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The canter on three legs may be done either to the right or to the left.[1]
I do not know if others taught this exercise before me. In any case, I have never seen it done by anyone else, and I have never met with its description in any treatise on equitation.
"PASSAGE" TO THE REAR.
This is a very difficult exercise to do ; because ground has to be gained to the rear, while maintaining the diagonal steps in a well-cadenced manner, and preserving the same elevation of the hind legs, as in the forward movement. In every retrograde movement, the hind feet have a tendency to keep as close to the ground as possible. Unless we are absolutely sure of ourselves — as we ought to be, when we face such difficulties — we often produce, against our will, too strong an effect from front to rear, and thus transfer the weight from the forehand to the hind quarters, which consequently becomes lowered. To obviate this fault, we should make the horse
Fig. 63. Germinal at the canter to the left on three legs ; in hand, but not rassembléd. The canter is in four time, although there is no rassembler, because the energetic uplifting of the forehand keeps in the air, even the leg which is not extended.
Fig. 64. Germinal at the canter to the right on three legs ; rassemblé 'd.
We can see how much the action of the spur, which is necessary for the rassembler, increases the extension of the leg in the air, and increases the height of the action, by bringing the hind quarters under the body.
Fig. 65 represents Germinal at the half-rear with the off fore extended, at the moment when I demanded the canter to the right on three legs in the rassembler. The horse had begun by a lazy extension of the leg ; but a sharper touch of the spur has made him do this half-rear, while at the same time he extends his off fore perfectly. In fact, this is a case of absolute obedience ; and the horse, immediately after the half-rear, starts into the canter to the right on three legs, in the rassembler. The photograph shown in Fig. 64 was taken immediately after this half-rear.
We can see, agreeably to what I have advised, that the spurs are applied to the sides during the half-rear, and the reins slackened. In fact, the reins are much less tight in Fig. 65 than in Fig. 64, in which the hands feel them ; but in Fig. 65 the hands are carried forward on the neck. ↩︎