Book Excerpt from: The Maneige Royal’ by Antoine de Pluvinel PUBLISHED BY XENOPHON PRESS
THE KING
I hold in high esteem what you have just said. But I wish to know in detail in what manner and in what order you proceed to school horses effectively and make them easy to handle, traits easily recognizable in all the horses that you have schooled at your establishment.
PLUVINEL
Sire, the whole science of schooling horses lies in making a horse obedient to the bridle hand and to the two heels. The Horseman who wishes to school horses must have no other goal before him than those two things. For every horse who allows himself to be led by the bridle, be it short, long, wide, or narrow, and moves back and forth and raises himself forward and backward by means of the spurs and the discrete will of the Horseman, then this Horse is obedient and well schooled and must be handled according to his strength and vigour. I am certain that by my inventions I have shortened by more than half, the time it takes to school men and horses. And since the greatest difficulty a horse has when one wants him to make good voltes at the terre à terre is turning, I begin, Sire, by placing a snaffle in the mouth of an unschooled horse to teach him to chew on the mouthpiece, and place a cavesson made of rope, of my own invention, on his head. Then I take the two longeing ropes of the cavesson and attach them to the post so that the horse can turn without difficulty. Nearby stands a man who holds the ropes so that they can slide neither up nor down, neither to one side nor to the other. Another man holds in his hand a longeing whip with a long thong (and which I have named a chambrière) and walks along the side, near the thigh of the horse, frightening him so that he is forced to go forward, and making him turn the length of the afore-mentioned cavesson ropes, pushing his croup to the outside of the ring. Consequently the horse will hold his head inside the volte and will more or less be forced to look at the pillar with both eyes, thus acquiring the habit of always looking where he is going so that he will never be unyielding and ill-tempered when having to turn. This should be done at the walk, only for three mornings and without beating him so as to make him understand the force of the cavesson and the longeing whip. And when one sees that he has begun to obey at the walk, one must proceed in the same manner at the trot for eight or ten days, or more, if necessary, until he is able to carry himself so well on his legs that they no longer knock against each other, which occurs with most horses when one rushes them too quickly. This happens especially with the fore leg which is used when making the volte and which he knocks against the knee of the other leg and presumably hurts himself without knowing why, and which will cause him to get carried away; one must watch out that his fear of being hit and the smack of the longeing whip do not make him gallop off. Once he has learned to gallop willingly, and he has been allowed greater freedom, you will see him go on his haunches and be able to handle himself without help, provided, of course, he has sufficient strength left. And one thing I have noted in particular, namely, that one should make them go to the right before making them go to the left, for most horses find it less disagreeable to turn to the left than turn to the right.
THE KING
Here is the first lesson wherein you have begun to put him to the voltes, which, as I have heard you say, is the most difficult movement a horse can make.
MONSIERUR LE GRAND
Sire, if it please Your Majesty one day to visit his stud farm, he will observe, as we have many times, how the foals, large and small, run joyfully after their mothers and how, suddenly running straight, take now and again a good demi-volte, turning as they stop on their haunches, but without making the turn completely, and sometimes go up in the air as though they are doing a courbette. This confirms to me the opinion of Monsieur de Pluvinel that the various airs come naturally to horses and that nature gave each Horse his own particular air. Thus it is quite proper to follow their inclinations and begin to school them by the method of this first lesson, since the most difficult movement for a horse is to turn. One must always make the horse do what is contrary to his will so that he can be made obedient as quickly as possible which is desirable in all horses.
THE KING
I have now a better understanding of the purpose of this less, Monsieur de Pluvinel. Let us go to the second one.
PLUVINEL
Sire, during the second lesson, which continues at the same time or as it pleases the Horseman, one tries to recapture something of the horse’s memory. For after having made him turn around the pillar, as I indicated above, I have him tied to two pillars with the two longes of the cavesson. Then with the handle of either the switch or the whip I make him walk sideways, back and forth, to teach him to run away from the blows and to obey and tolerate the constraint of the cavesson, which, at this point, is the greatest of all constraints and the one that will teach horses to subdue their anger, for they are incapable of escaping, neither forward nor backward, neither to the right nor to the left. For this very reason one must work them as gently as possible at all the lessons, but especially at this one, because of their extreme displeasure at seeing themselves tied and constrained.
THE KING
I now seem to understand how you ordinarily work your horses at your school and that you start them out with these two first lessons. Let us proceed in the same manner.
PLUVINEL
Your Majesty has evaluated the situation very well. I begin (this second lesson) by making the horse’s head resolute and steady. I then go to the rest of the body and exercise the horse at all types of airs, as I indicated, with patience, industry, and judgment to make them do what I want them to do and what the horse is capable of doing, given his strength, his agility, and lightness, his memory, and his disposition based on either his good or bad will.
THE KING
I believe one can draw other uses from this first lesson which tends to make horses obedient and makes them turn and go forward.
PLUVINEL
Your Majesty is quite right in believing this, because it is then much easier to school them and the advantages are two or three times greater when one follows this lesson, for the horses never acquire a hoard mouth, nor do they become restive, unyielding’, stubborn, nor –ill-tempered, that is to say, they do not find it difficult to turn either to the right or to the left, which are three of the greatest defects on encounters frequently in foals or unschooled horses. Here is, indeed, the proof of what I am saying, because when they turn they are forced to go forward and one sees them stop short of their own accord, which is contrary to the unyielding horse who does not want to turn, and to the restive one who does not want to go forward, and to the one with the hard mouth who does not want to stop when the Horseman wants him to. That is why these three training techniques are infallible, provide one does not change to another lesson before the horse has become completely obedient and performs deliberately and willingly, according to his strength and his stamina, without having to be beaten.
THE KING
Do you want the horse to obey resolutely and completely at the terre à terre, at the gallop, and in accordance with his vigour, at the first lesson, before you work him with saddle and bridle?
PLUVINEL
Indeed, Sire, for when he is not burdened he has less occasion to be angry (than when he is burdened). And even when the horse carries saddle and bridle, one must continue the same lesson for three, four, or more days, until he performs, saddled or unsaddled, equally well. One must let the stirrups hang down low so that when the horse moves, they hit against his belly to assure him and make him understand that they will not hurt him. Sensitive horses, especially, need this assurance. It also makes them keep their tails quiet rather than swish them about, a trait of which one must be wary. To swish the tail about when performing is one of the ugliest and most unseeming traits in a horse. After the horse has retained what he has been taught, a pupil, who is lighter than average, should mount him without stirrups in order to teach the horse to carry a man without feeling displeasure. The same lesson should be continued and he should be made to perform either out of fear or because of the pain he fears he may receive from the man on foot who holds the reins in his hand. The rider should take care not to move, (as though he were immobile), so that the horse, seeing that he has received no harm from the rider will allow himself to be approached and mounted more easily and readily as though it were something most ordinary and necessary. Once the horse has become obedient, the rider will proportionately shorten the reins in his hand to begin to lead him partly by the two reins. Besides, the cavesson will always help to lead him. Thus, little by little, continuing the same lesson, the horse (if he still has a little vigour) will move around the pillar at the terre à terre on his own.
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