Federico Grisone’s Epoch-Making Horsemanship Manual Together with Two Early German Works on Hippology and Equine Medicine

Fayser, Johann; Grisone, Federico; Hörwart von Hohenburg, Hans Friedrich. Sammelband containing three early works on horsemanship, hippology, and equine medicine. Frankfurt am Main and Tegernsee, 1576–1581.

An extraordinary Renaissance compendium of horsemanship and equine knowledge bringing together three foundational German works on riding, dressage, bits, stable management, and horse medicine, all preserved in a contemporary pigskin binding stamped:

“Rosz-Buch”

The volume centers upon Johann Fayser’s expanded German adaptation of Federico Grisone’s epoch-making Ordini di cavalcare, the book that transformed European riding culture in the sixteenth century and established the foundations of the modern riding school.

Edition & Bibliographic Information

Composite volume containing three separately printed works issued between 1576 and 1581. Illustrated throughout with numerous full-page and text woodcuts depicting riding exercises, cavalry manoeuvres, horse gaits, jumping techniques, bridles, bits, horseshoes, stable equipment, and veterinary diagrams, including a large folding anatomical plate of equine diseases.

Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin binding over wooden boards with raised bands and the supralibros “Rosz-Buch” on upper cover. Decorated with roll tools and ornamental stamps.

The three works were assembled shortly after publication into the present binding, creating a remarkably coherent Renaissance manual devoted entirely to horsemanship, riding technique, cavalry practice, and veterinary medicine.

Federico Grisone and the Reinvention of Horsemanship

With the gradual decline of medieval tournaments and chivalric warfare, European riding culture underwent a profound transformation during the sixteenth century. Italy became the leading center of equestrian innovation, fuelled partly by the importation of refined Arabian horse breeds through Mediterranean trade networks.

The central figure in this revolution was the Neapolitan riding master Federico Grisone, founder of what is often regarded as the first public riding academy in Europe. His Ordini di cavalcare, first published in 1550, fundamentally altered the theory and practice of riding and quickly spread across Europe through numerous translations and adaptations.

Johann Fayser, stablemaster to the Bishop of Würzburg, produced the present German adaptation as a greatly expanded and partially independent version with entirely different illustrations. The work treats horse conformation, riding techniques, volte exercises, dressage manoeuvres, bridles and bits, equine vices, and advanced riding instruction.

The Birth of the “High School” of Riding

The riding culture reflected in the book differs radically from medieval tournament riding.

Elegant controlled formations of the haute école replaced the brute force of jousting cavalry. Pirouettes, levades, and pesades served not merely aesthetic purposes but practical military functions within Renaissance cavalry tactics. By raising the horse upon its hindquarters, the rider could partially shield himself from enemy attack behind the body of the horse itself.

The engravings vividly preserve this transitional moment between knightly culture and modern equestrian science. Horses leap, turn, rear, pivot, and advance through carefully diagrammed riding exercises, while elaborate bridles and bits reveal the extraordinary technical sophistication of Renaissance horsemanship.

Discipline, Violence, and Renaissance Dressage

Grisone’s methods became controversial already in his own time.

Some readers admired the systematic intelligence of his approach; others condemned the brutality of certain punishments prescribed for resistant horses. Yet Grisone simultaneously insisted that training should begin gently, through patience and gradual progression. His severe corrective methods emerged only when the horse displayed what he regarded as deliberate resistance or “bad will.”

The complexity of this philosophy reveals the Renaissance tendency to attribute to horses an almost human intelligence and temperament requiring psychological as much as physical mastery.

Hippiatria and Equine Medicine

The accompanying Hippiatria of 1576 addresses veterinary medicine directly. Fayser explained in his preface that he had omitted the medical section from Grisone’s riding treatise because the corresponding section in the Italian original seemed disordered and unsatisfactory to him. Instead, he issued an entirely separate work devoted to horse medicine and care.

Particularly remarkable is the large folding anatomical plate depicting a horse surrounded by approximately eighty identified diseases and ailments positioned directly upon the body. The surrounding title border illustrates veterinary treatments and stable practices in seven separate scenes.

Though heavily dependent upon medieval veterinary tradition, the work reveals the growing Renaissance ambition to organize equine medicine systematically and visually.

Hans Friedrich Hörwart and the German Riding Tradition

The third work in the volume, Hans Friedrich Hörwart von Hohenburg’s treatise on horsemanship, continues directly within the intellectual tradition established by Grisone. Hörwart, stablemaster to Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria, synthesized riding techniques and stable practices gathered during extensive travels through Italy, France, and Germany.

His work discusses horse breeding, stable management, riding instruction, bridles, bits, horseshoes, and farriery, accompanied by numerous woodcuts depicting riding techniques and equestrian equipment. Printed at the Tegernsee monastery press established in 1573, the work reflects the rapid dissemination of Italian riding culture into the German-speaking world.

A Working Renaissance Horseman’s Manual

The present Sammelband possesses an unusual historical coherence.

Rather than preserving the books as separate luxury objects, an early owner assembled them into a single practical reference volume devoted entirely to horsemanship and equine knowledge. Several prefatory leaves were removed, likely because the owner valued practical utility above bibliographical completeness.

The result is not simply a collection of riding books but a working Renaissance horseman’s library preserved in its original period binding.

Provenance

Contemporary ownership inscription on front pastedown. Rear pastedown inscribed in eighteenth-century hands:

“Johann Paulus Holtzer”

and beneath:

“Meines Alters 14 Jahr 1784.”

Hartung & Hartung sale 100, Munich, 15 May 2001, lot 116.

Literature

No title in Adams; Jähns I, 675ff.
Grisone: Andresen I, p. 420; Becker, p. 127 (later edition); BM STC German 372 (1573 edition); Cockle 707; Graesse III, 160; Hiler 397; Lipperheide Tc3; Mennessier de la Lance I, 581; Nissen, ZBI 1723; VD16 G 3373.
Fayser: Andresen I, p. 420, no. 247; BM STC German 299; Cockle 707; VD16 F 670; Nagler, Monogrammisten III, 1768, no. 19; Wellcome I, 2183.
Hörwart: Not in BM STC German; Brunet III, 344; Ebert 9886; Graesse III, 262; VD16 H 4093.

For a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, number 61:
Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume II