Henry L. de Bussigny

“ On the other hand, the spurs are a dangerous tool when used by a rider who employs them without moderation, delicacy, propriety, and discretion, like a monkey playing with a razor. Nothing is more ridiculous than to see either a man or a woman rider, wearing spurs as an ornament of fashion, with the legs so extended as to bring the heels close to the horse's shoulders. It is easy, in such a case, to understand the sarcasm of a certain master: "It would be better for such a rider to buckle his spurs to his own elbows, and use them against his own flanks." ”

“ The slower the action, the more difficult and the more brilliant, so long as the horse does not move either forward or backward.
When the slow piaffer begins to be understood, I prepare myself, and at each repetition of very delicate attacks well cadenced, and in the tempo of each step, I lift my hand a little higher, make my fingering more pronounced and precise, and raise the four legs higher and higher, two by two in diagonal. I caress all the body of the horse a great deal, speak to it in an amiable and encouraging voice, and make my horse like the lesson. ”

“ And since the horse which has these qualities sustains the state of equilibrium a great deal better than does one of inferior grade, such an animal has really a value equivalent to the time and effort needed to secure the degree of education proved by the slow piaffer. I, on the other hand, do not trouble myself over the choice of a horse. The more inferior it is, the more faulty its conformation, the more interesting becomes its education. The more difficult the work, the more the fun of doing it.
Both Baucher and Fillis have had some violent fights with their horses. ”

“ Strength of effects means intelligence. Effects of strength mean jerk and saccade. Brutality belongs to the nature of an animal; but intelligence is the great gift of man. It is not by making the horse afraid of the bit that we make it understand the meaning of its effects. Only by the agreeable contact of the bit upon the bars, and by the sensitive repetition of this contact, does the horse come to understand, without fear, the fingering, the equestrian tact of its rider. ”

“ THE center of gravity of any body is that point upon which the body will balance in all positions. The balance of our own bodies upon the legs, which support the weight and prevent it from falling to the ground at each step, is so familiar and instinctive that we fail to appreciate it or to reflect on the consequences if that balance were to be for one moment destroyed. Gravitation is really an essential condition of our natural existence, like the air we breathe. Its force is precisely measured by a body's weight. ”

“ By the education at the hands of the first trainer, who allowed the horse to refuse to execute a movement or submit to an effect which it did not understand. If the trainer had insisted patiently and gently on the horse's learning that troublesome effect, he would, at the very beginning, have disposed the horse's will in his favor, and instilled the habit of obedience. But by punishing the horse for not understanding some effect, the trainer has impressed upon its will and memory the possibility of successful revolt. The animal knows that it has had the best of the man. ”

“ Remember always that a horse, once properly educated, answers to the delicate and intelligent effects of your legs as it answers to the deftest fingering of your reins; and that all your domination of the animal is the product of your intelligence, a strength of effect, never, never, an effect of strength. ”

“ The error really lies in the haste with which masters and public are trying to complete the education of a horse. One who takes a reasonable time and follows without hurrying the sequence of the training should never have occasion to induce any restiveness. Either the horse knows or does not know what the man's effects indicate. If it knows and refuses, it must be punished. But if it does not know, it is to be taught. To educate the horse to understand the rider's effects is to make it superior to other horses and more intelligent, and is the surest means toward success. ”

“ But while it is entirely reasonable to suppose that restiveness in a horse is predominantly a matter of will, this volitional state must itself have had a beginning at some point where the possibility of disobeying first took root and started to grow into a habit.
Consider the case of a young horse, without training, which knows nothing of the meaning of the effects of its rider's hands and legs. The trainer, at the beginning of the horse's education, asks a movement perfectly easy to perform. The horse fails to understand what is wanted of him, refuses, and is brutally whipped. ”

“ The spurs do not remain in contact with the flanks. The touch is brief, but the pressure is repeated again and again, in about the tempo of a quarter-note in music, until the horse, calm and obedient, in a state of equilibrium, stands still or moves forward at the same speed and gait as at the beginning of the attack. ”

“ One and all, before they were trained, they had some defect of conformation or of temper. Furthermore, I have particularly noticed that physical defect has a great influence on the temper. For if a horse has the conformation and the strength to accomplish what the rider asks, it makes no difference what the service may be, the horse will try its best if only it is treated with humanity and intelligence. But if a horse is weak, or badly conformed, or too young for the task put upon it, notwithstanding all its good-will it cannot obey for lack of physical power. It tries, fails, and refuses. ”

“ For the gallop backward, the horse must be of perfect conformation, especially in its hind quarters, and must be educated to the point where it can interpret almost imperceptible effects of the rider. Its equilibrium and assemblage must be perfect—the sine qua non of this air, since the gait is very precise and the beats equal and uniform—and its strength must be sufficient to sustain without apparent exertion the gallop terre-à-terre. (Figure 41.)
In the gallop terre-à-terre, as in the piaffer, the horse is like a ball resting on one pole and movable by the slightest force. ”

“ But to stop the horse at the first sign of contraction, to restore its suppleness at once, and only then to carry it forward, is to impress upon its memory the impossibility of moving unless supple and balanced. To follow out this principle invariably develops with the progress of the instruction a second nature in the horse, benefits its morals, and economizes the wear and tear of its physical mechanism. ”

“ KICKINGBut although the kick is considered a defense of the horse, and indeed is so when it involves the refusal to move forward, it is not in the least dangerous. For a rider with an accurate seat, it is like a wave to a sailboat. It does, however, sometimes make trouble for young riders, if they let the horse repeat the kick too often, until it becomes a habit, called forth by the slightest annoyance or provocation. In this case, it does become a defense. We here are concerned with the horse which kicks when mounted, and uses this action to resist our means of control. ”

