horse knows that I have the spurs ready at my disposal, I put him at the manege walk, at the slowest possible gait, step by step. Then I begin to activate the entire mechanism, but not by any quicker action of my legs or fingers. I keep the same tempo, with an even more accurately measured power of my effects, and I incline my body slightly forward, so as to shift the center of gravity and lighten the loins. At the slightest disorder, I stop everything, reestablish calm, and begin again.
It is very seldom that I have to start over more than three times before I obtain one or two movements of the loins. For the rider who has not had the experience, it is a strange sensation that he now receives through the seat. As the horse flexes its haunches and hocks below its pelvis, one feels as if the horse were on the point of kicking, first with one leg and then with the other. It is really nothing of that sort. It is simply the first of the two indications that the croup is lifting higher. If, after this first manifestation, you know how to recompense, to calm, and to rest, it becomes easy to secure two or four or six. Do not accept an odd number of actions, because this will tend to make the horse unequal, with one side more indolent or backward than the other.
The rest is easy, merely a question of time, progression, and moderation, in order for the horse to develop the necessary strength. The slower the action, the more difficult and the more brilliant, so
