Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises (Penguin Classics)

by Xenophon

  When you feel that the horse has had enough exercise, it is advisable [18] to let it rest for a while and then suddenly take it up to its top speed – away from other horses, of course, not towards them. Next you should rein it in from its gallop and bring it to a standstill again in as short a space as possible, and then wheel it round and urge it forward once more from the standing position. The point is that you are bound to meet with situations which call for either one or the other of these procedures.

  When you come to dismount, you should never do so in the [19] vicinity of other horses or near a group of people or outside the area where you ride. The horse should be allowed to rest in the same place where it has to work.

  CHAPTER 8

  There will be occasions when the horse has to gallop downhill, uphill [1] or along the face of slopes; there will be hazards it has to jump across or out of or down. It follows, then, that you have to teach and train both yourself and your horse in all these procedures, to enable horse and rider to keep each other safe and, generally, because that seems to be the way for them to increase their usefulness to each other. You [2] may think that I have discussed this before and am therefore repeating myself,1 but that is not so: what I was suggesting previously was that at the time of buying a horse you should test its ability to perform these manoeuvres, whereas now I am talking about the importance of training a horse you actually own. And I will now describe the correct way to go about this training.

  [3] If the horse you have acquired is completely unfamiliar with jumping across ditches, you must lead the way across yourself with the horse on a loose leading-rein and then pull on the leading-rein to make it [4] jump across. If it refuses, someone with a whip or a switch should give it as hard a whack as he can, which will make it clear the required distance and a lot more besides! And from then on you will never need to do that again; it will take the mere sight of someone coming up behind it to make the horse jump.

  [5] Once it has got used to jumping across ditches with the leading-rein, you should mount up and introduce it first to narrow ditches and then gradually to wider and wider ones. Just as it is about to make its jump, you should spur it on. The same use of the spur is recommended for training it to jump up and down banks. The point is that the horse will perform all these actions – jumping across ditches or up or down banks – with a greater degree of safety both to itself and to its rider if it does them with its whole body rather than trailing its hindquarters.

  [6] You should start the horse’s downhill training on soft ground; eventually, by the time it has got used to it, it will prefer taking downward slopes rather than upward slopes at speed. The worry some people feel that riding a horse downhill might cause it to dislocate its shoulders can be dispelled by the knowledge that although the Persians and Odrysians2 always race their horses downhill, their horses are just as healthy as ours in Greece.

  [7] It is also important for me to mention the part the rider plays in assisting each of these manoeuvres. When the horse makes a sudden forward motion, the rider should lean forward, because then the horse is less likely to slip from under the rider and throw him backwards. When the horse is being pulled up short, however, the rider should

  [8] lean back, because then he will experience less of a jolt. When the horse is jumping a ditch or going uphill, it is advisable to grip the mane, because the terrain is already giving the horse enough problems without your pulling on the bit as well. When the horse is going downhill, you should lean a good way back and help the horse with the bridle, to avoid a situation where both you and the horse are hurtling downhill out of control.

  The correct way to go about your rides is to vary their length and [9] the kind of terrain you cover. Apart from anything else, this is less disagreeable to the horse than always covering the same ground3 and going out for rides of a similar length.

  Since the rider has to have a deep seat when riding flat out over all [10] kinds of terrain, and since he has to be able to manipulate his weapons properly from horseback, I recommend hunting as a method of improving your horsemanship, if you have access to suitable countryside and wild animals.4 Otherwise, a good exercise is for two horsemen to come to an agreement whereby one of them flees on horseback over a variety of terrains and the other gives chase; the fugitive holds his spear reversed as he retreats, with the head pointing to his rear, while his pursuer wields blunted javelins and a spear which has been similarly treated. When the pursuer gets within javelin range, he lets fly at the fugitive with his blunted javelins, and then, once he has caught him up and is within striking distance, he stabs at him with his spear. If they get to close quarters, it is a good idea for one of them [11] to pull his opponent towards himself and then suddenly push him away, because this is the way to unseat him. The correct response to being pulled is to get one’s horse to move on, because by doing so the person being pulled is more likely to unseat the one doing the pulling than to fall off.

