Horsemanship

“ That being the case, it is understood that the difficulty of horsemanship does not consist in the direction to give the horse, but in the position to make him assume—a position which alone can smooth all obstacles. ”

“ Out in the centre of the plain other squads are engaged in the athletics of horsemanship,—a series of problems in action which embraces every sort of emergency a mounted man may encounter in the rush and throng of battle, and the means of instantly meeting it, and of saving his own life or that of a comrade. So much more is made in these days of the individual powers of the man and horse that it is wonderful to see what an exact yet intelligently obedient combination they have become ”

“ Searching for the elements distinctive of range horsemanship, as contrasted with the pleasure, the military and the working horsemanship of civilization, a few essential things come clearly into view. ”

“ My method will give military men a taste for horsemanship, a taste which is indispensable in the profession they practise. The nature of officers' horses, considered as so defective, is exactly the one upon which the most satisfactory results may be obtained. ”

“ He is an excellent and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse run wild,—circumstances which our young men look upon as so essential a part of English horsemanship, that they would rather break a leg or an arm than renounce them. ”

“ If you want a still more striking analogy, take horsemanship. Most men learn to ride, and can as a matter of fact manage a hack in the park without making an exhibition of them [Pg 12] selves, or even join the road-riders when it is a question of following the hounds. But do you suppose that the mere man on horseback takes the trouble to acquire the whole art of horsemanship, the severe mastery which the professional requires, the ‘high airs’ of the school rider? ”

“ This work being an exposition of a method which upsets most of the old principles of horsemanship, it is understood that I only address men already conversant with the art, and who join to an assured seat a sufficiently great familiarity with the horse, to understand all that concerns his mechanism. ”

“ Bold and determined horsemanship acts and reacts on all a man's other soldierly characteristics, and forms thus a basis for further progress of the highest order, apart from the fact that it impresses the men most favourably, and induces them to follow with greater confidence. ”

“ With this short comment on the rise and progress of horsemanship, from its commencement up to the present time, I will proceed to give you the principles of a new theory of taming wild horses, which is the result of many experiments, and a thorough investigation and trial of the different methods of horsemanship now in use. ”

“ First, by destroying the breed of good horses, the strength of the nation, and making men careless of attaining to good horsemanship, a thing so useful and commendable in a gentleman: for, hereby they become weary and listless, when they ride a few miles, and unwilling to get on horseback, not able to endure frost, snow, or rain, or to lodge in the fields ”

“ In horsemanship it is used to describe the action of a horse who beats the dust with his fore-feet in managing, without embracing the vault; who makes his motions and time short and near the ground, without being put upon his haunches. ”

“ The pretension of range horsemen as a class is to earn a living by the use of cheap working horses, riding with a weight-distributing equipment and pack transport, while we base our mobility upon a herd of remounts.
Pleasure horsemanship
For pleasure horsemanship our feeling is one of admiring envy. No men are better able to appreciate the incomparable gallantry and elan of the hunting field, especially in Ireland, the beautiful spectacles afforded by racing, horse shows, and tournaments, the grand pageantry of state functions in European capitals. ”

“ The middle ages had seen chivalry developed into a social distinction, and horsemanship into a form of knightly prowess. The Renaissance introduced the cultivation of horsemanship as an art, with regular conditions and rules, instead of merely its skilful practice for utility and exercise. In Italy in the 16th century schools of horsemanship were established at Naples, Rome and other chief cities ”

“ If they succeed in rendering easy the education of common horses, they will make the study of horsemanship [126] popular among the masses; they will put within reach of moderate fortunes, so numerous in our land of equality, the practice of an art that has hitherto been confined to the rich. ”

“ These instructions are very good, but not quite sufficient for horses of all kinds, and for haltering and leading the colt; but I have inserted them here because they give some of the true philosophy of approaching the horse, and of establishing confidence between man and horse. He speaks only of the kind that fear man.
To those who understand the philosophy of horsemanship, these are the easiest trained; for when we have a horse that is wild and lively, we can train him to our will in a very short time—for they are generally quick to learn, and always ready to obey. ”

“ The young fellows took great delight in showing off their horsemanship, and would dash along, picking up a half-dollar from the ground, stop their horses in full career and turn about on the space of a bullock's hide, and their skill with the lasso was certainly wonderful. ”

“ They then become disgusted with horsemanship and horses, and as nothing obliges them to continue the exercise, they give it up nearly altogether, and so much the more easily as they naturally care very little about the breeds of horses and their perfection. ”

“ Indeed at about this period probably no accomplishment was quite so highly esteemed as horsemanship, with the result that the wealthy classes began to pay special attention to the training their sons received in it, while treatises were published upon the art and how best it might be acquired. ”

“ Occasionally, too, I have beheld a man bestriding a horse in that peculiar fashion which may be described as his being on the outside of the animal, slipping away over the hot stones, possibly at a trot, and fancying ivthough with many suspicions to the contrary; that he is witching the world with noble horsemanship. What a pity that such poor fellows will persist in aiming at what they cannot achieve! What mortification and disappointment they must often know! The horse backs on to the pavement, into a plate-glass window, just as Maria, for whose sake the poor screw was hired, is passing by. ”

“ A man feels twice a man on horseback. The student and the farmer meet, when mounted, the Cabinet Minister and the landlord on even terms—good horsemanship is a passport to acquaintances in all ranks of life, and to make acquaintances is one of the arts of civilised life ”

