LA GUÉRINIÈRE (François Robichon de). École de... Lot 39

LA GUÉRINIÈRE (François Robichon de). École de cavalerie ; contenant la connoissance, l'instruction, et la conservation du cheval. Paris, la Compagnie, 1756, false title, portrait, title-frontispiece, title, [12]-319-1 blank p., 2 folding plates and 29 plates out of text, and false title, title, 300 p., 2 folding plates, both volumes bound in one volume at the time, full brown calf, spine ribbed and ornamented (spine reinforced, spine restored, an owner has repeated his name on the front flyleaves and the false title: "Modest Van Haelst". A good copy of the octavo edition. La Guérinière can be considered as the founder of modern-day horsemanship in France, if not in Europe. He simplified the means of training the horse, and made modifications to its harnessing. He was concerned with defining the exact balance of the horse and taught the rectitude of the rider's position. Twenty centuries after the Athenian Xenophon, he was an essential relay of the theory of the equestrian art. The last word belongs to him, thanks to a sentence, among others, taken from his writings. It is a perfect reflection of his clarity of expression and seems to have been written to comment on Tocqué's pastel: "Grace on horseback consists in a straight and free posture, which comes from the counterweight of the body well observed; so that, in all the movements that the horse makes, the rider, without disturbing his seat, preserves as much as he can a right balance, this air of ease and freedom which forms what is called the beautiful horseman.