The Passades are the truest Proofs a Horse can give of his Goodness.—By his going off you judge of his Swiftness; by his Stop, you discover the Goodness or Imperfection of his Mouth; and by the Readiness with which he turns, you are enabled to decide upon his Address and Grace; in short, by making him go off a second time you discover his Temper and Vigour.—When your Horse is light and active before, is firm upon his Haunches, and has them supple and free, so as to be able to accompany the Shoulders, is obedient and ready to both Hands, and to the Stop, he is then fit to be work'd upon Passades.

Walk him along the Side of the Wall in a steady even Pace, supporting and keeping him light in the Hand, in order to shew him the Length of the Passade, and the Roundness of the Volte or Demi-volte, which he is to make at the End of each Line.—Stop at the End, and when he has finish'd the last Time of the Stop raise him, and let him make two or three Pesades. After this make a Demivolte of two Lines in the Walk; and while he is turning, and the Moment you have clos'd it, demand again of him two or three Pesades, and then let him walk on in order to make as many to the other Hand.

You must take care to confirm him well in this Lesson.—From the Walk you will put him to the Trot upon a strait Line; from the Trot to a slow Gallop, from that to a swifter; being thus led on by degrees, and step by step, he will be able to furnish all sorts of Passades, and to make the Demi-volte in any Air that you have taught him.

You should never put your Horse to make a Volte or Demi-volte at the time that he is disunited, pulls, or is heavy in the Hand, or is upon his Shoulders; on the contrary, you should stop him at once, and make him go backward till you perceive that he is regulated and united upon his Haunches, light before, and has taken a good and just Apuy. A perfect Passade is made in this Manner.—Your Horse standing strait and true upon all his Feet, you go off with him at once, you stop him upon his Haunches; and in the same Time or Cadence in which he made his Stop, being exactly obedient to the Hand and Heel, he ought to make the Demi-volte, balancing himself upon his Haunches, and so waiting till you give him the Aid to set off again. It is requisite then that the least Motion or Hint of the Rider should be an absolute Command to the Horse.—If you would have him go off at full Speed, yield your Hand, close the Calves of your Legs upon him; if he don't answer to this Aid, give him the Spurs, but you must give them so as not to remove them from the Place where they were, and without opening or advancing your Legs before you strike.

The high Passades are those which a Horse makes, when being at the End of his Line, he makes his Demi-volte in any Air he has been taught, either in the Mezair or in Curvets, which is very beautiful.—Therefore in high Passades let your Horse go off at full Speed; let your Stop be follow'd by three Curvets; let the Demi-volte consist of the same Number, and demand of him three more before he sets off again.—It is usual to make nine Curvets when you work a Horse alone and by himself.

The furious or violent Passades, are when a Horse gallops at his utmost Speed strait forward, and makes his half Stop, bending and playing his Haunches two or three times, before he begins his Demi-volte, which is made upon one Line, in three Times; for at the third Time he should finish the Demi-volte, and be strait upon the Line of the Passade, in order to go off again and continue it.

This sort of Passades was heretofore used in private Combats, and although it may appear that the Time that is employed in making the half Stop is lost, and only hinders you from gaining the Croupe of the Enemy; yet the half Stop is indispensably necessary, for unless a Horse is balanced upon his Haunches, and they bend and play under him, he could never make his Demi-volte, without being in danger of Falling.