Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises (Penguin Classics) by Xenophon

Author:Xenophon [Xenophon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780140455250
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2006-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

[1] So far I have covered how to avoid being swindled when buying a colt or a horse, how to treat a horse so as to avoid spoiling it, and how, if necessary, to produce a horse with all the qualities a cavalryman needs in battle. This is probably the right moment to discuss the further topic of the best way of managing a horse in case it turns out to be either excessively lively or excessively sluggish.

[2] The first thing to appreciate is that spirit in a horse is the equivalent of anger in a human being. So just as the best way to avoid infuriating someone is not to say or do anything that will irritate him, you are least likely to arouse a high-spirited horse if you avoid annoying it.

[3] You should begin, then, right from the moment you mount up, by taking care not to do so in a way that will upset the horse. And then, once mounted, you should let it stand for longer than you would an ordinary horse before giving it the gentlest of aids to walk on. Next, you should start it off at a particularly slow walk before moving it so gradually up to a faster pace that the horse hardly notices that it is [4] going more quickly. But any abrupt aids, whether communicated by sight or hearing or touch, upset a spirited horse no less than they would a person.*

[5] Again, suppose a lively horse is starting to speed up too much and you want to check it; you should not give it a sudden wrench, but [6] gently rein it in, calming it down rather than forcing it to a halt. Long rides, not exercises involving frequent turns, calm horses down; a peaceful, extended ride quietens and calms a lively horse, rather than exciting it. But the idea that a long, fast ride will tire the horse out [7] and make it calm is quite wrong. In fact, this is exactly the situation in which a spirited horse tries its hardest to seize control, and the upshot of such an outburst – as with short-tempered people – has often proved fatal for both horse and rider. You should stop a spirited [8] horse from ever* reaching its top speed, and of course you should never let it race against another horse (remembering that the most high-spirited horses are also the most competitive).

Another point is that smooth bits are more suitable for lively horses [9] than rough ones.1 If you do put a rough one in the horse’s mouth, a slack rein must be used to make it simulate a smooth bit. It is also a good idea, especially for a lively horse, to get oneself used to sitting quietly and to making as little contact with the horse’s body as possible, beyond the contact we need to ensure a secure seat.

You should be aware of the precept that a horse can also be calmed [10] down by making kissing noises with the lips and roused by making clicking noises with the tongue.

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