COMMENTARIES ON BAUCHER. 335 



this point, and I have no hesitation in laying down the 

 principle that the mouth of each horse has its own pecuhar 

 degree of sensibihty, no matter what is the pace, work, or 

 distribution of weight. 



Thus, I owned and broke to high school work the thorough- 

 breds Redoubt by Parmesan, and Gant by Gantelet, out of 

 Mile, de la Romanerie, both of which had won races. I did 

 not get them until they were five years old, and I made them 

 remarkably good school horses. 



Redoubt had a very light mouth, and could do the perfect 

 rassembler almost without my having to touch the reins. 

 Gant had a harder mouth, and required to have the reins drawn 

 tightly, in order to do the rassembler to the same extent. 



Riding them alternately, I went to the training ground be- 

 hind Bagatelle, at a walk, trot, and canter, and observed, during 

 tirese paces, the same difference of mouth which I had noticed 

 in the manege, when doing the finest high school work. 



Having brought them on the race-course, with the curb 

 chain removed and the curb reins knotted on the neck, I sent 

 them a short preliminary canter. Both of them quickly got 

 into their racing position and speed. After that I sent them 

 a full speed gallop of about five furlongs, and they performed 

 in a manner which would have given no one the impression 

 that they had not galloped for eighteen months ; but each of 

 them showed in the full gallop the same difference of mouth 

 which they had done in the riding school and when hacking. 



During the gallop on the race-course, Redoubt pulled just 

 enough to run well ; but Gant took a firm hold of the snaffle, 

 pulled hard, and tried to run away. I easily stopped the 

 former in a few strides, but I succeeded in pulling up the 

 latter only at the end of a hundred and hfty or two hundred 

 yards, and more by the voice than by the hands. 



After the gallop, I walked them back to the stable to let 

 them catch their wind, and as soon as I arrived, I made them 



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