"Finally, men learn very quickly to put in practice means that are applied on foot, and there is a great advantage in it; it is that they can see better the moment that the neck becomes flexible and the jaw without contraction; besides this, their hand becomes much more delicate than it would have become in a much greater space of time, if the application took place in the saddle.
"Until now, only men of great talent were able to break horses; now, by practising this new method, which demonstrates clearly the means of breaking, every rider, in a very short time, can acquire the knowledge necessary to render a horse fit for use. * * * A person commencing to learn this method, and who is obliged to work from the book, ought to proceed slowly and cautiously in the application of principles that are not familiar to him. He ought first to endeavor to perfect his seat, his position, his touch, the obedience of his horse, and his paces; he will thus make great progress in the breaking, and be enabled to undertake the application of the new method.
"De Willisen,
"Lieut.-Col. of the Seventh Cuirassiers."
M. Baucher received from the King of Prussia a magnificent snuff-box of elegantly carved gold, as a token of the satisfaction of his majesty with our author's system.
If anybody has read all this, they will be pleased to hear that there will be no more proofs of the excellence of the system brought from across the Atlantic. In consequence of the opposition mentioned above, Baucher's system was discontinued in the French army, in spite of the almost unanimous wish of the officers. But he has gained a name as the first horseman of this or any other age—the first who could not only manage horses himself, but teach others to do so equally well. This has been proved under the translator's own eyes.
A gentleman of Philadelphia purchased a horse, four years old, long, gangling, ewe-necked; such a brute as no one but a confident disciple of Baucher would have had anything to do with. Had he hunted the country for a horse with but one merit, that of soundness, and possessing that only because nothing had ever been done to injure it, he could not have been better suited. Mounted upon this animal, it was painful to see a good rider in such a quandary; but a quiet, confident smile showed what was intended to come of it.
In six weeks from that time, without the horse ever having crossed the threshold of the stable-yard, the writer saw him splendid, with his neck arched like the steed in Holy Writ, his haunches well under him, obedient to the lightest touch of hand or heel, ready to do anything that was demanded of him, because he had been put in a position that enabled him to do it.
Since that, the same person has broken two other horses of greater natural capabilities, and the success was proportionately greater.
Every one who takes any interest in horses recollects the horse May-fly, when first introduced to an American audience, by Sands, of Welsh's circus. This horse, a thoroughbred, belonging to the racing stud of Baron Rothschild, was so vicious that he had to be brought upon the race-course in a van, so that he could see nothing till the moment to start arrived. With even this and similar precautions, he was considered dangerous and unmanageable. The master hand was required, and, under its influence, all such things as vice and being unmanageable disappeared. Instead of violent force on the part of man, which would only have produced more violent force on the part of the brute, Baucher sought out the sources of these resistances, and conquered them in detail.
Is it not worth a few weeks' pleasant labor with your horse to be able to make him move with the grace, elegance and majesty of this one, or of those we have since seen ridden by Derious, and that French Amazon, Caroline Loyo? It is within the power of every one to do this to a certain extent; and as the education of the man as a rider advances progressively with that of the horse, there are, as Baucher himself says, no limits to the progress of horsemanship, and no performance, equestrianly possible, that a horseman, who will properly apply his principles, cannot make his horse execute.