Wednesday, April 1, 2009

another Old Polish horse


This time I found this image of Old Polish horse on the cover of a book of gouaches painted either by or for baron d'Eisenberg, master rider, ecuyer and one of the foremost specialist in the art of the manege or 'dresser de cheval' of the 18th centuries, his opus magnum was 'l’Art de monter à cheval'(1759).
 He wrote and illustrated his own books. eg look at these prints
                                                      *
The book shown here can be bought from Amazon.com. and quite cheaply. It contains 55 color paintings of horses, many types of horses and breeds that could be found in Europe circa AD 1759.
The interesting thing here is that our good baron showed and proved though his work that any type or breed of horses can be 'dressed/schooled' to perform high school airs, it was the ecuyer who made this happen and not the particular breed of horse. This is quite contrary to Cavendish or de la Gueriniere writings.

   Anyway, this horse is performing a croupade. His name is 'Botte' and was bred in the estates of Prince Lubomirski who in turn gave him as a gift to the Prince de Craon at Luneville, where baron d'Eisenberg schooled this horse. Pleas note his small head and pinto coloring. He is ridden in a caveson and curb bit, double reins etc.

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