How Caprilli Changed Everything About Jumping
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If you look at old paintings and prints of horses and riders leaping over obstacles you might notice something that doesn’t look quite right to the modern eye. Whether it’s a woman riding side saddle or a man riding astride, both are leaning well back as their horse negotiates the jump. If the photo were taken today, and we were caught in a position like that, we’d call it a ‘bad moment’ and start working on our form. But, at the time those pictures were painted, that was how everyone leaped over ditches, logs and other objects they faced their horse at. The reason for this was, jumping was a rather new way of getting around obstacles. Prior to the Enclosures Act in Britain that caused private lands to be fenced, it was easy to get around. Yes, people did jump their horses over obstacles prior to that, in ‘lepping contests’. These were probably the equivalent of back street drag races between muscle car owners of today where the winners only earned bragging rights. But leaping may not have been a requirement when travelling across the country.
But that ‘back seat’ position wasn’t comfortable or very secure. And, judging from the look of the horses in many paintings, it wasn’t very comfortable for the horse either. We can only imagine the bravery of women who chose to jump, as a side saddle with a long stirrup and no ‘leaping horn’ to hook your leg under. It would have been very insecure no matter how skilled your riding was. Riders had been using stirrups for a long time, but they really only came into play with mounted soldiers, allowing them to balance as they wielded a weapon. But, the effective use of stirrups wasn’t really appreciated just for riding. Most people rode with a very long, straight leg with their foot barely in the stirrup, or sat chair seat with loosely bent knees.
It was also believed that sitting backward or chair seat would save the horse’s forelegs. Horses were ridden in a very curled frame, and held back over jumps with the rider bracing against the reins and the stirrups. Ideally, the horse was to land on all four legs. So for quite a long time, everyone galloped around the countryside, clearing all those new fences, probably saying ‘ouch’ on every landing. Chiropractors would have been in high demand in those days.
Then along came someone with a radical idea. His name was Federico Caprilli. Apparently he wasn’t a very good rider, as he graduated from military college with a ‘poor’ on his report card. It was also around the time artillery was making things more deadly for mounted soldiers. Caprilli's military career began a couple of decades after the disastrous “Charge of the Light Brigade” and the idea was slowly sinking in that horses were no match for automatic artillery, and that a new use had to be found for cavalry. And, I say slowly, because cavalry was still used in WWI with horrific outcomes.
Instead of actual combat, horses and riders were to be used in scouting, message carrying and other tasks that would keep them out of the direct line of fire. And to do this, they had to travel over rough ground and leap obstacles. Caprilli discovered, by watching horses being schooled and by taking advantage of the new technology of motion picture films, that horses that were allowed to move freely, without their mouths being yanked on, and held tightly back, jumped more safely and comfortably. In fact they were more likely to jump at all, because apparently Caprilli also watched a lot of refusals.
Unfortunately, no one else agreed with him and his crazy idea about sitting forward and giving the horse its head, because he was punished by sending him to the south of Italy (not sure why this was punishment, sounds like a nice place), until another riding instructor tried Caprilli's method of jumping. And it worked. Within a short time Caprilli was made chief riding instructor of the school he was kicked out of and to this day, his method is the one we use to ride our horses over jumps comfortably and with greater safety. |
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Winniefield Park
I will have to look that one up!
I will have to look that one up!
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Aug 27, 2015
• 5,374 views
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