As for bits, the smooth are more suitable than the rough; but if a rough one is used, it should be made to resemble a smooth one by lightness of hand. It is also well to accustom oneself to sit still, especially on a spirited horse, and to touch him as little as possible with anything other than the parts that give us a safe seat by contact.
It should also be known that a horse can be taught to be calm by a chirp with the lips and to be roused by a cluck with the tongue. And if from the first you use with the cluck aids to calm him, and with the chirp aids to rouse him, the horse will learn to rouse himself at the chirp and to calm down at the cluck.
Accordingly, if a shout is heard or a trumpet sounds, you must not allow the horse to notice any sign of alarm in you, and must on no account do anything to him to cause him alarm, but as far as possible let him rest in such circumstances, and, if you have the opportunity, bring him his morning or evening meal.
But the best advice is not to get an over-spirited horse for war.
As for a sluggish beast, I may be content with the remark that in everything you must do the opposite of what we advise for the treatment of a high-spirited one.
If a man wants to make a useful war-horse look more stately and showy when ridden, he must avoid pulling his mouth with the bit, and using the spur and whip, means by which most people imagine that they show off a horse. In point of fact the results they produce are the very opposite of what they intend.
For by dragging the mouth up they blind their horses instead of letting them see ahead, and by spurring and whipping, flurry them so that they are startled and get into danger.Or, reading δινεύειν, which occurred to Pollack and the translator independently, twist about, indulge in reactions. This is much more probable. That is the behaviour of horses that strongly object to being ridden and that behave in an ugly and unseemly fashion.
But if you teach the horse to go with a slack bridle, to hold his neck up and to arch it towards the head, you will cause the horse to do the very things in which he himself delights and takes the greatest pleasure.
A proof that he delights in them is that whenever he himself chooses to show off before horses, and especially before mares, he raises his neck highest and arches his head most, looking fierce; he lifts his legs freely off the ground and tosses his tail up.
Whenever, therefore, you induce him to carry himself in the attitudes he naturally assumes when he is most anxious to display his beauty, you make him look as though he took pleasure in being ridden, and give him a noble, fierce, and attractive appearance. How we think that these effects may be produced we will now try to explain.
To begin with, you should possess two bits at least.See Introduction. One of these should be smooth and have the discs of a good size; the other should have the discs heavy and low, and the teeth sharp, so that when the horse seizes it he may drop it because he objects to its roughness, and when he is bitted with the smooth one instead, may welcome its smoothness and may do on the smooth bit what he has been trained to do with the aid of the rough one.
In case, however, he takes no account of it because of its smoothness, and keeps bearing against it, we put large discs on the smooth bit to stop this, so that they may force him to open his mouth and drop the bit. It is possible also to make the rough bit adaptable by wrappingSo as to mitigate the roughness of the teeth. This was sometimes done by covering the teeth with wax (Pollux. 1.207). it up and tightening the reins.See c. ix, § 9.
But whatever be the pattern of the bits, they must all be flexible. For wherever a horse seizes a stiff one, he holds the whole of it against his jaws, just as you lift the whole of a spit wherever you take hold of it.
But the other kind of bit acts like a chain: for only the part that you hold remains unbent, while the rest of it hangs loose. As the horse continually tries to seize the part that eludes him in his mouth, he lets the bit drop from his jaws. This is why little ringsTwo sets, one hanging to each of the two links that form the centre joint of the two axles of which the flexible bit consisted. They are found in both the Berlin bits. are hung in the middle on the axles, in order that the horse may feel after them with his tongue and teeth and not think of taking the bit up against the jaws.
In case the meaning of the terms flexible and stiff as applied to a bit is not known, we will explain this too. Flexible means that the axles have broad and smooth links so that they bend easily; and if everything that goes round the axlesMeaning (1) the toothed cylinders, (2) the pendants to which the reins were attached, (3) the curved or S-shaped branches with eyes to which the bridle was fastened. It is curious that we do not know the Greek terms for (2) and (3). Let all the parts be loose is what X. means. has large openings, and does not fit tight, it is more flexible.
Stiff, on the other hand, means that the pieces of the bit do not run over the axles and work in combination easily.
Whatever the pattern may be, the same method of using it must be carried out in all the points that follow, assuming that you want your horse to have just the appearance I have described.
The mouth must neither be pulled so hard that he holds his nose in the air, nor so gently that he takes no notice. As soon as he raises his neck when you pull, give him the bit at once. Invariably, in fact, as we cannot too often repeat, you must humour you horse whenever he responds to your wishes.
