Salve,
from an instructor at the French Cavalry School at Saumur (now home of Cadre Noir), in the tradition of French XVIII century riding schools, including
François Robichon de La Guérinière ), comes this depiction of a cavalry horse, translated into English and published in London in 1919.
Interestingly enough, the publication of this book on cavalry horsemanship coincided with the events of the last true cavalry war (eg
Battle of Komarów between Polish 1st Cavalry Division and Bolsheviks' Budyonny 1st Cavalry Army) that raged between newly restored
Republic of Poland and Red Russia, and some fine Frenchmen took part in it on our Polish side, including general
Charles de Gaulle:
Cavalry Horsemanship and Horse Training by Lieut.-Col. Blacque Belair,
chief instructor at the Cavalry School, Saumur France, London 1919
''THE QUALITIES OF A SADDLE HORSE.—
The many demands made on an army horse require in him a great
many different qualities. He has to carry a considerable
weight,* travel long distances, and often at a fast
pace ; he has therefore to possess endurance, hardiness,
and handiness. These qualities are nearly always
found in a horse which has a naturally good balance,
good paces, breeding, and conformation. The naturally
good balance, which is the first quality to look for in
a riding horse, enables him to have constant control
of himself, even with the weight of a rider on his
back, to easily change from a slow pace to a fast one
and vice versa; to be, in fact, supple in his movements,
and easy to ride from the first. The theory of balance
has not up to now been scientifically considered ;
owing to the rapidity and frequency of a horse's
movements, the study of balance or of conformation
is practically limited to the study of the animal at
rest. Anatomy is nothing but the study of organs
from which life has been withdrawn. It is therefore
only by riding a horse, that one can with any certainty
decide on his merits. Experience, nevertheless, enables
one to establish certain general rules, which fix the
good points to be looked for in a young horse, and
to form an opinion as to what he will grow into.
If the horse has a wither running well into the back
and rather higher than the quarters, the chest deep,
and the girth groove well behind the elbows, the
saddle will rest in a good position. The rider and his
equipment being placed between the two ends of
the balance, near the centre of gravity, will not disturb
the equilibrium by overweighting the shoulders. This
conformation, combined with well- shaped hocks,
causes the horse to be easy to handle and control
in a fight, and in the daily work the effort is distributed
over the body, which consequently does not prematurely
wear out. The paces ought to be such as will enable
the horse to cover the greatest distance with the
minimum of effort. This condition excludes high
action, and places value on the level extended paces,
which are the least fatiguing for both horse and rider.
If the trot is more especially the pace for the road,
the pace for fighting is the gallop. More than ever
the actual necessities of war require the fast paces
maintained for long distances. The army horse ought
therefore to be above everything a galloper, and the
relative length of the ischium is a characteristic of
this aptitude.
Handiness is indispensable in going through
evolutions in open country, and it is acquired all the
more promptly and completely in proportion as the
horse has the necessary conformation, an open angle
at the junction of the shoulder and arm, and powerful
hindquarters. If the length and obliquity of the
shoulder, combined with high withers, assists the
balance, by enabling the rider's weight to be evenly
distributed, it is the relative length and vertical
position of the arm, still more than the direction of
the shoulder, which gives freedom in the paces and
handiness. The power of the hindquarters, which
drive the horse forwards or backwards, gives the horse
control of himself and of his balance ; it gives him
the free use of his hocks and enables him to bring
them more or less under his body ; it enables him to
pull himself together, or to extend his i^aces according
to circumstances ; in fact it puts it in his power to
take any direction or speed he wishes.
Moreover, if his confidence in his long and oblique
shoulders enables the horse to land lightly over a
fence without any apparent effort, it is the contraction
and thrust from the hindquarters which gives the
spring that carries him over. The riding horse should
therefore have a large hip bone, projecting well at the
side, and extending slightly above the spine, producing
what is called the jumping bump.
The perfect shape. — If one adds to the requirements just mentioned,
a forehand formed less by a useless length of neck than by the
addition of cervical vertebrae, and a wither running well into the back,
one will have the frame of a riding horse in all its
useful beauty, and in consequence, the type to look
for.
One of the first qualities of a riding horse is, that
he should carry his saddle in the proper place, that
is to say, the girths should naturally pass well behind
the elbows.
The other points to look for are —
A broad forehead and a well- set- on head.
An open, intelligent eye.
A well-proportioned and well- set -on neck.
A high wither, running well into the back, and
slightly higher than the quarters.
An oblique shoulder.
A long and straight arm.
A forearm with large powerful muscles.
A deep chest.
A strong back.
A wide loin with strong muscles behind the saddle.
Well-shaped long quarters, slightly sloping and
muscular.
Large prominent hips.
The muscles of the thighs and second thighs well
developed and extending well down towards the
hocks.
Short, compact body with well- sprung ribs.
Knees low down, large, wide, and flat.
Cannon bones short and strong.
The hocks large, straight, and low.
The legs hard and clean, ending in four good
symmetrical feet.
A fine skin.
A horse with these characteristics will not only be
well balanced, but will move well and possess a free
striding walk ; a trot starting from the shoulder,
which is long, easy, and regular ; a gallop which is
smooth, powerful, and extended.
Quality. — This results from the constitution or
power of endurance of the organs with regard to their
work ; blood, which by the energy it gives enables the
organism to resist the ordinary causes of collapse ;
stamina or endurance in any kind of work.
Courage, however, alone secures the maximum
advantage of this quality. The horse's quality arises
from various causes ; it depends upon good food from
the earliest age, from the soil on which he has been
reared containing lime, and so developing bone and
strength of muscle ; but it depends chiefly on the
breeding of the horse. It is indispensable therefore
to secure the proper mating of the thoroughbred horse
with the half-bred mare to transmit the blood, and to
maintain the size.''
* the British Cavalry a man, weighing 10 stone 7 lbs,
stripped, rides no less than 21 stone, in full marching order.*
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Polish cavalry of that war is beautifully described in a book by a Polish scholar and novelist Bohdan Królikowski title ''
Ułańskie lato (Uhlan Summer)'' (needs to be translated into English)
