[Peter Bosman]

Since the level of scolarship is sometimes awesome here I am hoping you can help me.

I am looking for sources to acquire or read books on islamic horsemanship. I am nót looking for a historic volume abóut their cavalry but per example a manual fór that cavalry or the islamic equivalent of Dom Duartes Bem Cabalgar. The MUST have been a lot written and as we even have the work of Kikkuli (14th c. BC) at our disposal, why not the islamic works?

Thank you,

Peter

[John Cooksey]

Do a google search for the term "furusiyya".
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there are a lot of these manuals extant.
The google search should lead to some university publication bibliographies and and some links to swordforum.com discussions that mention a few known titles.

[Brian Ellis Cassity]

Hopefully this will be helpful in an indirect way, but check out these two books on horses and warfare by Ann Hyland:

The Medieval Warhorse from Byzantium to the Crusades

and

The Warhorse, 1250-1600

The author makes comparisons from time to time between European horsemanship and Middle Eastern/Near Eastern horsemanship, so these might be worth looking at to mine the bibliographies.

Brian

[Felix Wang]

Yes, they have been discussed on Swordforum, but only a couple have actually been translated. I do not know why they have been so neglected.

[Dariusz Dario T. W]

Hello
this is my first post in this circle of aficionados aka myArmoury. I ride from time to time and mostly research on pre-napoleonic horsemanship, and sculpt, paint and draw horses (illustrated Radek Sikora book Lubieszow 1577)

I am actually in possession of a translation of a 14th century Mameluk manual Manyatul'ghuzat given to me by a Polish scholar who researches the Parthian/Sassanian cavalry and their armour and weapons, and tactics.
Send me a private message and I could help out via scan etc.
I, myself, am also looking for more information on the Islamic horsemanship as a gateway to more ancient traditions - especially those manuals pertaining to Persian pre-islamic horsemanship which according to Encyclopedia Iranica has been written in a book titled Alkoayl and published in Pakistan or India but I found no trace of it. Al those Persian books on horsemanship go under a term - faras-nauma - so good luck

Interestingly enough the Arabs rode mares, Turks geldings and Persians stallions - I think they all required a very different schooling etc.
My ancestors (one was at Vienna '1683 as pancerni officer) - Polish cavalry of the 16-18th centuries - also rode stallions or geldings to war, never mares - there is a 1930s research paper written by a cavalry officer studying the horse training of the winged hussars - there are also 3 ( three) 16-17th century Polish manuals dealing with war charger preparations etc 2 of them accessible via internet libraries in Poland.

Have you read any books by Ed Connell on the old California horsemanship - seems they may be up your alley,so to speak. Although the finished horse seemed to have been possible only with a curb bit. Anyway , some American writers/horse people ( Deb Bennett ) suggest that Nummidians already rode with hakama aka hackamore/
Have you had a chance to read the 16th century Spanish texts on horsemanship eg Aguilar.

Dario

ps
I think Ms Hyland's book is a good introduction but leaves one unsatisfied .
In happier days one could have gone to Afganistan to train and learn, well, that is not an option unless with the NATO forces

[Peter Bosman]

Buenas, Thank you all, that is a leap ahead.

The numidian cavalry indeed has been a source of inspiration



Peter

[Dan Howard]

Ann Hyland knows more about modern breeds than just about anyone else alive. She also knows a fair amount about Middle Eastern horses. She knows nothing about medieval horses and even less about medieval warfare. She is also very heavily biased to the point that every sentence she writes has the subtext "aren't oriental horses wonderful compared to those nassty European ones."

A far better book about medieval horses would be Andrew Ayton's "Knights and Warhorses: Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III"

[Gordon Frye]

[Peter Bosman]

First of all I am very happy with the manual Dario copied to me. The contents is in almost all technical aspects parallel to Duartes writing which is from the same period roughly.
The two hugely differing areas are the ethics and battle-priorities.

@hyland
I am affraid my opinion has no positive note at all. In my eyes it is unforgiveble that a scientifically schooled person can allow herself to be so utterly and completely biassed as to loose all obejectivity and use only partial 'evidence'. Her personal 'arabian'-fixation is making her writing worse than useless as the reader cannot destiguish her coloured version of halftruths from straight fiction.
Even on modern breeds she is far removed from what mytochidrial DNS reseach has told us.
Anyway, she is a modern western source and thus not what I am looking for.

Peter

[Peter Bosman]

[Gordon Frye]

Peter;

Wonderful information on the Numidians, and thank you for it. This is a subject of which I am woefully ignorant, and I appreciate the education!

Cheers!

Gordon

[Peter Bosman]

Buenas Gordon. The source Dario sent is VERY informative.
The writer distinguishes p.e. four ways to manage a lance and the classical jousting position is only one.

A tantalising detail is mentioned when he describes the procedure of sheathing the sword when riding. He mentions that the scabbard mouth is a-symetrical so that the rider can tab the point to one side of the opening and push downwards without needing to look and fiddle.

The manual is also surprisingly góód on the 'dressage' side as the author clearly realises the importance of both a well excersized but straight horse and a coöperative riding approach.

The hów to do things is clearly described. It is so clear that I can make coherent scetches following the wording and the text has kept me awake into the small hours of three night running now. A true jem this is!

Peter

[Peter Bosman]

Oh, btw, this manual is offering a clear insight in the battle ethics too. It is VERY clear that there is nos uch thing as 'cheating' in war and valour only good if not stupid. Meaning that running from adverse conditions to fight on another more favourable moment is to be applauded.
Highly enjoyable reading

Peter

[Peter Bosman]

It does not stop to fascinate me how utterly different our (retrospective) western view on the crusades to the near-east is fron the near-easter one at that time.

Saladin was a warrior from a Kurdish Mamluk clan that thoroughly routed the crusaders. Even though that took serious fighting in theír perception their main enemy was and had been for centuries the hun-mongol.
Véry good reading to put our western perception of the world in perspective. I lóve that

Peter

[Peter Bosman]

Found the book.

'The Crusades through Arab Eyes' - Amin Maalouf.

Even more interesting now than in 1983 when it was first published. Especially becáuse it was written in 1983 thus before the present confusion.

Peter