A perfect Passade is made in this Manner.—Your Horse standing strait and true upon all his Feet, you go off with him at once, you stop him upon his Haunches; and in the same Time or Cadence in which he made his Stop, being exactly obedient to the Hand and Heel, he ought to make the Demi-volte, balancing himself upon his Haunches, and so waiting till you give him the Aid to set off again. It is requisite then that the least Motion or Hint of the Rider should be an absolute Command to the Horse.—If you would have him go off at full Speed, yield your Hand, close the Calves of your Legs upon him; if he don't answer to this Aid, give him the Spurs, but you must give them so as not to remove them from the Place where they were, and without opening or advancing your Legs before you strike.
The high Passades are those which a Horse makes, when being at the End of his Line, he makes his Demi-volte in any Air he has been taught, either in the Mezair or in Curvets, which is very beautiful.—Therefore in high Passades let your Horse go off at full Speed; let your Stop be follow'd by three Curvets; let the Demi-volte consist of the same Number, and demand of him three more before he sets off again.—It is usual to make nine Curvets when you work a Horse alone and by himself.
The furious or violent Passades, are when a Horse gallops at his utmost Speed strait forward, and makes his half Stop, bending and playing his Haunches two or three times, before he begins his Demi-volte, which is made upon one Line, in three Times; for at the third Time he should finish the Demi-volte, and be strait upon the Line of the Passade, in order to go off again and continue it.
This sort of Passades was heretofore used in private Combats, and although it may appear that the Time that is employed in making the half Stop is lost, and only hinders you from gaining the Croupe of the Enemy; yet the half Stop is indispensably necessary, for unless a Horse is balanced upon his Haunches, and they bend and play under him, he could never make his Demi-volte, without being in danger of Falling.
CHAP. XVI.
Of Pesades.
The Pesade takes its Name from the Motion of the Horse, which, in this Action, leans and lays all the Weight of his Body upon his Haunches.—To be perfect, the Hind-feet which support the whole ought to be fix'd and immoveable, and the Fore-part of the Horse more or less rais'd, according as the Creature will allow, but the Fore-legs, from the Knee to the Feet, must always be extremely bent and brought under him.
The Property of the Pesade is to dispose and prepare a Horse for all sorts of Manages; for it is the Foundation of all the Airs: Great Caution, however, must be had not to teach your Horse to rise up or stand upon his Haunches, which is making a Pesade, if he is not quite exact and obedient to the Hand and Heel; for in this Case you would throw him into great Disorder, spoil his Mouth, and falsify the Apuy, would teach him to make Points, as they are called, and even make him become restive; inasmuch as the generality of Horses only rise up to resist their Rider, and because they will neither go forward nor turn.
Your Horse then being so far advanced as to be fit to be tried and exercised in the Pesade, work him upon the Walk, the Trot, and Gallop; stop him in the Hand, keep him firm and moderately together; aid with the Tongue, the Switch, and your Legs; the Moment you perceive he comprehends what it is you would have him to do, though never so little, encourage and caress him.—If in the Beginning of this Lesson you were to use Force or Rigour, he would consider the Strictness of your Hand, and the Aids of the Legs, as a Punishment, and it would discourage him. It is therefore proper to work gently and by degrees; whenever then he makes an Attempt to rise, caress him; make him go forwards, try to make him rise a second time, either more or less, and use him by degrees to rise higher and higher; you will find that he will soon be able to make his Pesades perfect, and to make four, or even more, with Ease and Readiness; sluggish and heavy Horses require in the Beginning stronger and sharper Aids.
There are other Horses who are apt to rise of themselves, without being requir'd to do so; drive them forward in order to prevent them.—Some in making the Pesade, don't bend and gather up their Fore-legs, but stretch them out, paw, and cross them one over the other in the Air, resembling the Action of a Person's Hands who plays upon the Spinnet; to these Horses you mush apply the Switch, striking them briskly upon the Shoulders or Knees.—There are others, who in the Instant that you endeavour to make them rise, availing themselves of the Power which they have from being put together, in order to perform this Action, throw themselves forward in hopes of freeing themselves from all Subjection; the only Way to correct such Vices, is to make the Horse go backward the same Length of Ground, that he forced and broke through.—There is another kind of Horses, who to avoid being put together in order to make a Pesade, as well as to resist the Rider, will fling their Croupe in and out, sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other; in this Case, if you perceive that your Horse is apt to fling his Croupe more to the Left than to the Right, you must put him to the Wall, the Wall being on the Left-hand, and there support and confine him with your Right-leg, and even pinch him if there should be occasion; taking care to carry your Hand to the Right, but imperceptibly, and no more than what will just serve to shorten the left Rein.