Page:Equitation.djvu/296

 IN the Spanish walk, the horse extends alternately its front legs forward to their full length, holds them extended for a brief time, and then steps forward. Why this gait is called "Spanish" is a mystery. Possibly it is because the Spanish jennet has commonly an exaggerated action forward, though this is never so marked as in the Spanish walk. The air is also sometimes called the "soldier's walk." The Spanish walk is the first movement of the so-called high school or circus equitation. It is also employed by the reasoned equitation for show purposes. Both schools have used it as a means of teaching the Spanish trot and various other movements of the high school.

I, on the contrary, do not use the Spanish trot for show purposes, but only as a gymnastic exercise, to obtain the greatest muscular development of the animal, to supple various portions of the body, to equalize the strides of the four limbs, and to secure a uniformly energetic action throughout the entire mechanism. For me, therefore, the Spanish walk is not an end, but a means toward the suppleness and activity which results from practicing it.

When the Spanish walk is asked from a horse that is so far educated as to preserve the state of