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Equibender. A practical solution for the lateral flexion of the horse
CLICK TO READ MOREGianluca Coppetta, talented rider and equestrian artist, invented a simple device to be used in the work from the ground to positively influence the lateral flexion of the horse. A non-coercive…
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What do we mean when we talk of classical horsemanship?
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Although the expression “classical horsemanship” has long and widely been in use, its meaning continues to be rather vague and ambiguous. In some cases, in fact, the equestrian…
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Anglomania (Part 2): Federico Mazzucchelli witness and critic of the “British Fashion”
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini In the first part of this article we saw that, in the eighteenth century, a growing interest in the British institutions and culture spread throughout Europe. This trend also…
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Anglomania (Part 1): The spreading of English style equitation in the Eighteenth century
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini It seems that James Seymour’s passion for horses and horse racing finally led him to ruin. Not much is known of his life, but a chronicler of the…
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Snapshots of a medieval knight. Mastino II della Scala and the “a la brida” seat
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini When, in 1329, Mastino II della Scala inherited, along with his brother Alberto, the lordship of Verona from his uncle Cangrande, the good fortune of the Della Scala…
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“Maneggi and jumps”. The basic exercises of Renaissance horsemanship (Part 3)
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini In the late Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, horseback riding had a strong social importance. The horse held an essential symbolic function in defining the identity of the…
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“Maneggi and jumps”. The basic exercises of Renaissance horsemanship (Part 2)
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini At the beginning of the second part of his Trattato dell’imbrigliare, atteggiare e ferrare cavalli (Treatise on bridling, training and shoeing horses, 1556), Cesare Fiaschi explicitly states his intention…
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“Maneggi and jumps”. The basic exercises of Renaissance horsemanship (Part 1)
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini There has never been just one horsemanship. The use of the horse for different needs, and by peoples who lived in different latitudes, led to the development of different…
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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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Horseback riding in the Middle Ages – Jordanus Rufus of Calabria
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Although the importance of the horse in the medieval European civilization is known and recognized, given it’s central function in the definition of the identity of the dominant classes…
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The Spanish Walk: classic exercise or circus trick?
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini There has been much discussion in the past, and horse lovers still are debating, if the so-called “Spanish walk” should be considered an exercise of the classical High School,…
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