PREFACE
When each and every movement of the horse in response to its rider's signals is explained on mechanical principles, then equitation is no longer an art. It has become a science, and therefore invariable.
The difference between my system of training the horse and the systems of Baucher and Fillis is, in part, that I have carried farther the science as distinguished from the art. But besides this, while Baucher and Fillis trained their horses for the sake of executing the movements of the high school, I employ these airs of the high school, not as an end in themselves, but as a means for developing the physical and mental qualities of the horse itself. These masters specially chose the animals which they were to train. I, by means of my system of gymnastics, seek to improve and develop an animal of any original conformation that may be given me.
The purposes of this manual are, therefore, to explain the mechanical reason for every effect which the rider exerts on the horse, and to set forth the successive steps by which, practically, an actual animal is to be trained and developed. Underlying principles and theories are everywhere explained with the greatest possible clearness. In spite of a good deal of inevitable condensation, the methods here set forth should prove perfectly easy both to understand and to apply.
H. L. de Bussigny
- Boston, May, 1921
