FRANCOIS BAUCHER In love with the noble tradition of court riding, having been brought up in the shadow of Versailles, Baucher was determined to return to the rounded collected outlines of the Baroque riding hall. Working with all breeds of horses, particularly admiring the English Thoroughbred, he achieved this by putting the rider in a foolproof position which gave him total command over the horse’s natural forces, by practicing flexions which would supple the jaw, the muscles of the neck and back and ease the joints. Collection was defined thus: ‘The true collection consists in gathering into the centre of the horse his whole energy, in order to lighten the two extremities and to place them completely under the control of the rider.’ Baucher was able to find a platform fro his extraordinary talent and showmanship in the circus. This was a very different affair in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from the circus of today. Often operating from a permanent site, the great glamorous circuses of Europe attracted the influential and wealthy in the same way as the theatre and ballet do today. High school riding was tip of the list of entertainments. Riders were of a very high caliber and could command enormous fees. Atmosphere was everything! Glittering chandeliers swung over small, intimate arenas, and there was a sharp intake of breath as a pair of magnificently festooned horses swished through the red curtain and passages slowly round to a dramatic roll of drums from the orchestra. Baucher, who had been classically, trained under tow fine ecuyers, Mazzuchelli, the Neoplitan, and d’Abzac in France, soon became admired by all society as a genius when he entered the circus. Baucher chose to exhibit mainly English horses; he loved the fire and the sensitivity of the Thoroughbred and as a perfectionist no doubt enjoyed the challenge. Movements (nowadays dubbed tricks) demanded by the expectant spectators included canter on the spot and to the rear, the Spanish walk and trot and other spectacular gaits, but these had to be executed as correctly as the piaffes and levades to gain applause. Baucher had many sayings which are still used today. The most famous saying, ‘Calme, en avant, droit!’ calm, forward, straight, is legendary. He also insisted, ‘From head to haunches, the horse must be straight when traveling on straight lines, and curved when he follows a curved line.’ The Baucher-inspired sensitivity led to his writing that the whole horse should be obedient to the ‘breath of a boot’, and as a proof of lightness, he wtrote that the seat will give the feeling of riding on ‘gentle waves of a lake’. It was Baucher who invented the flying change at each stride, changes a tempo which was adopted by every serious dressage establishment in the world. It was Baucher who wrote ‘The walk is the mother of the gaits . . .’and ‘The mouth of the horse is the barometer of his body’. And it was Baucher who, on one of his frequent and successful visits to Prussia replied quietly to the young officer who told him that they liked their horses in front of the hand: ‘I like my horse behind the hand and in front of the legs, so that the centre of gravity is placed between these two aids, as it is only on this condition that the horse is absolutely under the control of the rider, so that his movement will be graceful and regular, and that he will change easily from a fast pace to a slow one whilst preserving his balance.’
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:33:57 +0000
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