CHAPTER XIII
BACKING AND THE PIROUETTES
THE pirouettes are revolutions of one end of the horse's body about the other. In the direct pirouette, the hind feet remain in place, while the fore feet circle around them, either to the right or to the left. In the reversed pirouette, called rotation by the new school, the shoulders are the fixed point and the haunches turn around them.
The reversed pirouette is the first movement of the reasoned equitation. It is also the most important, since on its correct and symmetrical execution the entire education depends. It has, moreover, three stages: the reversed pirouette in lateral, which belongs to the lateral equitation; the direct rotation, which belongs to the reasoned equitation; and that in diagonal, which belongs to the scientific equitation. The three terms, lateral, direct, and diagonal, refer to the lateral, direct, and diagonal effects by which the movement is obtained.
The first step in the horse's education is, of course, the position of "in hand"; which has already been considered in the account of the flexions, and will be discussed still further in Chapter XXII. Up to this point the horse has been trained to take the position given by the rider's hand while standing
