I can still hear the Ecuyers tell their students, during their lessons: Close your legs firmly, close your hams firmly. But how do these gentlemen propose that their disciples have stability, once their strength is lost by having closed their knees and hamstrings too tightly? As for me, I have always recommended to my students to have flexible legs and hamstrings. They are thus rendered very stable. This enables them to have a very gentle and light hand, which is impossible without good stability.To return to the good rider, I will add here that the legs must be turned in from above, i.e. the knees and thighs. Otherwise they would look like claws, and they would make the rider appear ungraceful, who must also not have straight legs at all, as is taught otherwise, for his knee must be bent imperceptibly, so that his leg falls alongside the girth, as I have said.After the legs have been placed as I have taught, and the rider maintains his balance well, he will not lack stability. For this purpose, the legs and hams must remain flexible, because this is the true touchstone for guiding a horse delicately. Gaspard de Saunier (1663-1748)
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 15:48:37 +0000
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