“ Horses were divided into six classes, viz., those for the Emperor and nobility, those to be used in war, those for draught and field labour, those for government posts, those for private riding or journeying, and those for carrying burdens. To the Emperor alone were assigned no fewer than forty thousand war-horses; to the princes and other nobles a smaller number, regulated according to their rank. The art of horsemanship was at this time greatly cultivated and admired. No man was permitted to become a cavalry soldier before the age of thirty-five, or to remain such after fifty. ”

“ Besides, for your own sake you must have it in your power to get your horse's haunches, and with them your own person, out of danger from careless or mischievous drivers—just as a cavalryman has to save his horse from a slash or thrust. ”

“ They try hard at first to deny the knowledge of the innovator; but the masses who instinctively know the true, and judge from what they see, soon range themselves on his side, turn their backs upon his detractors, and leave them to their solitude and vain pretensions.
To the mass of horsemen I address myself, when I say, either the horse is under the influence of your forces, and entirely submissive to your power, or you are struggling with him. ”

“ And such is the inconsistency of human nature, that they are performed by persons who would shudder at the sight of the bleeding flank of the race-horse, or who would lay down with disgust, and some expression of maudlin, morbid humanity, the truly interesting narrative of that most intrepid and enduring of all gallopers, Sir Francis Head. ”

“ That is, because the bad horseman hurries his horse over hard or rough ground, or down hill, or over loose stones—allows him to choose his own ground—lets him flounder into difficulties, and when there, hauls him so that he cannot see, or exert himself to get out of them, and expecting chastisement, the horse springs and struggles to avoid it before he has recovered his feet, and goes down with a tremendous impetus. ”

“ Indulged in this Liberty, and subjected all at once by the Bit, it is but natural they should rebel; there is no way of eradicating these first Impressions, but by Gentleness and Patience: A Horseman, who should make use of Force and Correction, and employ it all at once upon a young Horse, would discourage and make him vicious ever after. ”

“ Yet the old principles demand two or three years to reach this point, and when by feeling your way without any certainty of success, the horseman gifted with some tact and experience, ends by accustoming the horse to obey the impressions communicated to him, he imagines that he has surmounted great difficulties, and attributes to his skill a state so near that of nature that correct principles would have obtained it in a few days. ”

“ If the rider, having reached this stage of his horse's education, cannot comprehend and seize that fineness of touch, that delicacy of process indispensable to the right application of my principles, it will prove him devoid of every feeling of a horseman ”

“ And first, I lay down the principle that all the resistances of young horses spring, in the first place, from a physical cause, and that this cause only becomes a moral one by the awkwardness, ignorance and brutality of the rider. ”

“ A neighboring farmer, who had at first thought to reap a golden harvest from his five excellent horses at a dollar a ride, hereupon remarked, "They hain't no sense. They think a horse will go like a machine, and all they've got to do is to turn steam on with the whip." ”

“ I will add that you should habitually prevent your horse out-walking or lagging behind his companions; he is either very unsociable or a bad horseman, who does not keep abreast of his companions. Besides, horses, being gregarious, are apt to follow one another. ”

“ The horse will take much more kindly to them if you do not confine him to one place and one routine.
Since it is a matter of prime necessity that the rider should keep his seat, while galloping full speed on every sort of ground, and at the same time be able to use his weapons with effect on horseback, nothing could be better, where the country suits and there are wild animals, than to practise horsemanship in combination with the chase. ”

“ We make this demand, not for our own sakes alone, but for the succour of the race.
A horseman, riding along on a dark night in an unknown land, may chance to feel his horse start beneath him; rearing, it may almost hurl him to the earth: in the darkness he may curse his beast, and believe its aim is simply to cast him off, and free itself for ever of its burden. ”

“ He remembered his young master as he rode away to the war on one of the thoroughbreds, a matchless rider on a matchless horse. How could he now allow their grandson and son, in this rusty suit, with this rusty colt at which the stable-boys jeered, to match himself against the finest men and horses in the country? He must keep him from entering the horse. ”

“ To make, by repetition, these acts of obedience and “cleverness” thus taught, into confirmed habits; so that the horse, who is, essentially, an animal of habit, may become a permanently useful servant.
As an illustration, I may say that we should conduct the education of a colt or filly, according to the principles we should adopt with a recently-caught young savage whom we desired to make a useful servant. While shewing him that we had complete control over him, we should prove to him that he{40} had nothing to fear from us, and, in doing so, would gain his confidence and affection. ”

“ Old Battle, who had a deep fellow feeling for his master, must needs imitate the affection he displayed for the fishmonger, and to that end began to make free with his horse, which, after sundry friendly bites of the mane, and otherwise exhibiting himself in a manner very much unbecoming a horse of such good morals, reared and had done serious damage with the bones of the other, but for the interposition of his master, who separated them with the stock of his big whip. ”

“ And we have all seen the gallant response of the race-horse to every movement of his rider's body—a loyal gallantry that ennobles even the merely mercenary; and the sight of these two—now one—flying toward the goal, always makes the heart beat faster and grow warm with its brave showing of this magical bond. ”

“ So at a standstill, as we stared expectantly up the crossroad, we saw come into sight, not a travelling carriage, but a horseman, looming huge out of the fog, a vast bulk of a man on a big black horse like a farm work-horse. ”

“ The brave horseman might easily mount upon it. But no! he will not abandon his noble horse, nor the man he is holding in his arms. See, he is riding around the tree, his brave steed plunging through the water with all his strength. ”

“ As soon as the folk saw that he had mounted the horse, they charged upon him with their scymitars and would have cut him down, but he made his steed curvet and withdrew from them saying, “An you design battle I am not fain of fight, and do ye all go about your business and covet not the horse lest your greed deceive you and you ask more than enough and thereby fall into harm. This much we know and if you require aught else let the strongest and doughtiest of you do his best.” ”