  Imagine a situation where a skirmish is taking place between the [12] cavalry of two opposing forces, with one side pursuing their opponents up to the enemy lines, while the other is retreating back to their own army. Under these circumstances, it is worth knowing that as long as you are close to your own side, the proper and safe course of action is to be among the first to wheel round and charge the enemy, but that when you are near the enemy lines, you should keep your horse under control. This tactic makes it possible for you to inflict heavy losses on your opponents while in all probability avoiding losses yourself.

  Whereas the gods have given us human beings the ability to use [13] reasoned argument to teach other people what to do, you can obviously not use reasoned argument to teach a horse anything. The best way for you to teach a horse what it is supposed to do is to reward [14] it when it does what you want and punish any disobedience. It does not take long to state this rule, but it applies to every aspect of horsemanship. For instance, a horse will be more prepared to take the bit if something good happens whenever it does so; and it will not let you down when jumping across or out of obstacles, or in anything else, if it knows that after it has done its duty it will be allowed to rest.

  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 spi
rited [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. However, if right from the start you stroke the horse while clicking and treat it roughly while making kissing noises, the horse will learn to be roused by the kissing noise and soothed by the clicking noise.

  By the same token, then, when surrounded by clamouring voices or [11] the sound of the trumpet, it is important not to let the horse see you discomposed and not to do anything to disturb it either. Instead, in a situation like this you should let the horse halt, if you can, and bring it its morning or evening meal, if possible. But the best piece of advice [12] I can give, if you need a horse for war, is not to get one that is too high-spirited.2

  All I need say about managing a lazy horse, I think, is this: always do the opposite of what I have suggested for a lively horse.

  CHAPTER 10

  The usual way of getting a good war-horse to put on a grander and [1] more imposing display as it rides by is to pull at its mouth with the bit, spur it on and use a whip on it. These measures actually produce the opposite of the desired splendid effect, so you should avoid them. [2] I mean, when the horse’s mouth is pulled up, it cannot see where it is going, the spur and whip startle it, and the upshot is that the horse gets all agitated and writhes about* – which is the way a horse behaves [3] when it hates being ridden, and is ugly rather than attractive. However, if you teach it to ride on slack reins, to hold its head up high and arch its neck, you will be getting the horse to do exactly what gives it [4] pleasure and delight. You can tell that it enjoys this because when a horse wants to show off in front of other horses (especially female horses) it holds its head up high, arches its neck with a great deal of spirit, prances with supple legs raised high off the ground and lifts its [5] tail. So by making your horse hold itself exactly as it does when it is displaying itself at its best, you are giving people an impression of a horse that enjoys being ridden, and you are making it seem a grand, spirited and imposing animal. I shall now try to explain how, in my opinion, these results are to be obtained.

  [6] In the first place, you should have at least two bits.1 One of them should be smooth and have good-sized discs, while the other should be rough and have heavy, small discs. The pimples of the rough bit should be sharp enough to hurt the horse when the bit is inserted into its mouth and make it drop the bit into place; when it is given the smooth one instead, then, it will be such a relief that it will carry out on the smooth bit everything it has been trained to do on the rough [7] bit. A possible problem, though, is that it may find the smoothness of a smooth bit too easy and keep leaning on it; that is why the smooth bit is equipped with large discs, which are designed to force the horse to open its jaws and let the bit drop into place. It is also possible to adapt the rough bit to other kinds of bit so that it acts by either compression or tension.2

  [8] Whatever kind of bit you use, it must be flexible. The trouble with a stiff bit is that whichever part of it is actually gripped by the horse, the whole of it is held against the horse’s jaws. Imagine a person picking up a spit: it is the whole spit he picks up, never mind at what [9] point of its length he actually takes hold of it. The other kind of bit, however, behaves like a chain in the sense that the only part of it to remain unbent is the part which is actually gripped, while the rest hangs loosely off this part. The horse constantly tries to retrieve the parts of the bit that are evading its grip in its mouth, and in so doing it lets the bit drop from its jaws. That is also why there are rings fixed in between the axles, so that as the horse goes after these rings with its tongue and teeth it does not think of taking the bit up against its jaws.

