I proclaim it, the gathering a horse has never been understood or defined before me, for it cannot be perfectly executed without the regular application of the principles that I have developed for the first time. You will be convinced of this truth when you know that the _rassembler_ demands:
1. The suppling, partial and general, of the neck and haunches.
2. The perfect position that results from this suppling.
3. The entire absorption of the forces of the horse by the rider.
Now, as the means of obtaining these different results have never been pointed out in any treatise on horsemanship, am I not justified in saying that the true _rassembler_ has never been practised until now? It is, nevertheless, one of the indispensable conditions of the horse's education; consequently I think I am right in saying that before my method, horses of defective formation have never been properly broken.
How is the _rassembler_ defined in the schools of horsemanship? _You gather your horse by raising the hand and closing the legs._ I ask, what good can this movement of the rider do upon an animal badly formed, contracted, and that remains under the influence of all the evil propensities of its nature? This mechanical support of the hands and legs, far from preparing the horse for obedience, will only make him redouble his means of resistance, since, while giving him notice that we are about to demand a movement on his part, we remain unable to dispose his forces in such a way as to force him to it.
The real _rassembler_ consists in collecting the forces of the horse in his centre in order to ease his extremities, and give them up completely to the disposition of the rider. The animal thus finds himself transformed into a kind of balance, of which the rider is the centre-piece. The least touch upon one or other of the extremities, which represent the scales, will immediately send them in the direction we wish. The rider will know that his horse is completely gathered when he feels him ready, as it were, to rise from all four of his legs. The proper position first, and then the use of the spurs, will make this beautiful execution of the gathering easy to both horse and rider; and what splendor, grace and majesty it gives the animal! If we have been obliged at first to use the spurs in pushing this concentration of forces to its farthest limits, the legs will afterwards be sufficient to obtain the gathering necessary for the precision and elevation required in all complicated movements.