Grisone
With the fall of the Greek Empire, the art of riding declined and eventually ceased to exist. Almost two thousand years later, in the sixteenth century, the long-forgotten riding skills of the Greeks were revived by a Neopolitan nobleman, Grisone, who had thoroughly studied Xenophon’s book. Although Grisone followed the teachings of the Greek general in his training, he invented a number of severe bits, and appeared to rely more on force than Xenophon had.
Pluvinel
Grisone took on a number of students, the best known of which was Pignatelli, who became the director of the riding academy of Naples, where a man named Pluvinel arrived as a student from France. Later the riding master to Louis XII, Pluvinel advocated individual treatment for the horse and substituted humane principles for the force then in use. In his book "Manege de Roi" which appeared in 1623, Pluvinel circulated his ideas, which were at first ridiculed but eventually accepted as healthy principles for the training of horses.
de la Guerniere
Pluvinel prepared the way for the great riding master of France, de la Gueriniere, who produced a revolutionary book on riding which was clear and easy to understand, and presented a method so solid that it is still applied almost intact at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Modern-day masters have interpreted, perfected and perpetuated the system of training put forward in this book, while preserving the classical silent language of aids, which enable the rider to communicate with any well schooled horse.
The historical development of riding reveals that the art has not been confined to any country or continent. It flourishes wherever human beings dedicate themselves to horsemanship and know how to develop its practice, wherever horses grow more beautiful as the training progresses, and wherever there are people who find pleasure in the process.
Historic moment
Lis Hartel won a silver medal to culminate her own personal recovery from polio. She had to be helped on and off her horse, Jubilee, during the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.
This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.
Written by Jennifer Knight. Special thanks to Anne Gribbons.
| Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park. |