aure than that of Baucher. 



The names of the masters to whom the horsemen of to-day are beholden would 

 form a long list. France can boast of an admirable host of great horsemen. If 

 Italy can name Pignatelli ; England, Newcastle' ; and Germany, Count von 

 Schweppe, France can put forward hundreds of illustrious names, at the head of 

 which shine — to speak only of bygone celebrities — such horsemen as Dupaty de 

 Clam, La Gu&iniere, the Chevalier d'Abzac, the Marquis of Eigne, and others. 

 The school of Hanover, which is the most celebrated of foreign schools, is the 

 direct offspring of the great school of Versailles. Beyond all dispute, France is 

 the classic country of equitation. 



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