Page:Equitation.djvu/27

INTRODUCTION riders and teachers developed the principles which govern the use of these instruments. Such masters as Pignatelli, Gaspard, Saulnier, Pembroke, the Duke of Newcastle, Comte de la Guérinière, and others, worked out the theory of mounting and dismounting, of seat, of the lateral effect, of the bridle, of the use of the spurs, and of the pillars. In all this they considered, not only the improvement of the rider's seat, but also the collection or balance of the horse. Of this last, however, they had only a confused and elementary conception. They thought that the horse, when mounted and in action, would always find its proper balance for itself; and so they devised series of movements, which, executed by the horse at walk, trot, and gallop, should practice the animal in carrying itself with its load. There is, nevertheless, a vast difference between such purely instinctive training, and the rational equitation which understands the reasons for the horse's condition of equilibrium, and allows him to execute the various movements only while retaining this state. The early masters of equitation were ignorant of many facts of animal motion now known to science, and they had no clear idea of the animal mechanism involved. Ignoring the theory of levers, they controlled the horse by the lateral effect of the rider's hand and leg acting on the same side. It is, therefore, perfectly fair to call this kind of equitation, instinctive, usual, lateral. 5