Xenophon and Horse Training In-Hand: A Modern Guide to Working from the Ground
I ended up reading all three copies I have of Xenophon's "On Horsemanship" also referred to as "The Art of Horsemanship," because it was a rather short read and with time sitting nursing my reading has gone way up (not complaining!).
It was nothing earth-shattering, but the fact that it is over 2,000 years old is still astonishing. There was one little passage where the translators seemed to think Xenophon was confused in his anatomy describing a certain ailment of the legs that I think is splints, but who am I to argue with translators.
He had a lot of good, sensible points and it is interesting to see how little things have changed in respect to good horsemanship and how much other things have. For onewhe doesn't recommend buying any horse older than five and suggests a hoof with a high, recessed frog.
The copy translated by Morris H. Morgan has many Xenophon contemporary illustrations to give one a better idea about some of the things Xenophon described. He also has a bit of history on Xenophon and things about the horses of his time. It was the thickest volume of the three.
The translation by A. Nyland included snippets from Xenophon's contemporaries as well as some of Xenophon's other works complimenting the Horsemanship text, one of which had some interesting side note about mules occasionally being fertile.
The third one didn't list the translator and was simply what Xenophon wrote.
"Horse Training In-Hand" by Ellen Schuthof-Lesmeister and Kip Mistral is a nice treat. It covers lungeing, double lungeing, ground driving, and work with both short and long reins (in that order even). It was very step-by-step and laid down a wonderful foundation to build all the lateral movements as well as the piaffe.
It has wonderful photographs and is well-written. The "tools you need" section got a bit redundant, but that is a minor thing. There are definitely things I plan on playing with on Z and the others as well when I have time ... hahaha. I need to make time for these things.
Next up "Give Your Horse a Chance" by Lt. Col. A. L. D'Endrody. His work is quite lengthy and will take a bit longer to sort through. I picked it up several years ago at a second-hand book store and am excited to finally read it.
It was nothing earth-shattering, but the fact that it is over 2,000 years old is still astonishing. There was one little passage where the translators seemed to think Xenophon was confused in his anatomy describing a certain ailment of the legs that I think is splints, but who am I to argue with translators.
He had a lot of good, sensible points and it is interesting to see how little things have changed in respect to good horsemanship and how much other things have. For onewhe doesn't recommend buying any horse older than five and suggests a hoof with a high, recessed frog.
The copy translated by Morris H. Morgan has many Xenophon contemporary illustrations to give one a better idea about some of the things Xenophon described. He also has a bit of history on Xenophon and things about the horses of his time. It was the thickest volume of the three.
The translation by A. Nyland included snippets from Xenophon's contemporaries as well as some of Xenophon's other works complimenting the Horsemanship text, one of which had some interesting side note about mules occasionally being fertile.
The third one didn't list the translator and was simply what Xenophon wrote.
"Horse Training In-Hand" by Ellen Schuthof-Lesmeister and Kip Mistral is a nice treat. It covers lungeing, double lungeing, ground driving, and work with both short and long reins (in that order even). It was very step-by-step and laid down a wonderful foundation to build all the lateral movements as well as the piaffe.
It has wonderful photographs and is well-written. The "tools you need" section got a bit redundant, but that is a minor thing. There are definitely things I plan on playing with on Z and the others as well when I have time ... hahaha. I need to make time for these things.
Next up "Give Your Horse a Chance" by Lt. Col. A. L. D'Endrody. His work is quite lengthy and will take a bit longer to sort through. I picked it up several years ago at a second-hand book store and am excited to finally read it.