Horseback Riding 101

Introduction

Introduction: A brief history of people and horses, ending in English equitation.

If you are reading this and taking this course, three things are probably true. First, at some point in your life, you were entranced by the beauty and power of the horse. Second, you have a need to become closer to this magnificent animal, and have decided that the most enjoyable and rewarding way to do that is to learn to ride. Third, you have done a little research (or followed your own inclinations) and decided that the English style of riding is what suits you best.

To those of use who ride English, it suits horses best, too. Here’s why:

Horses are not domesticated animals, not like dogs and cats, anyway. They are primarily still wild, and, as such, will put up with human demands for only two reasons: one, because they are being forced into complying by fear or pain, or, two, because they think there is something in it for them if they cooperate. (Some will argue this point, but MOST horses do not bond as dogs and cats do. They don’t pine in the absence of an owner, nor would they travel thousands of miles to find their ‘home’ as a lost cat would. Wherever they feel safe and have adequate food and water is their home…and they really care very little who provides all this.)

In modern English riding and horse training, we rely more on the second reason than the first, especially since two very important things for horses happened. One of those things was the growing popularity of the “Join Up” method of horse training invented by Monty Roberts. (He has his detractors who say others thought of it first. Maybe so, but Roberts is a genius—and a savior of lots of horses—for popularizing it over the past ten years or so.) The second was the publication in 1997 of The Nature of Horses by Stephen Budiansky. He proposed that early man could not possibly have ‘domesticated’ the horse to his use without some intervening steps. Without already having a horse, a human had nothing to chase horses with, and let’s face it, a human’s top speed is nothing like the 23 miles-an-hour-plus commonly reached by a galloping horse. So somehow, horses and humans had to be in close proximity for this to all eventually work out.

Because most research into horses has been to find out how to make them bigger-faster-stronger, just as with both human athletes and human conveyances, the problem of how we ever got to ride horses in the first place has not been dealt with very much. We have studied, too, how to cure the diseases and injuries of horses…but that’s more targeted toward the bigger-faster-stronger idea than about any basic understanding of how the horse became our servant. (Most people who own horses will disagree with me there, and say we are servants to our horses, what with their delicate legs and intestines and need for care that far exceeds that of the family dog. Indeed, it is that sort of realization that brought Budiansky to his investigation and book.)

Budiansky proposes that the horse, especially the horses out on the Russian steppes and in the lower Danube valley in what is now Germany, realized there was food to be had in winter if they hung around where the humans stored their grain and it the horses could somehow snag some of it. (Please see Suite 101’s Celtic Culture site for more information regarding the early Celts and Scythians in these areas; horses figure in the histories of both those cultures in a big way.) As early as 7,600 years ago, archaeologists tell us, huge piles of horse bones are found in the garbage heaps of those civilizations, along with deer and wild boar and other bones of ‘food’ animals. While humans would have had a hard time capturing a horse alive and well, it was relatively easy to kill them. They are slower than wild cats, and provide a much, much bigger target—and one that has to move out in the open rather than under bushes and up trees—for archers and hurlers of stones. And of course, man could make traps into which a galloping or even ambling horse might fall and be unable to get out, especially if that horse was weak from hunger or cold.

That would militate against the horse seeking out mankind for any reason. One doesn’t often like to hang out with one’s enemies, especially deadly ones. And, in fact, the horse didn’t seek to be near mankind; the horse sought to be near food when there wasn’t much forage in those frozen plains. So, because of proximity that seemed necessary to the horse, they could be caught. They could run, or a goodly number could. But mankind could also figure out how to entice them closer, and finally, how to corral them, all for a bit of food. In fact, it appears that it was the combination of two species’ brains and needs that brought the horse into such close contact with man so that a sort of partnership could be born. At first, Budiansky thinks, humans probably used the corralled horses only for food. But that may not have lasted too long.

Budiansky writes: “Traditional Mongolian nomads studied early in this century (before they were forced onto collective arms and had to abandon their old way of life) would only slaughter horses for meat that were too old to breed or be used for work—typically 15 or 16 years of age.”

Budiansky cites studies of equine teeth excavated by archaeologists. None older than 6,000 years show signs of having been damaged by a bit, so he posits that time frame as the one in which the horse allowed man to ride him. Indeed, this first human-toting horse occurred 500 years earlier than the first wheel.

As soon as horses could be ridden, they became more valuable than mere calories. They enabled humans to trade with other humans too far away to walk to. Until humans could ride horses, they could bring from afar only what they could carry on their own backs. With the horse, they could ride one and load another’s wide back with ‘stuff.” And after the wheel? Well, wheels and horses made serious trade possible. “Domesticating” the horse made new ways of thinking about ourselves and our world possible. It made shaping that world possible. And, of course, suddenly we could make war.

But there is no dark without light. All this opened up new worlds for both species. The lifespan of the horse got longer. The lifespan of the human got longer. The food supplies of both got better. All this is not to imply that the horse is totally responsible for the fact that man lived better longer and thus was able to invent even more great stuff, what with more years of education and experience to which to apply man’s brilliance.

Or is it? Those of us who love horses are willing to believe just about anything good about them. Those of use who ride horses are also willing to believe just about anything bad about them, especially after they’ve given us a good scare by running off in all directions unexpectedly at top speed, or unloading us on the cold, hard ground.

But that is part of the magic. Budiansky writes that riding that first horse, by whoever accomplished it in those dark eons of pre-history, performed “more an act of daring, bravado, curiosity, and yearning than of necessity.” For after all, that person could not possibly know how his or her simple act of throwing a leg over a horse’s back would change the world forever. But it sure must have looked like fun!

And so it is, especially if one takes the centuries of horsemanship that has taught us how best to deal with those “huge, elemental beasts” as mystery author and former steeplechase jockey Dick Francis puts it. It is essential, for the horse and for the human, to learn to ride them properly, and to learn to prepare them properly and care for them properly.

While this course is not about horse care per se, it will deal with those things necessary for horse and rider to have a safe, happy and healthy horse and rider experience at the very beginning of an equine course of study.

But remember this; there are no guarantees with horses. They are not predictable like Fido the family mutt. They are, however, in many ways more delicate than Fluffy the family cat. But yet, horses require courage, intelligence and a modicum of muscle to handle well. This course is about giving beginning riders the intellectual ammunition they need to think about riding in ways most likely to create success and pleasure, and as a backup to both hands-on experience with horses under saddle on one’s own or—recommended!—as an adjunct to mounted lessons by a qualified trainer.

Lessons

Click here to see course syllabus