in locomotion, to transfer the natural gifts of suppleness and elegance from the horse free to the horse mounted, is the dream, the life dream, the object of life of the masters of the scientific equitation. And I ask the horsemen, the masters from Xenophon to our own epoch, if ever a rider, mounted on a horse at the passage, has forgotten the sensation of that motion!
The passage is too often confounded with the Spanish trot, even by the generality of masters. Yet the difference is complete. More than nine tenths of the Spanish trot is done against resistance; and the fore legs are forcibly extended straight forward at full length. But at the passage, only the fore arm extends forward, the limb being flexed at the knee; and the forward step is only a third the length of the stride in the Spanish trot. Although the Spanish trot may be very beautiful when well performed, it is never so graceful, elegant, and elastic as the passage, probably because the passage is more natural to the horse than the violent exertions of the Spanish trot.
For the Spanish trot is an artificial air, which has been taught to thousands of horses, enslaved by straps, whips, severe bits, and continued repetition. Fillis says, with great truth, "Yet it is certain that the new school is in use everywhere. The man does not any more ride the horse to educate him. All the work is done on foot, with whips and straps, absolutely like the training of monkeys or goats.
