Who Are You? -- Part Four

Antoine de Pluvinel (1552 - 1620)

Here’s another great master that I have yet to read.  Despite my ignorance though, a little research shows Antoine de Pluvinel to be a pivotal figure in the history of dressage.

Pluvinel studied under a protégé of Grisone, so one might expect him to have continued the practices of his masters, but he didn’t. In rejecting the theory of harsh punishments and returning to and expanding upon the principles of Xenophon, Pluvinel was in the first wave of the humanism that would soon sweep across Europe.

I’m not alone in this opinion. In a 1985 journal article, Hilda Nelson argues that the revival of classical horsemanship should not be credited to the Renaissance humanism of Grisone but to the classical humanism of the 17th Century. Following the ideas of Paul Benichou, Nelson presents a good argument for the 17th Century as the first wave of humanism leading to the era we know as the Enlightenment. This modern humanism emphasized rational thought and refinement of manner.

Here article is available here:  http://www.jstor.org/pss/392816

Since many good Web resources exist on Pluvinel, I’ll resort to copy and paste for much of this.

Margarethe de Clermont also has an excellent page. There, she says this: 

Pluvinel is most well-known for his kind, humane training methods, contrary to Pignatelli, who often used harsh methods to gain obedience from the horse, Pluvinel used praise, careful use of the aids, and softer bits (simple curb bits) to get the horse to work with him. He claimed that the use of the spur or the whip was a confession of failure. Pluvinel introduced a form of equestrian ballet known as a "carousel" in which groups of horses and riders perform intricate patterns to music. In one such instance, over a thousand horses and riders performed together.

Suite 101 has another good page . There, Elaine Walker says this:

While Grisone’s manual of 1550 accepts and even advocates extreme brutality for overcoming any resistance from the horse, Pluvinel chooses instead a courtly refinement. His return to the gentler methods favoured by Xenophon also completes the movement from the battlefield to the riding house. Pluvinel uses the exercises purely as a recreation through which the nobleman may develop physical skills alongside judgement, grace and self-control. This was seen to show the natural moral superiority of human over animal nature without any descent into violence or anger.

Here’s also a nice bit from a sporting art gallery, which, not coincidentally offers some fine prints:

Antoine de Pluvinel was born in France and taken to Italy to study horsemanship from the age of 10 to about 16, when he was taken in by M. de Sourdis, the premier ecuyer (first equerry) of King Charles IX. In his early 20s, Pluvinel was appointed first equerry to the king’s brother, who soon succeeded to the throne as Henri III. His reputation grew, and when Henri IV took the throne in 1589, Pluvinel remained as a member of the court. In 1594, Pluvinel realized his dream of founding a riding school. He was at work on his book Le Manege Royal when he died. A first, incomplete edition appeared in 1623, illustrated by Crispijn de Passe. A second version, illustrated by the same artist, with improved text was issued about two years later under the title L'Instruction du Roy, en L'Exercice de Monter a Cheval and this version was translated and reissued many times. The book shows the instruction of the young Louis XIII (1601-43) who was crowned in 1610 under the regency of his mother and reigned from 1617 onward. The text and illustrations explain Pluvinel’s principles of training horses in the form of a dialogue with the king, interspersed with commentaries by M. le Grand and other distinguished authorities. Pluvinel’s book was groundbreaking in its advocacy of humane training methods, a departure from the harsher practices commonplace at the time.

Drawing from these sources, it’s easy to state that, as a member of the court, riding teacher, and author, Pluvinel exerted considerable influence on the aristocracy in France.  For example, the controversial Richelieu, who would become Prime Minister for King Louis XIII, studied at Pluvinel’s Academie.

Pluvinel’s influence also came to England in the form of his student, William, Duke of Cavendish, the next master I’ll examine.

For now, mere snippets from the writings of Pluvinel are all I have to offer directly. But they reveal a marked shift, going well beyond the scope of Xenophon in attributing riding as the meeting of two minds. The recognition of an animal as having a mind is in itself remarkable for this era.

