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Dom Duarte’s travel
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini When in 1820, José Xavier Dias da Silva discovered that a large in folio volume kept in the Royal Library of Paris contained two manuscripts, hitherto unknown, of…
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The Giannelli Collection of ancient bits on display in Travagliato
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Hidden treasures are still discovered, even today. For those who love the history of horsemanship, to visit the exhibition of the Giannelli collection in Travagliato, Italy, is like…
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“A la brida” and “a la gineta.” Different riding techniques in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Defining, in his Book of the Courtier (1528), the ideal features of the Renaissance gentleman, Baldassare Castiglione wrote: “I would hope that our Courtier is a perfect horseman in…
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Bitless equitation in ancient times
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini In recent years, the ability to ride a horse without using a bit, perhaps performing sophisticated dressage exercises, has often been presented as a demonstration of an innovative communication…
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The Corinthian bit
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Unlike what we have said about various civilizations of the Bronze Age, in Greece the practice of burying horse bits in graves was rare. Because of this, not many…
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Bronze Age bits
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini As we have seen in the myth of Pegasus and Bellerophon, in antiquity the application of the bit was considered a decisive moment for the horse’s submission to the…
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The bit that tamed the flying horse: Pegasus and Bellerophon
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini In the thirteenth of his Olimpyan odes, Pindar tells that the prince of Corinth, Bellerophon, suffered for a long time in the attempt to ride the untamed winged horse,…
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