  In case anyone does not know what the terms ‘flexible’ and ‘stiff’ [10] mean when applied to bits, I had better explain this as well. A bit is flexible when the links on its axles are broad and smooth enough to bend easily; moreover, if all the parts that are fitted on to the axles have wide rather than restricted apertures, the bit is even more flexible.* However, if it is hard for all the various parts of the bit to [11] communicate and interlock, the bit is stiff.

  Whatever kind of bit you have, there is not the slightest difference in the use to which it has to be put if you want your horse to look impressive in the way I have described. The pressure on the horse’s [12] mouth should neither be so harsh that it tosses its head or so gentle that it does not notice it. As soon as it has raised its neck in response to the pressure, you must give it its head – remembering the general instruction, which I have given plenty of times already, that you should reward any instance of obedience on the part of the horse. So [13] when you can see that the horse is enjoying the upright carriage of its neck and the slackness of the reins, you should avoid the kind of harsh measures you use when you are forcing it to exert itself and just coax it as if you were planning to go for a normal ride. This is the best way to encourage a horse to move up to a fast pace.

  It is easy to see that a horse relishes a fast pace, because there is not [14] a horse in the world that, given its freedom, ambles along at a walk rather than running. A horse instinctively enjoys a gallop, provided that it is not forced to gallop too much. After all, the same goes for a horse as for a human being: excess is never enjoyable.3

  So suppose our horse now has the ability to bear itself in a stately [15] manner. In the early stages of its training, as you will remember, we got it used to increasing its pace after coming out of turns.4 If you rein in a horse that has been trained to do this and at the same time use one of the various signals to urge it forward, it finds itself restrained by the bit and yet roused by the signal to go forward. In irritation, the horse throws out its chest and raises its legs high off the ground (but not in a supple manner, because a horse’s legs lose most of their [16] suppleness when it is disgruntled). If you let it have its head when it is in this excitable state, the relaxation of the bit will make it think you are no longer restraining it, and it will be so pleased that it will prance forward with a stately carriage and with supple legs, putting [17] on exactly the same kind of display it would before other horses. The sight of a horse behaving like this makes people think of it as a dignified creature, hardworking, a good ride, lively, proud, a joy to see and yet obviously full of spirit.5

  Anyway, that is enough on this topic for anyone who is interested in getting their horse to behave in this way.

  CHAPTER 11

  [1] What if someone wants a flamboyant, prancing horse which is suitable for use in processions? You certainly should not expect every horse to be able to develop these attributes, but only one which starts off [2] with a proud temperament and a strong body. The idea that all it takes for any horse to be able to raise its body off the ground is supple legs is wrong; it is closer to the truth to say it takes loins that are supple, short and sturdy, and then a horse can bring its hind legs up a good distance under its forequarters. (Note that by ‘loins’ here I do not mean the part by the tail, but between the side and the haunches, [3] and by the flank.) So if you rein the horse in just when it is bringing up its hind legs, it will sink its haunches back on to its hocks and raise its forequarters until its belly and sheath are visible to anyone directly in front of it. At this point you should let it have its head, and then the onlookers will get the impression that the horse is performing this wonderful trick all by itself – and there is no more wonderful trick
that a horse can perform.

  [4] Now, some people train a horse to do this by hitting it with a switch under the hocks, and others get a man to run alongside the [5] horse and hit it with a stick under the gaskins. However, to repeat myself yet again, I think the best form of training is if every occasion when the horse does what the rider wants it to do is followed by him allowing it to rest. The point is, as Simon says too, that when a horse [6] acts under compulsion it does not understand what it is doing, and the action is just as inelegant as a dancer’s movements would be if he were trained by whip and spur. Under that kind of regime the same goes for a horse as a human being: both of them are far more likely to look ugly than attractive. No, however dazzling and attractive a display the horse is required to put on, it always has to do so of its own accord, acting only on the aids the rider gives it. So if you [7] take the horse out for a hard ride, until it has worked up a good sweat,* wait for the moment when it has adopted a beautiful prancing movement and then quickly dismount and remove its bridle, I can assure you that the horse will progress on to prancing of its own accord.