Baucher and His School: With Appendix I: Recollections From LOUIS RUL and EUGÈNE CARON With Appendix II: Commentary by LOUIS SEEGER From his pamphlet: ... A SERIOUS WORD WITH THE RIDERS OF GERMANY

Baucher and his School (originally published in 1948) is an original biography of the greatest écuyer of all time François Baucher (1796-1873). Albert Decarpentry comments on the discoveries of one of the most prolific innovators in Equestrian Art. This book comprises the equestrian biography of François Baucher an analytical examination of his method and its lasting effect on French equitation. Decarpentrys treatise is essential for understanding the importance of Baucher a phenomenal figure in the history of equitation.Appendix I contains excerpts from the memoir of Louis Rul clarified and completed by his friend Eugene Caron. Their personal accounts provide valuable firsthand anecdotes of the life and times of Baucher.Appendix II consists of excerpts from Monsieur Baucher and his Art: Serious Warning to the Riders of Germany by Louis Seeger Bauchers German rival. Seeger (also the teacher of Gustav Steinbrecht Gymnasium of the Horse) studied Bauchers method with malevolent blindness but also with indisputable competence. With rigorous examination Seeger compares and contrasts his own method to Bauchers nouvelle methode. His counter-argument sheds light on the German versus French dressage method that has endured even today.François Bauchers lasting influence on equitation is the evolution of his ideas to the concept of riding in lightness. Baucher constantly questioned his own and the established methods experimented and innovated through lifelong trial and error in search of the truth.Commander of the Cavalry School at St. Cyr Ecuyer and second in command of the Cadre Noir in Saumur Albert Decarpentry grandson of Eugene Caron and a student of Baucher was considered the most knowledgeable écuyer of his generation. He contributed actively to the influence of French equitation in his many books and by writing the rules and definitions of the F.E.I. that are still used today. His account of Bauchers life is both informed and impartial.