  |
|
|
|
The Duke of Newcastle's 'New Method'The Only Seminal Horsemanship Manuals by an English Writer
William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle (1593-1676), published two manuals, setting out his 'New Method' for rearing, training and riding a horse.
La Methode Nouvelle et Invention extraordinaire de dresser les Chevaux (Antwerp: 1658), was written during Newcastle’s exile after the English Civil War and published in French for the Continental rider, with the aim of superseding Antoine de Pluvinel. With the Restoration of the British monarchy in 1660, he published A New Method, and Extraordinary Invention, to Dress Horses (London: 1667), a closely related text, in English for the ‘Satisfaction of my Country-men’(1667, sig. b). This manual openly attacked the reliance on Sir Thomas Blundeville’s translation of Federigo Grisone’s methods, by then over a hundred years old but still popular in England. As God to Man, so Man to the HorseNewcastle’s approach was based on the belief that the right of the monarch to rule is supported by the willing acceptance of his authority by his subjects, to their mutual good, echoing God’s relationship with mankind. Horsemanship placed riders in authority over a creature with superior strength so attempting control through brute force invited danger and injury. Newcastle considered that gaining the horse’s respect with strong but moderated authority established the rider’s natural leadership through skill and perception. Newcastle’s New Method Newcastle used a programme of suppling exercises featuring his own design of cavesson, familiar today as a lunging cavesson. Using one rein at a time, attached to side rings to protect the mouth and always in the rider’s hand rather than fixed, lateral flexion could be increased or decreased subtly. He did not, as is sometimes claimed, invent the draw-rein. His method is based on rewarding the horse with the immediate release of pressure and suiting training ‘to his Nature, Disposition, and Strength’ (1667: p.349), The Horse’s MindNewcastle’s primary originality is in crediting the horse with intelligence at a time when there was debate over whether it had thinking capacity at all. He argues that only fear in man refuses to allow intelligence to horses and that in the right relationship, man is ennobled because he has authority over a creature of worthy spirit. He notes too that ‘more Horses are Spoil’d by ill Riding, and […] made Vitious than by Nature’ (1667: p. 309). Reward and PunishmentThe idea that a horse appreciates ‘cherishing’ was not new and one of the ironies of Grisone’s method is that having applied savage violence, the rider should then reward the horse with kindness. Newcastle, however, realises that a confrontational approach ‘Astonishes the Weak Horse […] makes a Furious horse Madd […] and Displeases all sorts of Horses’. The alternative however is not ‘to Sit Weak […] but to Sit Easie’, in the understanding that ‘The Horse must know you are his Master’ (1667: p. 43). A Successful ApproachMany of Newcastle’s ideas are still relevant today, including the shoulder-in, which he devised and his belief that the horse’s reasoning ability is full of natural potential that requires sensitive training. Evidence for his success is given by his wife, Margaret, who wrote of his horses, ‘I have observed, and do verily believe, that some of them had a particular love for My Lord; for they seemed to rejoice whensoever he came into the stables, by their trampling action, and the noise they made’ (Life of the Duke of Newcastle, ed. by C. H. Firth (London: 1915, p.101). Availability of TextsA facsimile edition of the 1743 English translation of Newcastle’s first manual was issued by J. A. Allen, under the title A General System of Horsemanship in 1970 and 2000.
The copyright of the article The Duke of Newcastle's 'New Method' in Horse Training is owned by Elaine Walker. Permission to republish The Duke of Newcastle's 'New Method' in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
