From: corun@access.digex.com (Corun MacAnndra)
Subject: Re: Lippizanner training
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 00:37:21 GMT


Greetings to the Rialto from Corun MacAnndra

In article <9209251404.AA11641@orsino> sharons@juliet.ll.mit.EDU (Sharon Stanfill) writes:
>
>
>Training Lippizanners, which is certainly the closest
>we come these days to war-horse training, takes many
>years. I think full training takes about 10 years, but
>I'm not certain. Part of the reason is that it takes
>quite a while for them to develop the strenght to 
>perform some moves.  
>
>
>Nesta ferch Meriadoc Hartley

I just returned from participating in a Palio (Italian horse race) held
by the Barony of Ponte Alto in Atlantia. My friend, Lilianne, and I performed
a pas de deux dressage for the event, including some "airs above ground" 
which are derived from maneuvers taught to war horses for use in battle.

Let me explain, however, that we were not on live horses. In fact, at least
in my case, not on horses at all. The horse race was for hobby horses, the
typical head on a stick type. There were some beautiful examples of well
bred horse flesh....er...wood. Lilianne and I, however, took the idea one
step farther and built mummer's horses.....well.....you'll find out. For
those not familiar with the term mummer's horse, it's like wearing a hoop
skirt with a horse head, or whatever, attached. You hang it by straps from
your shoulders and you look like you're riding it. It's quite fun, but
strenuous for dressage. These were then worn in mummer parades and various
celebrations. Look into the history of mummers for more information. It's
quite fun stuff. Anyway, Lilianne built a beautiful palomino hippocampus
which is her device, while I built that sturdy beast of burden  used by the 
Mongols, the yak. I have to admit, we were quite a sight.

The airs above ground I mentioned were a lavade (pardon my spelling, I'm 
not a horse person, and only learned these terms in the course of doing our
performance), which is where the.....um.....animal, rises onto it's hind
legs as far as it can go and stands there as motionless as it can. This
allowed a warrior a higher vantage point from which to strike, as well as
allowing the horse to use it's hooves as weapons. Then a capriole and a
corbette were done. These are stationary leaps, the capriole being likened
to the frisking leap of a goat, allowing the front legs to kick out, while
the corbette is the four legs striking out in four directions at once. One
could presume that the ankles of the....animals in question, were fitted
with spike bearing anklets, but I have no evidence to support this. It just
seems logical. If anyone has information on the arming of horses in particular,
I'm sure it would be of value here. Finally, Lilianne performed a piaffe,
which is difficult to say the least for a hippocampus, seeing as it entails
one foreleg and one opposite rearleg being raised and pawing the air (the
hippocampus and a human in a mummer's horse have no rear legs).

These are some of the things that the Lippizanner's and other dressage
horses do today. Now, if you've seen the Lippizanners perform, imagine it
being done by a medaeval war horse bearing a knight in full armour, in the
middle of a battle.

In service,

Corun

-- 
===========================================================================
    Corun MacAnndra    | To sit with a pretty woman for an hour seems like
  Dark Horde by birth  | a minute. To sit on a hot stove for a minute seems
    Moritu by choice   | like an hour. That's relativity. --  A. Einstein