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The breeds of the Kingdom. An unpublished manuscript by Federico Grisone (Part 1)
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Mariano Téllez-Girón y Beaufort Spontin’s standard of living became a legend. Within a few decades, the twelfth Duke of Osuna (1814-1882) was able to squander the immense patrimony…
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Riding as a way to cultivate the soul. Dom Duarte and the remedies against fear
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini In the nature of the horse there is a duplicity that, for better or worse, has a deep impact on the relationship of this animal with man. In the…
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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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The stars and the horses
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini Given the wide diffusion of astrology during the Renaissance, it is not surprising that, at that time, the belief that the stars had a decisive influence, not on only…
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St. George, The Holy Knight
CLICK TO READ MOREby Giovanni Battista Tomassini There is a figure that more than any other influenced the equestrian imagination: that of St. George, the Holy Knight, who over the centuries became the symbol of chivalrous…
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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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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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