Notes on equitation and horse training

Front matter

Notes on Equitation and Horse Training

In answer to the examination questions at the

School of Application for Cavalry

Preface

War Department,

Office of the Chief of Staff,

Washington, July 16, 1910.

Authority having been obtained for the use of the Notes on Equitation and Horse Training, School of Application for Cavalry at Saumur, France, translated by Maj. George H. Cameron, Fourteenth Cavalry, assistant commandant, Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kans., and approved by a board of officers convened at the Mounted Service School, they are herewith published for the information of the Regular Army and the Organized Militia.

By order of the Secretary of War:

Wm. H. Carter,

Major-General, Acting Chief of Staff

Question 1

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.

Question 2

IIHORSE TRAINING.

Definition and object of horse training.—By horse training is meant a series of exercises that render the horse obedient, while preserving and developing his inherent qualities. Its object is not, therefore, to simply master and control the instincts of the animal; it must also subject him to a muscular training that, by suppling, will strengthen all parts of the body. As a result his gaits will be perceptibly developed by the very harmony of his movements and by the exact distribution of his weight produced under the influence of the aids.

Circumstances affecting duration of training.— The length and value of the service that a horse can render depend in great nieasure upon the manner in which he has been trained. A colt should be called upon for only such exercise or work as is reasonable, considering his age, strength, and ability. To exact anything beyond his capabilities is to set up resistance and to inevitably bring on injuries and early condemnation.

The breeding of a horse (thoroughbred or underbred), the nature of his feed, and the amount of work he has been equal to in the hands of his breeder are considerations that will allow us to fix upon the date, more or less distant, when he should be fit for service. Training when once begun must be regulated by these same considerations. It is self-evident that a horse kept on grass until he is 4 years old needs more nursing than the pure-bred horse that is raised almost from birth on oats.

It is also obvious that conditions of training will differ widely according to the skill of the person in charge. An

expert horseman will finish the work more satisfactorily and more quickly, and his composure and experience will enable him to mount without trouble a younger horse, because, in his hands, there will be none of those struggles that produce blemished animals.

Finally, the time required for training will vary according to the object to be attained. Many long months are often necessary to work a young horse up to high-school exercises, whereas, occasionally, a few weeks will be sufficient to produce a horse free at the three gaits and galloping with either lead.

Three periods of training.——The training of a young horse may be divided into three periods——preliminary work, work in the snaffle bridle, work in the double bridle.

(1) Preliminary work.——In this first period the horse is gentled. He is taught to allow himself to be saddled and mounted, to go straight ahead at the walk and trot, to turn to the right and to the left.

Work on the longe should properly be taken up in the preliminary period.

Under certain circumstances and with certain horses outside work may be begun.

(2) Work in the snaffle bridle.——The horse is first brought to a thorough understanding of the effects of the legs. He is next taught to obey the simple effects of the snaffle.

At the end of this period the horse should understand work at the three gaits on the three lines; he should know how to take the gallop with either lead, and how to work on two tracks at the walk and at the trot.

In this second period outside work will have been continued or begun.

(3) Work in the double bridle, which may be subdivided into two parts:

(a) All work with the snaffle is repeated with the double bridle. Instruction is completed as regards the upper aids. The horse is confirmed in his work at the gallop and finally is taught the change of lead. Here is where ordinary training stops; training sufficient for the horse of the trooper.

(b) Preparatory period for high-school work in which the obedience of the horse is further developed by a system of exercises that increase his suppleness and strength. He acquires cadence in gaits and becomes light, or, more precisely speaking, balanced.

High-school work might be considered as a fourth period , and the animal would then be taught the different manners and steps of which this school is composed, such as the high trot, in place and gaining ground, and the change of lead with each stride.

Question 3

III.

Preliminary work—Exercise by leading.—When young horses, sent from remount depots or by purchasing boards, arrive at the station, the squadron commander should place them all together in the best stable of the squadron, turn them over to troopers known to be fond of horses and make sure that all precautionary and hygienic measures are taken to gradually accustom them to changed conditions and to handling by men.

