Mexico weekly ledger., 1909-09-02
tue ANCIENT ANDMOD-
tRH tQUlHt Nun Ouneos
by Captain Grimsgaard, Royal
Norwegian Cavalry.
lcourtesy Bit and spurl

tihe Haute Ecole. This is a matter
Ior extreme regret. and hope what
| say In this article will stir up a re.
VFai OF interest in the graceful ana
70 an outsider astonishing movements
OF this school.
"hen at Vienna the horses are frat
started In the high school work thev
are placed between the "pillarsp--as
shown in one Of the pictures in the
March number of Bit e Spur and
can then consequently, only be work
ed "on the spot" performing the
pesade, the piaff and partly also the
so-called school jumps. which are the
courbette with hind hoofs Just rails
ed from the ground); the croupade
with hind hoofs raised more, and
with their under-surface toward the
ground); the ballotade with hind
hoofs raised with their under-surface
turned backwards); the capriole
with hind hoofs raised with their un-
der surface turned upwards), and the
lancade.
The pesade is the introduction to
them all. and in II the back-Hne of the
horse should form an angle of As
degrees with the ground.
The PAGES taught at the Vienna
school are side-galts, the school gal
lop (gallopade), with its different
evolutions, and the Spanish trot; the
other more modern PAGES Of the high
school being not performed here. The
fschool-jumps" are the hobby Of this
institution, their horses being espe.
cially adapted to this work and are
as compared with other breeds, easily
broken to high school.
1t is well-known fact that the per-
formances Of the Spanish School IN
Vienna have no equal, as far as
correctness, grace, beauty and ele-
gance are concerned, but it is the Old
School, and is-taking our modern
ideas into consideration-restr
too much to work ION the spot" like
the 'Baucher system" about which the
Duke Of Nemour said: II do not ap-
prove of system, however much
merit 1t may seem to have, which
tends to diminish the forward moving
power Of the horse"
Although the action in the hind
part Of the animal is developed to
perfection and the most perfect
"school-jumps" ION the spot are per-
formed in the Vienna School, their
horses do not jump as we understand
II.
The modern high school work is
principally performed from the
horses's back, but 1t resembles the
Vienna School so far as it lays the
same stress upon the action of the
hind part. The practical high school
trainer scarcely wastes a thought or
a glance ON the fore legs, for be
knows that action in those parts will
come OF itself when once the hind
part is made to weigh up to the fore.
In modern high school work the
whip is rarely applied TO the fore
hand, and then only from the horses
back and by slight touches on the
shoulders or under the chest close
behind the elbows.
The high school work of the pres
ent time is practically directed to-
ward the further development of the
horses activity for practical riding,
and upon the same basis as gym
nastics are used in the schools and
gymnasiums, This is why It is not
unfrequently found in European
officer circles, that such schooling,
whole or in parts, is used for animals
that are not exactly made for this
kind Of work, and whose natural
PAGES are deficient
The high school training is not
commenced before the horse has been
lunged and ridden and thereby broken
for ordinary school riding. School
jumps on the spot enter little into
modern high school work as their
practical use is small as compared
with the strain to back and limbs
which they entail. The only school
jump sometimes practiced is the Ian
cade. but this is not jump "on the
spot" but one from the spot"
The modern school in other re-
spects acknowledges and utilities the
fundamental principles of the Old
School, and has developed them in
a higher degree
1. By adding new PAGES, for in
stance, marching at the walk and the
floating trot, or as it is called in
Germany the Swim trot, in which the
fore legs are stretched forward and
brought into an almost horizontal
position; thus enabling the horse to
reach over more ground than in the
step of the Spanish trot
2. BY requiring also more rapid
carrying out of some of the Old
Schools evoIutions, as for instance
the pirouette and the half pirouette
1.-TWO methods of turning round and
half round on one hind foot at
school gallop), which are performed
by the Old School in six or three
slow, but high and beautiful gallon
strides. The modern school demands
| that such turnings be made in less
time than 1t takes to accomplish one
gallop-stride. Another feature of the
modern style is the free gallop with
its changing tempo at every second
or third stride.
Again, by having introduced
more variations in the movements
which means direct and without IN
termission, passings over from one
school pace to another; for example
from scbool-gallop right aud left in
to Spanish trot and vica-versa, and
with certain number of strides and
steps in each pace, say three gallop-
strides left; four steps Spanish trot'
three gallop-strides right and so on.
| Another feature is the direct passing
over from floating trot into the plaif
and again into the trot
| 4. Finally, the modern school de-
mands that the high school horse
| shall be taught to jump, and to DO II
,,,,.b tho highest degree of precision