The Scottish Horse
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Scottish Horse A thirty-two bar Reel for three couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, published in Whetherly Book 7.1- 8 First and second couples dance round an anticlockwise square with petronella turns. To start first lady and second man cross to partners' places with a petronella turn, whilst first man travels to second man's place and second lady to first lady's place with similar turns.
9-12 First couple cast off into second place, second couple step up; first couple cross giving right hand.
13-14 First lady casts up to finish between second couple facing down and first man casts off to finish between third couple facing up.
15-16 First couple makes an arch with their right hands and turn simple beneath it to face their first corners. Note: turn simple, each dancer turns on own with pas de basque step, thus first couple pass by the left shoulder under the arch made with their right hands.
17-24 First man turns first corner with the right hand, third man with the left hand, second man with the right hand and second lady with the left hand; at the same time first lady turns first corner with the right hand, second lady with the left hand, third lady with the right hand and third man with the left hand. First couple finishes facing up and down the set.
25-30 First couple lead out between second and third ladies, the man casts up and the lady casts down, they lead out between second and third men, the man casts up and the lady casts down.
31-32 First couple turns three quarters with the right hand to own side of the set.
Repeat from second place.
Recommended tune: The Scottish Horse
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 7, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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