“ A HORSE is forward of the hand, if, on its own initiative, it goes forward against the bit, according to its own will, disposition, or temperament, instead of conforming to the impulsion of the rider's legs. If this exuberance is not the result of unsoundness, viciousness, bad conformation, or bad habit, it is more a merit than a defect in a saddle horse, since it is easily remedied by proper education, while the underlying good quality still remains. ”

“ When the rider is mounted and the horse continues its canter, the man should, for the sake of his future progress, learn to feel the jolt of the horse's motion, and to neutralize this by the relaxation of his muscles and the suppleness of his spine, all in the exact cadence of the step. For it is on this sense of cadence that everything else depends. "If the pupil has not that, he will begin his movement too early or too late, and thus render the maneuver most distressing to the spectator and nearly impossible for himself. ”

“ By means of the spurs I am able to correct a wrong position which the horse takes in revolt, and which would otherwise put in jeopardy my control over him, and bring my intelligent will into subordination to the enormous physical strength of an unintelligent brute.
I do not believe that the animal is influenced by sharp physical pain in any such degree as a man is, who by his education is always more delicate physically, and morally more fearful than the animal, who has no dread whatever of death. It is, therefore, not by inflicting physical pain that the man dominates the brute ”

“ If, let us say, the rider exerts ten degrees of effect with his legs to send the horse forward, and at the same time exerts ten degrees of effect with his hands to prevent this movement, the horse, between these two forces, must concentrate its native powers, and establish a center of gravity. The result is equilibrium, that is to say, balance. The effects of the legs are effects of impulsion. The effects of the hands are effects of retention. Thence arises the equestrian axiom: Equilibrium is the consequence of effects of opposition. ”

“ The two greatest masters of the art are Baucher and Fillis. With them, in the light of their principles, riding has become truly an art, because these masters have been satisfied to set forth their practices, without giving the reason, the wherefore, of the acts which they dictate. For example, the two effects of the rider's hand upon the lower jaw of the horse impel the animal to the right or to the left. The pressure of the rider's legs upon the horse's flanks gives two more sensations. ”

“ The weight of the man, also in equilibrium upon the horse's back, is borne with the least possible effort, and with an ease for which the animal is manifestly grateful to its master.
Now it is absolutely true that only as the result of training are the enormous powers of the horse brought under the man's intelligence, without violence and without physical or moral pain. The one is wise, the other is strong. ”

“ RESISTANCE and refusal are very nearly synonymous, but not quite. A horse may refuse to execute certain movements, but will, nevertheless, perform others. Or he may refuse to perform the movement in the way desired by the rider, yet still do it after his own fashion, incorrectly. But when a horse resists, he enters willfully into a state of complete revolt, and tries to free himself from any sort of control. He may carry his rider into a river, and no effort will prevent him. ”

“ The walk of manege is the highest proof of the state of equilibrium, and you must learn to feel the horse under you flexing all its joints, developing its power, and cadencing its walk with a great but calm ardor, slow and high. When a horse has attained to the walk of manege, in complete equilibrium, every feat of the scientific equitation becomes possible both to rider and to steed. ”

“ Moreover, in spite of inconsistencies in certain systems, I cannot but believe—and the longer I study, the better I am convinced—that the seat is much improved by training horses for one's self. For after all, it matters little what the origin or the quality of the particular system adopted, so long as the rider takes and gives with hands and legs, and thus learns to move his members without disturbing his seat. Whenever, by constant practice, this habit has become fixed, then the rider will maintain his seat without ever thinking of it at all. ”

“ The horse is confirmed in the idea that it can obey or not obey as it chooses. Do we not find exactly the same restiveness in a spoiled child? In the same way, the habit of refusal spoils the horse. It becomes capricious. When it chooses, it obeys. When it does not choose, it disobeys. In short, it is restive. Punishment, in such a case, will have no result. When the horse feels that the man who happens to be riding him is strong enough to fight and compel obedience, the horse will obey. But as soon as another rider is on its back, the horse will again try what it can do. ”

“ The rider must, therefore, by means of his effects of ensemble, be always checking this tendency, or restoring the equilibrium as soon as it escapes. When the horse is standing still, the rider will feel this escape of the equilibrium in his bridle hand. But when the horse is in motion, this feeling comes only through the seat. An able esquire reestablishes the equilibrium by the accuracy of his seat, economizing hands and legs. ”

“ My long observation and study convince me, moreover, that not only does the physical strength of the horse affect its temper; the very temper itself is created by the treatment which the animal receives. ”

“ Yes, to acquire a good seat, one must learn to ride without stirrups! But to ride without stirrups, and especially to trot, before all the muscles have been relaxed by riding at a walk and progressively, is surely a wrong practice. Because, if the rider contracts his limbs to resist the movements of the horse, he at once makes the muscles too set to assume the shape necessary for perfect adhesion. Must one, then, walk a horse for months and years? ”

“ For consider any horse, standing still, mounted by a rider having the most perfect seat, but who moves neither hands nor legs. Where, then, is this moral effect? But let the animal once start to move, then he must immediately be sensible of the rider's quality. The rider who has a correct seat will not permit his mount to proceed according to its own fancy, but will constrain it, confidently, unhesitatingly, by rational and positive means. On the other hand, the rider whose seat is not firm will sometimes surprise his horse and sometimes let it go. ”

“ As we are all of us too ready to neglect those fundamental laws which control our lives, forgetting that if these laws of nature were suspended for even a quarter-second, life itself would cease, so as riders we tend to ignore the basal principles of inertia and weight as they affect action and seat. If the horse commit some fault, the result of our own improper disposition of the weight upon his back, we blame the horse. ”