Page:Equitation.djvu/324

 at the beginning of the training, works his horses for a considerable time on foot, with the whip. All this greatly aids the animals in understanding the movements of the piaffer. Fillis works his horses on foot very much less than Baucher, but has already trained them in diagonal movements before he asks the piaffer. Both, for a horse to be taught the piaffer, select with the greatest care an animal that has, to start with, the required conformation, strength, and soundness, with the moral and physical qualities that give action and energy. 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. They put a young beginner in the saddle to hold the reins, while they, beside the horse on foot, direct its movements with small or long whips. I work very little on foot. I never, or rarely, use a whip. I do all the work myself; and I very seldom, when mounted, have a quarrel with my horse or an act of defense from it. Six months after I begin training, the horse has already ceased