Review of Nelson's F. Baucher

Alexander Technique Review 8.24.16

Reviews

Hilda Nelson

François Baucher - The Man and His Method

188 pages, Hardback, 1992, illustrated, no dustjacket, UK. J. A. Allen & Co. 0851315348.

Review by Walter Carrington (Construtive Teaching Centre)

First published in STATNews, vol. 4, issue 5, 1993.

This book is highly recommended, not only to riders and those interested in horsemanship, but also to everyone concerned with the Alexander Technique and the application of its underlying principles.

Francois Baucher (1796-1873) was the author of Methode d’Equitation basee sur de nouveaux principles (published in 1842) and his “nouvelle methode” of schooling horses involved close attention to the poise and free carriage of the head, the suppling and flexion of the neck and of the muscles of the jaw in order to secure balance, suppleness, lightness and the freedom of the horse's whole body. He repeatedly emphasised that “the head and neck of the horse are at once the rudder and the compass of the rider”. He explained that “by them he directs the animal; by them, also, he can judge the regularity and precision of his movements. The equilibrium of the whole body is perfect, its lightness complete, when the head and the neck remain of themselves easy, pliable and graceful. On the contrary there can be no elegance, no ease of the whole, when these two parts are stiff.” And he concludes that “the horseman's task is to place them under his direction” thus making the horse a “docile instrument”.

The striking similarity of this conclusion with Alexander's discovery of the primary control (the importance of the relationship of the head to neck and the head and neck to the back) in the human being will be obvious. But whereas Baucher's purpose was to render the horse a “creature of the rider's will”, Alexander was addressing a task of much greater fundamental importance: how by conscious reasoning to direct his own use of himself in such a manner that all the resources of his being would be subservient to his own will.

The two men had much else in common: they both taught their methods on an individual basis, with the use of their hands, and by practical demonstration. In their writings they set down their principles clearly with a solid and detailed methodology. Both were practitioners of their art rather than mere theoreticians; and in each case their principles and methods were the outcome of long practical experimentation and experience. Their conclusions were the product of a strictly scientific process of operational verification.

Both men encountered much criticism and scepticism during their lives. They both sprang from humble origins and limited academic opportunities and suffered from social disadvantage. However, they succeeded eventually in winning acknowledgement and respect from their peers and from those highly placed, influential people who experienced their teaching.

They both met with major set-backs in later life; Alexander had a stroke and Baucher had a terrible accident when a large chandelier fell upon him just as he was about to perform in a circus. However, they both made remarkable recoveries, largely as a result of the patient application of their own knowledge and experience to themselves. It was noted that the quality of their work during the latter years showed more refinement and delicacy than ever before.

Both men were great artists: they were devoted to the pursuit of perfection in terms of lightness, freedom and excellence in their respective spheres. Both were also scientists in the truest sense; carrying out their research with exceptional powers of observation and inductive reasoning. They both had, also, a deep sympathy and feeling for the deprived and underprivileged, the injured and the underdog, whether horse or man.

Alexander was four years old in Tasmania when Baucher died in Paris, on the other side of the world. If they had been closer in time and place, and if they could have met, there is no doubt that they would have found much in common with each other. Today students of the Alexander Technique equally with students of equitation can derive invaluable insights from the works of both these great masters.