The Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art: A Survey of the Treatises on Horsemanship from the Renaissance and the Centuries Following

Review Tomassini „Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art“A Must for Cultivated HorsepeopleFor years I have been wanting to know the facts G. B. Tomassini composed in this most valuable book: The Italian tradition of equestrian treatises from the beginning. The author presents us these hard-to-access treasures, and now even in English! I am so glad and grateful I can easily read what the early Italian masters wrote! This is definitely a cultural feat by both author and publisher. Moreover the author offers us an international list of web resources on equestrian treatises plus a bibliography of treatises on horsemanship. The book makes us aware of the unique European equestrian tradition. G. B. Tomassini’s oeuvre covers the Italian part of it. My book “Austrian Art of Riding”,http://www.amazon.com/Austrian-Art-Riding-Five-Centuries/dp/093331664X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442351520&sr=8-1&keywords=poscharnigg, relates the culture’s history in the vast Habsburg realm and today’s Austria. Michel Henriquet wrote “L’oeuvre des écuyers Francais”, Sylvia Loch “The Royal Horse of Europe” for England. We need more research concerning Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, and other countries. And it should be in English so that most people can understand it. And these studies are to be summed up in a central book, e. g. “Milestones of European Equestrian Art” or “The European Tradition of Equestrian Art”. This book ought to be lean and readable, not a scientific cemetery, but a pleasure to read for riders to get inspired in their everyday riding benefitting the horses. The authors must be both experienced, intelligent riders and experienced, intelligent intellectuals, a species hard to find, but there are some. G. B. Tomassini rides ahead proudly displaying the flag of a marvellous equestrian art in his www.worksofchivalry.com and his highly recommendable book “The Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art”.

An excellent read for anyone interested in the history of horsemanship. Tomassini does not begin with Xenophon, skip lightly over Grisone to de La Gueriniere but fills in all the gaps with the Italian masters in between.He has done our research for us by putting it into one volume that would take an individual many decades and travel to achieve.

Excellent. The first profund history of the classical Italian Equitation in English

Useful research about Renaissance riding disciplines. It is well illustrated and the writing is clearly composed. From training a foal to finding the correct bit, this book has well researched content.

Another great translation made available recently.

For anyone who is passionate about horses and understanding how the various equestrian disciplines came to be, this book is a must for your library. Researched with incredible detail, written with clear and wonderfully descriptive prose, and accompanied by excellent historic illustrations, the author has created an adventure back into the early times, showing how horses were an important part of ancient cultures, focusing on that of the Italian traditions. From these traditions in ancient times, it is possible to see the parallels that moved forward in equestrianism throughout history and into the present day. Bravo to the author for putting together such an impressive work and making it so available to horse loving readers.

Current debate over modern versus "classical" dressage has people running to label themselves classical. That leads to discussions of the Spanish Riding School, Cadre Noir, and national programs in Spain and Portugal. But no one talks about Italy's role in Classical riding. This author corrects that omission. This is a very interesting and detailed analysis of Italy's written history of equestrian topics. If you're a history buff, this book is for you.

I am not completely through with my Kindle edition of this book yet, but I find the book great because of three reasons. First of all, it uses scientifically respectable sources, yet is easily readable for non-historians (probably thanks to the journalistic background of the author). Thirdly, the book covers topics that have never been brought together in one book in such depth and quality. All in all, it is an important contribution to the history of riding culture!

If you are interested in the fascinating history of classical riding - this book is a must. A very well researched and written book and I greatly enjoyed reading it.

If you are English speaking and interested in the development of the understanding of riding a collected horse, it is possible to find out quite a lot of the history. However, there is an important part that has always been hard to find out about: the Italian School. Now, in this beautifully written book, all is revealed and those missing pieces of the jigsaw are available to the student of academic equitation.