Young horses should be exercised daily; at first by men on foot and later led beside kind old horses. This exercise, which is at a walk, is of great advantage not only to strengthen the animals but to quiet them by making them familiar with outside objects. The only drawback is that, ordinarily, the mistake is made of invariably leading the horses on the same side. They eventually acquire a false set of the neck which could be easily avoided by holding them for a time on the left as well as on the right.

Care of young horses.—After each exercise, the le'gs are rubbed and the tendons massaged. Following a wash down with plenty of water, the application of flannel bandages produces highly beneficial results to the fetlocks and tendons; the bandages retain the heat, help circulation, support the tendons, prevent windpuffs and swellings. Put on in the stable, they should encircle the fetlock and the lower half of the cannon. They must not be too tight; the fastening tapes in particular should be somewhat loose. It is useless to leave flannel bandages on the legs all the time; the important thing is to put them on after exercise; during the five or six hours following hard work they are especially efficacious.

In addition to the precautions generally adopted, it is well to see that the blanket strap or surcingle is fastened around the place where the saddle girth belongs and not pushed forward to the horse's elbows; the object being to prevent the formation of two worn places.

Work on the longe.—This work may be of great service in horse training, provided, however, that the longe is used as a means of training and not as a medium for fatiguing exercise.

The following principles must dominate in this work:

(1) The horse is to be controlled by the longe and not by the whip; the only function of the latter is to move the horse forward.

(2) The length of the longe is to be frequently changed. The horse should alternately stretch himself on a large circle and bend himself on a small circle.

(3) The gaits should be frequently changed and the horse brought to the walk from time to time in order to avoid the stiffness of gait that would result from prolonged work.

The progressive method of handling a horse on the longe is given in the regulations (United States Cavalry, paragraph 350) and is described in detail in several works; there is, therefore, no necessity of repeating details here. It will be sufficient to point out the different cases in which the longe can be used to advantage.

Work on the longe can be used:

(1) To exercise young horses without injury and without fatigue to the joints.

(2) To give first lessons to horses difficult to manage.

(3) For horses that hold back or fight.

(4) For horses with one shoulder more developed than the other. (5) For those that will not work equally well on either hand.

(6) For horses that bend themselves with difficulty.

(7) After horses have acquired the habit of this work, lessons in jumping on the longe can be given later without difficulty; horses should not be put at the jump until they are thoroughly manageable with the cavesson and longe.

Question 4

IV.

Precautions in saddling.—In order to accustom young horses to their equipment, they should be saddled during the period when they are exercised by leading. The saddle is put on without stirrups or stirrup straps; it must not be placed too far back, and, on leaving the stable, the girth should be tightened only slightly. The girths are readjusted during the exercise.

With nervous horses, it will be well to use the longe to quiet them by a little work before placing the saddle on the back.

After the horses have become accustomed to the saddle and the girth, the stirrups should be replaced and allowed to hang down on each side during several exercises. In this manner the horse will be perfectly prepared for the lesson in mounting which becomes that much more simple; early resistance frequently results from both saddling and mounting a horse for the first time on the same day.

Mounting lesson.—At first the trooper should get into the saddle as skillfully as possible without any attempt to mount by the numbers, and especially without being in any way exacting.

The lesson should be given after the horse has been worked for some time or at the end of his work. An assistant stands facing each horse.

The trooper approaches the horse's head, caresses him on the forehead, on the eyes, the neck, and the haunches. He slaps the saddle, pulls the stirrups out and lets them drop back; he then grasps the reins, leaving them very long. He mounts the horse without hurry, but also without hesitation.

If, during the lesson, the horse backs or moves away, the trooper returns to the animals head, leads him up a step or two with the snaffle reins, and gently begins the lesson anew.

After seating himself in the saddle, the trooper should use his right hand to assist in engaging the off stirrup. By feeling for the stirrup with the toe there is danger of frightening the horse by touching him unintentionally with the leg or stirrup.

Restless animals.—The assistants should stand squarely in front of the horses and not on the off side. Their business is to simply caress the animal's head without holding the reins.

With horses that are hard to mount, the cavesson should be used, the longe held by an experienced and skillful man.

Mounting lessons should be given on the off side as well as on the near side and should be repeated daily until the horse stands absolutely quiet. The (individual) lesson, however, should not be prolonged, for the horse will have greater tendency to become restless the more he is held in one place.