And when you notice that high carriage of his neck and lightness of hand give him pleasure, you should not deal hardly with him as though you were forcing him to work, but coax him as when you want to stopA has ἱππάσασφαι to ride, for παύσασφαι.; for thus he will break into a fast pace with most confidence.
There is plain proof that a horse takes pleasure in going fast: for when he breaks loose a horse never goes at a walking pace, but always runs. He instinctively takes pleasure in this, provided he is not compelled to run too far for his strength. Nothing in excess is ever pleasing either to horse or man.
When your horse has progressed so far as to bear himself proudly when ridden, he has, of course, already been accustomed in the early exercises to break into a quicker pace after turning.7.17. Now if after he has learnt this you pull him up with the bit and at the same time give him one of the signs to go forward, then being held back by the bit and yet roused by the signal to go forward, he throws his chest out and lifts his legs from the ground impatiently, but not with a supple motion; for when horses feel uncomfortable, the action of their legs is not at all supple.
But if, when he is thus excited, you give him the bit, then, mistaking the looseness of the bit for a deliverance from restraint, he bounds forward for very joy with a proud bearing and supple legs, exultant, imitating exactly in every way the graces that he displays before horses.
And those who watch the horse when he is like that call him well-bred, a willing worker, worth riding, mettlesome, magnificent, and declare his appearance to be at once pleasing and fiery.
And here we conclude these explanations addressed to those who want this sort of thing.
But in case anyone wants to own a horse suitable for parade, with a high and showy action, such qualities are by no means to be found in every horse: but it is essential that he should have plenty of spirit and a strong body.
Many suppose that an animal that has supple legs will also be capable of rearing his body. That, however, is not the case: rather it is the horse with supple, short, strong loins that will be able to extend his hind-legs well under the forelegs. By loins we do not mean the parts about the tail, but those between the flanks and haunches about the belly.
Now, if when he is planting his hind-legs under him you pull him up with the bit, he bends the hind-legs on the hocks and raises the fore-part of his body, so that anyone facing him can see the belly and the sheath. When he does that you must give him the bit that he may appear to the onlookers to be doing willingly the finest things that a horse can do.
Some, however, teach these accomplishments by striking him under the hocks with a rod, others by telling a man to run alongside and hit him with a stick under the gaskins.
We, however, consider that the lesson is most satisfactory if, as we have repeatedly said, the rider invariably allows him relaxation when he has done something according to his wishes.
For what a horse does under constraint, as Simon says, he does without understanding, and with no more grace than a dancer would show if he was whipped and goaded. Under such treatment horse and man alike will do much more that is ugly than graceful. No, a horse must make the most graceful and brilliant appearance in all respects of his own will with the help of aids.
Further, if you gallop him during a ride until he sweats freely, and as soon as he prances in fine style, quickly dismount and unbridle him, you may be sure that he will come willingly to the prance.
This is the attitude in which artists represent the horses on which gods and heroes ride, and men who manage such horses gracefully have a magnificent appearance.
Indeed a prancing horse is a thing so graceful, terrible and astonishing that it rivets the gaze of all beholders, young and old alike. At all events no one leaves him or is tired of gazing at him so long as he shows off his brilliance.
Should the owner of such a horse happen to be a colonel or a general, he must not make it his object to be the one brilliant figure,Xen. Cavalry 1.22 but must attach much more importance to making the whole troop behind him worth looking at.
Now if a horse is leading in the manner which wins most praise for such horses, prancing high and with his body closely gathered, so that he moves forward with very short steps, the rest of the horses must obviously follow also at a walking pace. Now what can there be really brilliant in such a sight?
But if you rouse your horse and lead neither too fast nor too slow, but at the pace at which the most spirited horses look most fiery and stately—if you lead your men in that way, there will be such a continual stamping, such a continual neighing and snorting of the horses going on behind you, that not only you yourself but all the troop behind you will be worth watching.
If a man buys his horses well, trains them so that they can stand work, and uses them properly in the training for war, in the exhibition rides and on the battle-fields, what is there then to hinder him from making horses more valuable than they are when he takes them over, and why should he not be the owner of famous horses, and also become famous himself for his horsemanship, provided no divine power prevents?
We want to explain also how a man who is to face danger on horseback should be armed.
We say, then, that in the first place his breastplate must be made to fit his body. For the wellfitting breastplate is supported by the whole body, whereas one that is too loose is supported by the shoulders only, and one that is too tight is rather an encumbrance than a defence.
And, since the neck is one of the vital parts, we hold that a covering should be available for it also, standing up from the breastplate itself and shaped to the neck. For this will serve as an ornament, and at the same time, if properly made, will cover the rider’s face, when he pleases, as high as the nose.