Bibliography

Ancient works

The Kikkuli text. Hittite manual on training chariot horses, c. 1345 BCE. Oldest known text on horse training. A translation of the original Sanskrit is available from the King Library Press for about $50. You can read a PDF article on the text available here. There was also a study done by Dr. Ann Nyland that follows this training method (book is rare and costs nearly $1000), but the book may be available at a nearby university.

Salihotra. 3rd century BCE Indian treatise on horses. There is an online facsimile of the oldest dated copy (1300s CE) is available at the University of Cambridge digital library. You can also get the 18th c. English translation (of the Persian translation of the original Sanskrit) available through Amazon for about $5

Greek & Roman/Byzantine

On Horsemanship. Xenophon. 4th-3rd century BCE. Read online for free at Project Gutenberg. Also available from Amazon for about $6

The Cavalry General. Xenophon. 4th-3rd century BCE. Read online for free at Project Gutenberg. Also available from Amazon for about $7.

De Re Militairi. Flavius Vegetius Renatus. Late 4th-early 5th century CE. Available from Amazon for about $14.

The distempers of horses, and of the art of curing them. Flavius Vegetius Renatus. Late 4th-early 5th century CE. Available from Amazon for about $40

Hippiatrica. Probably compiled in the 5th-6th century CE, first manuscript is 10th century. A compendium of texts by 7 authors. In A Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine, Anne McCabe (2007) provides an analysis, partial translations, and comparisons of the texts. Rare, but can sometimes be found used on Amazon for $90-150.

Maurice's Strategikon. 6th c. CE. Translated by George T. Dennis. Available from Amazon for about $21.

13th century works

De medicina equorum. Giordano Ruffo (Jordanus Rufus). c. 1250s. The oldest copy of this text is a 13th c. Latin manuscript available online through the Wellcome Library. If you read French, Brigitte Prevot's amalgamation of three Old French witnesses is available through Amazon for about $120. If you want an English translation, contact me at jen jobst at gmail dot com.

15th century works

De Equo Animante (Le cheval vivant). Leonis Baptiste Alberti, c. 1430s. French translation by Jean-Yves Boriaud. Pisa, 2017. There's a PDF of the modern French translation available through academia.edu. If you want an English translation, contact me at jen jobst at gmail dot com.

The Book of Horsemanship. Dom Duarte of Portugal, c. 1430s. Translated by Jeffrey L Forgeng. Boydell Press, 2016. Available through some booksellers for about $45 (be sure to get the Forgeng translation)

Collectianea. Pietro Monte (late 15th c). Translated by Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Boydell Press, 2018. Available through Amazon for about $75

16th century works

Gli ordini di cavalcare. Federico Grisone. Napoli, 1550. (English translation by John Astley.) PDF of original book (in Italian) available through Google books. 2014 translation and interpretation by Elizabeth MacKenzie Tobey is available from Xenophon press for about $75.

Tratto dell’imbrigliare, Atteggiare, & Ferrare Cavalli. Cesare Fiaschi. Anselmo Giaccarelli, 1556. PDF of original book (in Italian) available through Google books

The Arte of Ryding and Breakinge Greate Horses. Thomas Blundeville. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1560. Available from Amazon (2010 reprint) for about $40.

La Gloria del Cavallo. Pasquale Caracciolo. Venice, 1566. PDF of original book (in Italian) available through Google books.

Il cavallarizzo. Claudio Corte. Venice, 1573. (English translation by Thomas Bedingfield). PDF of original book (in Italian) available through Google books

The Art of Riding. Translation by Thomas Bedingfield of Claudio Corte’s Il cavallarizzo. H. Denham, 1584. Available from Amazon (2010 printing) for about $26

The Art of Riding. Translation by John Astley of Federico Grisone’s Gli ordini di cavalcare. London, 1584. Available from Amazon (2010 printing) for about $25

The schoole of horsemanship wherein is discourvered what skill and knowledge is required in a good horseman, practised by perfect experience. Christopher Clifford. London, 1585. This book is out of print but sometimes available on Amazon. It may also be available at a library near you (worldcat).

Von Zeumen (Zäumen). Gründtlicher Bericht des Zeumens (Zäumens). Georg Engelhard Löhneysen. 1588. PDF of original book (in German) available through Google books.

The Compleat Horseman. Gervase Markham. 1593. (Note there are many later versions and rewrites of this work). Available for free from Early English Books Online. Also available from Amazon (1975 "interpretation") for about $15 (note that this is not a reprint of the original).

17th century works

La Cavalerice Francois. Salomon de la Broue. Paris, 1602. PDF of original book (in French) available through Google books. Book II has the most information about riding exercises.

Della Cavalleria : Gruendtlicher Bericht von allem was zu der Reutterei gehoerig. Georg Engelhard Löhneysen. 1609-10.  Online facsimile of the 1624 edition available through Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Also available through some booksellers for about 300 Euro (This is a 1977 reprint of the original 1609-10 German edition; can be hard to find)

Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen. Lucas Iennis, 1616. PDF of original book (in German) available through Google books.

Art Militaire a cheval. French translation by Paul Jaques of Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen’s Kriegskunst zu Pferdt. J. Mallhausen, 1616. PDF of original book (in French) available through Google books.

Le Maneige Royal. Antoine de Pluvinel. 1623. Available from Amazon (2010 reprint) for $100-250 (can be hard to find).

Modern works

Works on horses and Equitation. Frederick Henry Hoth, 1887. Available for free via the Internet Archive. Also available from Amazon for about $17.

Horseman's progress: the development of modern riding. Vladimir Littauer, 1962. Available for free via the Internet Archive. Also available from Amazon for about $15.

The horse, the wheel, and language. David W. Anthony, 2010. Available from Amazon for about $18.

Cataphracts: Knights of the ancient eastern empires. Erich Anderson, 2016. Available from Amazon for about $18.

The Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art: A survey of the treatises on chivalry from the Renaissance and the centuries following. Giovanni Battista Tomassini. Xenophon Press, 2014. Available from Amazon for about $40.

Music, Discipline, and Arms in Early Modern France. Kate Van Orden. University of Chicago Press, 2005. Available from Amazon for about $40.

The Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art: A survey of the treatises on chivalry from the Renaissance and the centuries following. Giovanni Battista Tomassini. Xenophon Press, 2014. Available from Amazon for about $40.

Becoming Centaur: Eighteenth-Century Masculinity and English Horsemanship. Monica Mattfeld. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017. Available from Penn State Press for $35