The Importance of Training Horses for Your Own Purposes

Training horses has played a vital part in the march of civilization. Over the centuries, principles and training methods of horses have gone through extensive changes, leading to a worldwide trend of non-coercive natural horsemanship. Horses have been and are used for practical working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, and for competitive sport. Horses were domesticated for these purposes but in order for these horses to perform the tasks given to them, one must train them.

Before the 2nd millennium BCE in Central Asia, horses were employed as a riding animal by the nomadic people in this region.

Scythians were among the first people to utilize the horse as a mount (SOURCE 9). Horses played an essential role in their lifestyle. They would herd large amounts of horses to use mainly as a source of milk and for their hides before they mounted them. By 7th century BC they were accomplished horsemen and provided a major contribution to human civilization, the earliest form of the saddle (SOURCE 9).

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Over time, Scythians perfected the equipment used by horses which also resulted in them sharpening their riding skills on horseback.

Scythians have also been given the credit of creating a form of stirrup (SOURCE 1). Scythians were mounted archers and the stirrup allowed these archers to shoot arrows pretty accurately while riding. The Samaritans superseded the Scythians and rode their horses bareback by using knee pressure and the distribution of their weight to control them (SOURCE 1). The Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians were some of the first people to hunt and fight while mounted on horses.

In Egypt, horses were introduced by the Hyksos and were used for war. Between 7th and 8th century BC, horses were brought to Greece by the Scythians and this is where the art of riding developed quickly, at first only being for please (SOURCE 1). During the 4th century BC, Xenophon a Greek historian, wrote his treatise Peri Hippikēs (On Horsemanship), which gave advice on horsemanship.

This book included sections on purchasing horses, stabling and grooming. In his final passages he included the development of another animal that wasn’t meant for war, but for those riders wanting “a showy, attractive animal, with a certain grandeur of bearing” (SOURCE 10). Xenophon describes simple equitation and more advanced concepts of schooling. He was a supporter of the use of gentle bits and was against using force during training and riding (SOURCE 1). In 1345 BC, one of the greatest horse trainers of all time, Kikkuli developed the first recorded plan for training and caring of horses. He was a master horseman from Mitanni, a kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia (SOURCE 3).

Kikkulis' training methods allowed for the Hittites to become a mighty power rivaling Egypt and is what yielded to exceptional horses for these people. Kikkuli was a user of interval training and emphasized the leading of horses from chariots at a trot, canter and gallop prior to exposing them to the weight bearing of a rider or driver (SOURCE 3). Kikkuli’s training included a seven-month training regime along with conditioning. This training regime included schedule rest days but somedays workouts would happen three times a day. His interval training contained of three stages. The first two stages consisted of the development of strong legs and a strong cardio-vascular system.

The last stage consisted of increasing neuromuscular conditioning (SOURCE 3). There were brief recovery periods included in the workouts to lower the heart rate. Swimming was also included in intervals of three to five sessions with rest periods after each session. The writings of Kikkuli indicated that he did not always practice human treatment of horses (SOURCE 4). Horses would be confined for periods lasting up to ten days in poorly ventilated, humid enclosures so they could be stressed and expose the animals who are more prone to respiratory illness. His routines primarily emphasized on the physical and cardiovascular development and training In 1991, Ann Hyland applied the training methods of Kikkuli and the results were evaluated by veterinary physiologists at Sydney University in Australia. Based on his methodologies, Hyland observed that they actually yielded to significant, measurable cardiovascular improvements in horses.