Part 9 (2/2)

_A._ After the suppling of the neck and haunches.

_Q._ Why should the suppling of the haunches precede that of the loins (the _reculer_)?

_A._ To keep the horse more easily in a straight line and to render the flowing back and forward of the weight more easy.

_Q._ Ought these first retrograde movements of the horse to be prolonged during the first lessons?

_A._ No. As their only object is to annul the instinctive forces of the horse, we must wait till he is perfectly in hand to obtain a backward movement, a true _reculer_.

_Q._ What const.i.tutes a true _reculer_?

_A._ The lightness of the horse (head perpendicular), the exact balance of his body, and the elevation to the same height of the legs diagonally.

_Q._ At what distance ought the spur to be placed from the horse's flanks before the _attaque_ commences?

_A._ The rowel should not be farther than two inches from the horse's flanks.

_Q._ How ought the _attaques_ to be practised?

_A._ They ought to reach the flanks by a movement like the stroke of a lancet, and be taken away as quickly.

_Q._ Are there circ.u.mstances where the _attaque_ ought to be practised without the aid of the hand?

_A._ Never; since its only object should be to give the impulsion which serves for the hand to contain (_renfermer_) the horse.

_Q._ Is it the _attaques_ themselves that chastise the horse?

_A._ No. The chastis.e.m.e.nt is in the contained position that the _attaques_ and the hand make the horse a.s.sume. As the latter then finds himself in a position where it is impossible to make use of any of his forces, the chastis.e.m.e.nt has all its efficiency.

_Q._ In what consists the difference between the _attaques_ practised after the old principles, and those which the new method prescribed?

_A._ Our predecessors (that we should venerate) practised spurring in order to throw the horse out of himself; the new method makes use of it to contain him; that is, to give him that first position which is the mother of all the others.

_Q._ What are the functions of the legs during the _attaques_?

_A._ The legs ought to remain adherent to the horse's flanks and in no respect to partake of the movements of the feet.

_Q._ At what moment ought we to commence the _attaques_?

_A._ When the horse supports peaceably a strong pressure of the legs without getting out of hand.

_Q._ Why does a horse, perfectly in hand, bear the spur without becoming excited, and even without sudden movement?

_A._ Because the skillful hand of the rider, having prevented all displacings of the head, never lets the forces escape outwards; it concentrates them by fixing them. The equal struggle of the forces, or if you prefer it, their _ensemble_, sufficiently explains the apparent dullness of the horse in this case.

_Q._ Is it not to be feared that the horse may become insensible to the legs and lose all that activity necessary for accelerated movements?

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