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Page:Equitation.djvu/190

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sential for beginners, and they include it in their systems.

Only after both the lateral and direct flexions of mouth and neck are mastered standing, should the student proceed either to the mobilization of the hind legs by means of the ordinary rotation, in accordance with Baucher's method: or, following Fillis, should execute a form of the rotation in which the horse moves at a walk in such wise that the tracks of fore and hind feet make two concentric circles, with that traced by the hind feet outside the other. The latter is, in my judgment, the more progressive and the more rational.

When the beginner has mastered the reversed pirouette, he next "carries his horse forward" at a walk, the horse always giving the direct flexions of mouth and neck without altering its gait, and then asks the lateral flexions of the neck. I advocate making this flexion in such wise that the horse's head shall turn toward the wall of the ring. Otherwise, the pupil will think that it is his own leg which keeps the haunches from turning, when really it is the presence of the wall. When, therefore, the pupil tries to keep the horse straight away from the wall, he finds that he cannot do it, and must go back to the wall again.

Even when walking with the right side against the wall, the haunches of the horse tend to be displaced to the right at the lateral flexion of the neck to the left, so that it is by the effect of the