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, when they used the Spanish walk and the Spanish trot as a preliminary to the passage. This, moreover, has been the order generally accepted by the equestrian world; since, of course, horses which already have the idea of sustaining and lifting their weight on diagonal bipeds, in cadence and tempo, will the more quickly understand the passage, and will require less equestrian tact on the part of the rider. I also, in my youth, like other trainers, approached the passage by way of the Spanish trot. But when, later, I came to look upon the passage as the result of perfect equilibrium, I came also to understand that the passage is impossible until one has obtained, first the assemblage, and then the piaffer, to give the idea of the diagonal action. Then, after the piaffer, comes the passage, with the extension of the fore legs and the flexion of the hocks and haunches.