ArtisticDressage.com offers quotations with commentary from current dressage master Dr. Thomas Ritter.

http://www.artisticdressage.com/pluvinel-quotes.html

Another set of Pluvinel’s words appears here: 

http://www.equiworld.net/foundation.htm

It never fails that someone who does not work with consideration either destroys his horse's gentleness or teaches him incorrigible vices.

I concentrate mainly on exercising his mind and his memory, in such a way that I achieve what I want: so that it is the horse's mind which I work the most: the mind of the rider must work perpetually as well, in order to detect all kinds of opportunities to arrive at his goal, without letting any movement pass unnoticed, nor any opportunity unused.

But in so far as the perfection of an art lies in the knowledge of where to begin, I am very well advised in this regard, to teach the horse his first lessons, since he finds them the most difficult, in searching for a way in which to work his mind, rather than his thighs and shanks, while being careful not to annoy him, if possible, and not to rob him of his spirit: since it is to the horse as the blossom is to the fruit, which, once withered, never returns.

Next time, on to the Duke of Newcastle.

Who Are You? -- Part One

The English have this proverb: "Show me your horse and I will tell you who you are." Still one of the best lines I've ever heard, it deserves several posts on the history, psychology, politics, ethics, and meditative aspects of horsemanship.

I'll start with a personal story. My husband grew up in a wealthy Southern enclave, a place where women wore gloves and hats to shop and not just on Sunday. He once described his hometown as a place where people could live long, full lives without ever knowing what others thought of them. This most likely describes the ideal of a community where gatherings were superficial or politely guarded to promote a tolerant yet non-intimate type of social harmony. Such an ideal is, alas, far less likely between those brought up in less proper communities, and almost impossible between horse and rider where the horse will be direct and honest even if the rider isn't. In other words, the intimate relationship between horse and rider reveals the inner self whether the rider knows it or not. Aside from basic horsemanship skills, this relationship shows our ability to communicate, our basic assumptions on the use of force, fairness, reciprocity, and a whole bunch of other things. In short, it shows much about our personalities and even our politics.

Of course a few riders of extreme patience and skill avoid too many awkward and intimate revelations of their flaws and those of their horses. These few make themselves and their mounts look good no matter what problems they’ve encountered. I’ve seen some examples. A local woman regularly exhibits a Shire at the local county fair. In his early years, she rode him as both a dressage horse and a western reining horse. And now, showing him as an exhibition horse, she still makes a member of the coldest of the cold breeds look light and easy! On the international level, Many years ago, I watched a televised interview with veteran eventer J. Michael Plumb where he complained how dull and uninterestingly unpleasant his Olympic mount Bluestone was. I was surprised. Watching him on the cross-country course, I would have sworn they were a happy, harmonious pair. Those who have been lucky enough to see Reiner Klimke's victory lap with the heralded seventy-five consecutive flying changes on the once notoriously difficult Ahlerich will know what I mean. Such tactful, persistent skill in riders is rare indeed. At the very least, it shows a nearly miraculous connection with a horse. At best, it may well show the most noble, patient aspects of a human being.

Most of us can expect our horses to tell the world—at least the world of horsemen—exactly who we are. Non-horseman may argue with this. In fact, one of my daily vocabulary emails arrived just now with this as the daily quotation:

         The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older
         and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete,
         gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never
         attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not
         brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught
         with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of
         the splendor and travail of the earth.
                        -Henry Beston, naturalist and author (1888-1968).

With the horse, Beston was wrong. While most of the elements Beston describes are true, the horse did not arrive “finished and complete.” Man selected and shaped the horse, and, for better or worse, that selection and shaping of the species and finally the development of specific breeds, for work, for war, and for display, allowed man to spread across the world and dominate the earth. This shaping and developing also reveals much about the people who changed horses and horsemanship

That's what I want to talk about over the next series of posts.