Question 5

V.

Arrangement of the squad for the first lesson (in mounted work).—If a riding hall is available, horses should be worked from the beginning without regard to distances. The troopers are more at ease when they need not concern themselves about distances—often hard to keep with horses of very uneven gaits. Moreover, it is a bad plan to always group young horses, as they thus acquire the habit of "sticking in ranks." If, from the start, it is necessary to work on the road, a couple of perfectly sure old horses must be placed at the head of the young ones in order to set them an example in quiet behavior and free movement.

Necessity of using the trot at the beginning of a lesson.—There are several advantages in using the trot to begin work:

(1) It starts the horses going straight ahead and brings them in hand; busy at the trot, they have less idea of resisting.

(2) It expends the surplus vigor (takes the edge off) of young horses, and they become more quiet and attentive.

(3) This gait must be considered as the best of supplying exercises. In his book on equitation, La Guérinière has a chapter entitled "The necessity of the trot and the utility of the walk." In this chapter he says:

By the trot, the most natural of the gaits, a horse is made light on the hand without spoiling his mouth, and his legs are stretched without straining them, because in this action, which is the highest of all natural gaits, the weight of the horse is borne equally by two legs, one front and one hind; as a result the two others are easily raised, sustained in the air, and stretched to the front, thus giving a first stage

of suppling to all parts of the body. The trot, therefore, without controversy, is the foundation of all lessons to make a horse obedient and clever.

Resistance of young horses.—The instructor must forbid any punishment in the first lessons, because it often happens that when a horse frets it is only on account of timidity or of high spirits or of ignorance.

To prevent struggles, it is well to have available during the first lesson several dismounted men, ready to take by the head the most unruly horses, as well as those whose riders are in trouble.

Question 6

VI.

Importance of the straight ahead movement.—Above everything else the horse must go freely straight ahead. The lesson with this object in view must be the first of all lessons; from the beginning of horse training the horse must be accustomed to yield to the action of both legs. This is essentially a sign of docility; the full or the limited obedience of the horse shown in this first test will be an indication of a brief or a protracted period of training.

To accustom the horse to go straight ahead under the action of the legs.—The leg lesson is admittedly the most important lesson, and there is good reason to return to it during the whole period of training. For the first occasion observe the following rules:

Never keep the lower leg glued to the horse's flank, but use repeated taps with the calves.

Tap the horse near the girth and do not reach too far back.

Begin by giving the lesson when passing from the walk to the trot, next when lengthening the trot, and finally when passing from the halt to the trot.

Anticipate and assist the action of the legs by clucking with the tongue or by the use of light taps with the whip.

These rules are especially applicable to riding-hall lessons, for in outside work on a road young horses have a natural tendency to go straight ahead, following the old horses at the head of the squad.

Lightness—When to be exacted.—A horse is light when he obeys easily and promptly the indications of the rider. This is not a question merely of flexibility of jaw and suppleness of neck, but rather of balance, and in our opinion

the degree of lightness corresponds to the more or less finished balance.

Therefore in the first lesson there should be no anxiety about lightness, for, as we have just remarked, it will be a natural result of training. If a horse is not easily controlled by the legs, is not well suppled in the shoulders, and does not know how to properly employ his haunches he can not be really light.

Not until later can perfect balance (or lightness, if you please) be obtained and then only by coordinating the different results of training.

The principle of constant tension on the reins.—Although the instructor during the first weeks of training need not concern himself with the lightness of the horse, he must urge the troopers to keep a constant light tension (feel) on the reins. At first the trooper must do the work—that is, must tighten the reins—but later the horse itself, having become accustomed to the pressure of the bit and having always present the idea of going straight ahead, will, of its own accord, keep the reins taut.

It is important to distinguish between pulling on the reins and the principle of keeping a constant tension on the reins. A hand too rigidly fixed, with fingers too firmly clasped, will oppose the free play of the neck and will be contrary to the principle just stated. Therefore in the leg lesson, when forcing the horse straight ahead, the hand must not oppose the stretching of the neck; on the contrary, the fingers should be slightly opened up so that nothing can clash with the animal's intention to obey the aids.