Notes on equitation and horse training/Question 1
I.
History.
I.
History.
The history of equitation reaches back to remotest antiquity. The horse has always been used in combat, and here we find the origin or, more properly speaking, the cause of the equestrian art. If man had utilized the horse merely to cover long distances or to bear burdens, sufficient training for the purpose would have been an easy matter. But when he decided to fight from the horse's back he was obliged to develop a complete and logical system of steps in training and handling.
Antiquity.— We will not concern ourselves with the manner in which the Greeks, Gauls, and Romans rode. Covering this long period, only the works of Xenophon need be cited; they are especially worthy of mention because they include all the fundamental principles of equitation, and even in our day may be consulted to advantage. It should also be stated that prior to the fifth century a covering stretched over the horse's back was the only form of saddle. The Orientals made slaves bend their backs to serve as mounting blocks, and the Romans made use of stones called "stades," which were set along the roads for the same purpose. It was not until the end of the fifth century that the saddle-tree was invented, and later stirrups were added. This invention materially modified methods of equitation and permitted the rider to remain longer in the saddle without becoming fatigued.
Middle ages.— During the long period that constitutes the middle ages, two customs contributed largely to
progress in equitation. These two fashions were chivalry and tournaments. All the youths of the French nobility, eager to rise to the dignity of knighthood, received an education in which the first essential was to learn how to ride. Equitation, it is true, was very limited. The lancer's deep saddle, required to resist an adversary's shock, led to a very constrained seat. Methods of controlling the horse were neither accurate nor progressive; the legs held straight and far out from the horse could be closed only by jerks; the overloaded horses necessarily lacked suppleness. Equitation was simply an exhibition of brute strength, but it was well adapted to the form of combat and to the breed of horses then existing.
During this period of the middle ages we find no works on equitation. The horsemen of that period were certainly not writers and, moreover, equitation with them was a business rather than an art.
Italian schools.—The lack of authors and of historical documents brings us up to the time of Pignatelli, an Italian nobleman, who, in the sixteenth century, founded at Naples the first school of equitation that ever existed. His example was promptly followed in Italy, and other schools were founded, one at Ferrare by Cæasar Fiaschi and one at Naples by Frederick Grison. Their system consisted in exaggerated supplings, exacted in a brutal manner. They obtained results, however, and horses trained in these schools were certainly well in hand, but training was very long and was not always successful. All the horses of Italy, especially those of Naples, had a reputation for viciousness, which was probably due simply to the exceptional severity of the horsemen.
French schools.—Sixteenth century.— The principles of the Italian school were brought to France at the end of the sixteenth century by La Broue and Pluvinel, pupils of Pignatelli. The nobility eagerly took up the theoretical study of an art that seemed new to them;
competitions took the place of tourneys, and at the death of Henry II the latter disappeared entirely.
Pluvinel, who was successively first equerry to Henry III and director of the royal stables under Henry IV, founded the first academies in France.
Equitation as taught in these academies was still slow and restricted. The seat in the high saddle was always straight and stiff. Immoderate use was made of the spur and switch, and the methods of training were based principally on the use of the cavesson and of the posts.
Seventeenth century.— In the seventeenth century the principal riding masters were Solleysel (1617-1680), who published the Parfait Maréchal and translated the works of Newcastle; Du Plessis; De Lavallée; Vendeuil, who was De la Guérinière's teacher; and Gaspard Saunier (1663-1746), who wrote Treatise on the Complete Knowledge of Horses, The True Principles of Cavalry, and The Art of Cavalry. In England, the Marquis of Newcastle is worthy of mention.
Equitation was still about the same, but they began to work outside the riding hall. Solleysel took up conditioning and published a Method of Preparing Horses to Cover Extraordinary Distances. Gaspard Saunier insists on the necessity of working horses out of doors. He tells us that the best horses of the Versailles school, when put on the road in the campaign of 1691, had great difficulty in becoming accustomed to this new work, and that "they stumbled and seemed to have scarcely enough strength to stand up."
Eighteenth century.—It was not until the eighteenth century that the French school was really and definitely founded, and the honor of establishing it is due to M. de la Guérinière. He was the first to conceive the idea of the natural seat. He had the pommel and cantle of the manage saddle cut down and taught that the rider should seek a firm seat in the balance and uprightness
of his position. His instruction in equitation was reasonable and natural; he greatly simplified methods of training, and the system that he published may still be consulted with advantage.
Following the riding masters of the eighteenth century, we advance step by step. The Versailles school became celebrated the world over. It was a real academy, which, after laying down the principles of French equitation, sought to maintain these principles and prove their superiority.
Among the numerous riding masters of the eighteenth century should be mentioned La Guérinière, who published The School of Cavalry and the Elements of Cavalry (he died in 1751); De Nestier; De Salvert; De Lubersac, who trained his horses by riding them eighteen months at a walk; De Montfaucon de Rogles, who, in his Treatise on Equitation, gives some useful information on work with the longe; De Neuilly; Bourgelat, founder of veterinary schools; Du Paty de Clam, who published numerous works and was a writer rather than a riding master; D'Auvergne, head riding master at the military school in Paris; Mottin De La Balme, pupil of d'Auvergne, who wrote Essays on Equitation; De Bohan, who published a Critical Review of the French Army (he thought that equitation should proscribe all artificial gaits); De Boideffre, a pupil of d'Auvergne, who wrote Principles of Equitation and of Cavalry; De LaBigne, and D'Abzac.
