PREFACE
For seventy-six years, as cavalier, as student, as instructor, I have ridden, under every sort of conditions, horses of every type, every conformation, and every breeding.
My first experiment, at the age of five, was with a donkey, young and entirely unbroken. At the beginning, I was more often on the ground than on the donkey's back; but after six months of perseverance, all its gambols failed to unseat me. At eight years, I had a pony, thirteen and a half hands high; and I received instruction from the Comte d'Aure, Esquire-in-Chief of the cavalry school. This Grand Master was always repeating, "Seat. Seat. It is the sine qua non. Be a cavalier first. Afterwards it will be possible, with study, to become an esquire."
From eight to seventeen, I practiced the precepts of Comte d'Aure in various riding-schools. At seventeen, I entered the French cavalry. I was at the battle of Solferino in 1859. In 1860, I was fighting in Syria; and in 1861, in Morocco. From 1862 to 1867, I was with Maximilian in Mexico. The next year saw me in Algeria and the Sahara Desert, fighting the Kabyles and Bedouins. In 1870 came the Franco-German War; and I fought the Prussian Uhlans.
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