Caprilli, the captain who changed horseriding

Captain, my captain. Federico Caprilli was the man who changed the face of modern horseriding. He was born in 1868 and was a keen young cadet in the Italian Cavalry. During this time, the first machine guns where introduced and utilised in warfare, meaning the prior cavalry charge of armed men on horseback was no longer very successful when a couple of machine guns could now quickly end the mounted attack. This meant a new use for the cavalry had to be found, and the idea was to create specially trained horse and rider combat units who could traverse difficult terrain that the enemy wouldnt consider possible (such as vertical banks and huge ditches), thus giving the cavalry the advantage of a surprise attack, as well as being useful for long distance information carrying. At this time horses were jumped and ridden over obstacles in an extremely restricted, collected manner. It was believed that the flexible shape of the hind quarters and hocks were able to better support the horse on landing after a jump than the straightened front legs, so riders were taught to pull and lean back over the jump to make sure the horse’s hindquarters would land first, or at least land on all fours to minimise impact and protect the fragile forehand. He observed that horses landed on their forehand with no problem and he developed the idea that the rider should become the passenger. He believed that the horses could be taught to be independant and think for themselves, meaning you should be able to just show the horse his task and then allow it to carry it out without any interference. It was not until several years later when an Italian Military Chief noticed and tried out Caprilli’s methods himself that the new ideas were at last recognised and put into proper use. Caprilli was returned to the cavalry schools in Northern Italy and, after a year of his training, the progress and results where deemed to be simply incredible! In fact, the horses where so capable and willing, riders where able to complete the whole cavalry training course without reins. Following this breakthrough, Caprilli was at last made Chief Riding Instructor of the Italian Cavalry. Soldiers from around the world were sent to his schools to learn his training system, based on teaching the horses independance, and the riders non-interference over jumps and natural obstacles by using the forward seat he had developed. This riding style quickly spread around the world, and could be seen in the Olympics from the early 1900’s – Caprilli himself actually demonstrated his new jumping technique at the 1906 Olympic Games with huge success. People began to have fun on their horses and showjumping started to become a popular sport as well as a military exercise.