Principles of Horsemanship

Original Influencers Three trainers Grisone Pignatelli Fiaschi Acknowledged as forming the Napolese school Fiaschi was actually from farther north. Young nobleman came from all over Europe to study how to become a well trained member of the royal court. The Italian academies were sort of a boarding/finishing school where the boys of the best families were sent, very like Eton and Cambridge or Oxford in England, or Exeter and Yale or Harvard in the states. Riding, writing, poetry, dance, military strategy, courtly manners, mathematics, astronomy, latin, rhetoric-- these boys studied everything. At the heart of it was equitation. The horse taught many things, among them was leadership. The saying was that a horse would throw a prince as readily as a stable boy, so the horse was the only teacher a nobleman might encounter who would always tell him the truth about how effective his leadership really was

Western/Stock Equitation Western Style Riding got its start on ranches as early as the late 1770's. Much of the equipment was influenced by the early Spanish vaqueros. A cowboy spent a lot of time horseback and needed to be comfortable, with functional equipment. Much of today's western styles of riding were born of necessity. The western saddle is one example. The stirrup leathers are longer so that the cowboy could fully extend his leg when riding all day long. The stirrups themselves are larger to support the foot better. The horn on a western saddle is used to tie cattle to, (the practice of tying to the horse's tail didn't last long). The tree is very strong to withstand having cattle tied to the saddle horn

Western/Stock Equitation The western practice of "neck reining" (guiding the horse with one hand) also comes from necessity. A cowboy trying to rope a cow so that it could be doctored or branded, needed to be able to guide his horse with one hand. This would free the other hand to rope with. A good cow-horse quickly picked up the idea of moving away from rein pressure on its neck. Over time contests between ranches become common. Many of the ranch hands would compete to see who was the best at riding bucking horses, roping cattle, etc... these became Rodeos Other contests would see the horses competing. Most all of today's western horse events got started in this way

Hunt/Forward Equitation hunter-jumper-forward-riding-system-0

Saddles Western EnglishDressage Side Saddle Saddleseat Saddle

Bridles Western English Hackamore Pelham

Bits Snaffle Bits D-Ring O-Ring Eggbutt Curb Bit Hackamore

Riding Aids Artificial Aids Crop Whip Spurs Natural Aids Leg Hands Feet Voice