Military schools.— It is important to note that progress in equitation was due not solely to instruction received at the Versailles school, but also to the reforms in cavalry tactics introduced by Frederick the Great. The necessity of having squadrons able to maneuver proved to the King of Prussia that equitation should be the basis of the instruction of the trooper. He built riding halls in all cavalry garrisons and caused the principles of the equestrian art to be taught.
The example of the Germans was followed by the French cavalry. At the end of Louis XV's reign, the Duke of Choiseul, minister of war, had the King sign a decree, in 1764, creating five cavalry schools—at Douai, Metz, Besancon, La Fleche, and Cambrai. A central school at Paris was to receive the best pupils from the elementary schools after they had passed through a fixed period of instruction. This decree of 1764 was never completely carried out.
In 1770 regimental riding schools were established in nearly all cavalry garrisons. Among these schools the most celebrated were those at St. Germain, Versailles, and Saumur. The one at Saumur, which had been organized in 1763 by the regiment of carbineers, was transformed in 1771 into a cavalry school to which every colonel was directed to send four officers and four noncommissioned officers annually.
Period from 1789 to 1815..— The Revolution suppressed all cavalry schools. However, in 1798, the school at Versailles was reestablished and took the name of National School of Instruction for Mounted Troops. In this new school the instructors did not attempt equitation, but simply endeavored to teach the horse to carry his rider and to travel at marching gaits.
In 1799 two new schools were created, one at Luneville and one at Angers, having the same object and the same organization. The Versailles school was the only one left in 1808, when an imperial decree replaced it by the school at St. Germain, intended to complete the instruction of cavalry second lieutenants after the course at St. Cyr.
Restoration.— Upon the return to power of the Bourbons the Versailles riding school was reestablished and placed under the direction of M. d'Abzac, who was assisted by Messrs. de Goursac and Charrette de Boisfoucaud.
The most noted riding masters of that school were the Viscount O'Hégerty, de Vendière, de Millange, and de Vaugiro. The Versailles school lasted until 1830.
In 1814 the Restoration suppressed the school at St. Germain and founded a new one at Saumur. The latter was abolished in 1822, following General Berton's conspiracy, and the decree of 1823 established a school of application for cavalry at Versailles.
The Riding School of the Pages, under the direction of O'Hégarty, formed a branch of the Versailles school. But this new organization lasted only a year and on November 11, 1824, the cavalry school was definitely established at Saumur.
Contemporary equitation.—We now come to contemporary equitation, for a long time divided into two schools; a new school, that of Baucher, and the d'Aure school, which continued the methods taught at Versailles.
Baucher.—Little is known of Baucher's antecedents. At the age of 15 he set out for Italy with one of his uncles, who was an instructor in riding schools. He returned to France a few years later and located in Paris. First he gave lessons in a small riding academy in the Rue Montmartre; then he went into a circus in order to popularize his methods. The minister of war had his system tested in the army on two different occasions; one trial was at Saumur. The Baucher system, however, was never officially adopted in the cavalry.
Baucher's methods were entirely different from those taught at the Versailles school. Much more complicated than the Count d'Aure's method, it marked in a way a return to the suppling of the early riding masters. The formula that Baucher often repeated was this: "Destroy the instinctive forces and replace them by transmitted forces." To carry out this programme it was necessary to begin with a series of supplings: "Flexions of the jaw; flexions of the neck, lateral flexions and mobilizing the hind quarters about the shoulders; swinging the fore quarters about the haunches; combination of the play of both extremities or backing."
All this preliminary work was done in place and resulted in the "gather" (Le ramener); later by the use of so-called "attacks" and "collecting effects" he arrived at the "assemble" (Le rassembler). These first lessons were supplemented by a few movements at the walk, trot, and gallop, and were supposed to complete the training of a horse in two months.
As for the high school, this was Baucher's triumph. He was an admirable riding master and could make his horses execute the most complicated steps. In one of his works he mentions 16 new riding-school movements which he had added to the repertory of former riding masters.
Baucher wrote several works on equitation. The principal ones are a Dictionary of Equitation and a Method of Equitation Based on New Principles.
D'Aure.— The Count d'Aure, a former pupil of the St. Cyr school, graduated there as a second lieutenant of infantry. He subsequently went into the guard corps and was thus enabled to enter the riding school at Versailles under the direction of the Viscount d'Abzac.
In 1830 he resigned, but, although he gave up the profession of arms, he retained his fondness for equitation, and his brilliant success in that direction led to his being appointed in 1847 to the post of head riding master of the school at Saumur.
His equitation is far from being complicated and studied; it is instinctive, bold, and brilliant. The Count d'Aure was an improvisor who, at the first glance, knew how to secure good results from the most difficult horses. Like all true horsemen, he rode equally well in the riding hall and in the open; and while he encouraged hunting and racing, he could excel all others at the head of a riding-school exhibition. He directed his efforts particularly to the marking of bold and energetic horsemen and
always preached the movement to the front: "Push, push up to the bit" was the excellent precept that he continually repeated to his pupils.
Count d'Aure wrote two works on equitation, one in 1830 and one in 1853, and during the eight years from 1847 to 1855 was head riding master of the cavalry school.