MUSIC: Flight Of The Valkyries
In this programme, I'm going to learn how to ride.
In fact, better than that,
we are going to learn how to dance together.
Aren't we?
'Now, before you think I've gone completely mad,
'let me tell you that dancing on horseback - horse ballet or
'manege, as it was called - was once the noblest of pursuits.'
In the 17th century, it was practised by noblemen,
courtiers and kings to show off their status and majesty.
So, I'm going to be taught this forgotten art
by its modern masters...
Travel abroad to watch spectacular shows...
Explore its military origins...
And discover its surprising legacy.
Because I believe that an equestrian extravaganza like this one
can help explain why, throughout history, kings and queens
and horses have gone together.
"My kingdom for a horse," as Richard III said.
Even today Her Majesty the Queen is in the saddle in her 80s.
And princes play polo and princesses perform the art of dressage
at Olympic levels.
It seems that the kingdom and the horse will never be parted.
LIVELY ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
Now, before I jump into the saddle, I'm taking a trip to
Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, where I had my very first
job as a young curator, because this was the place where
I originally became fascinated by the royal art
of making horses dance.
I got so interested in the subject, I spent four years
writing a PhD thesis about it.
Bolsover, this picturesque little fairytale castle,
was built in the first half of the 17th century, every bit of it
reflecting the ambitions and passions of its owner,
William Cavendish.
Cavendish had a pretty successful career as a social climber.
He started out as a simple sir, and then he went right up through
the ranks of the aristocracy and he ended up as a duke.
But in many ways, he was a regrettable person,
he was a womaniser, he was a spendthrift,
and he was something of a snob.
But I've always had a certain weakness for him,
and that's because of his charm and his creativity.
He was interested in poetry and music and architecture.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say I'm rather fond of him.
Bolsover was William Cavendish's pride and joy.
Even his chosen title as Duke of Newcastle
was a play on his delight in this, his new castle.
And it was here that he courted and won favour with the King, Charles I,
creating this spectacular range of buildings for a single royal visit.
And he spent a lot of time here practising a rather unusual
horsey hobby.
Of all the buildings at Bolsover Castle, I think that this
is the most intriguing.
This is the Riding House, which Cavendish built for his very
weird hobby - teaching horses how to dance.
This building isn't just a stable, it's a theatre.
This is where William Cavendish's horses were taught to perform
these amazing leaps and jumps, almost like doing ballet for horses.
And that's why the floor is soft, for the horse's feet, the windows
are elevated, so the horse can't look outside and get distracted.
And this is a spectator sport, the gallery up there was
for Cavendish's aristocratic chums to come
and see the horses performing.
He took this so seriously that he wrote a whole book
about how to do it.
Here he is in a picture at Bolsover Castle performing the capriole.
That's pretty impressive, isn't it?
And had we been here of a morning, we would have seen Cavendish
training all of his horses for hours and hours against the walls,
around these tall poles, showing off their moves.
While this impressive building is no longer filled
with horses performing their balletic moves on a daily basis,
English Heritage do still put on equestrian spectacles,
like those which displayed Cavendish's horsemanship skills.
And over the next couple of months, it's my aim to saddle up,
learn to ride and take part in a performance.
Boots on.
Here we go!
GRUNTING
Look at this.
Isn't this lovely? Velvet.
I think it goes a bit forwards, like that.
Steady as you go.
First day at school.
Ooh!
SHE LAUGHS
Was that supposed to happen? I think that it was - you're smiling!
SHE LAUGHS
Oh! That was incredible!
- You must be Ben. - Hi. - You've been slightly upstaged by your horse.
THEY LAUGH
- Well, that's the idea. - That was fantastic.
What's that called, when he falls over like that?
This is... Well, exactly, it's a falling horse.
- Is this what you're going to teach me, to fall off? - Sadly not.
This is rehearsing horses for film and TV,
but what we're going to teach you is a bit more classical.
Oh, OK. Well, I'd be very glad not to fall over.
- But just as fun. He's happy enough. - Is he happy down there?
That's a happy noise he's making.
- Yeah, what he wants to do is have a good roll. - Oh!
Good boy. As you see.
SHE LAUGHS
Is that what a happy horse does?
- This is what a happy horse looks like. - OK.
Ooh!
HORSE SNORTS
- So, this is Mallick. - Mallick.
He's a four-year-old Andalusian stallion, and he is actually the son
- of the horse you're going to ride. - What colour's my horse going to be?
- Is he going to be black, too? - He's a beautiful white stallion.
You can see the Spanish horses are all born dark colours.
Mallick's a baby, and so he is black, but you can see he's going white.
- Oh, is he going to go white? - Around his eyes. - Like his dad.
And slowly he'll go as white as his dad.
'In case you hadn't already guessed,
'I have rather limited experience on a horse.'
- Is this him? - Yeah. This is Almonso.
- Hello, Almonso. - This is your horse.
'In fact, I've only ever been in the saddle once before,
'so it's going to be a bit of a challenge,
'because the classical horse ballet that Ben's going to teach me -
'or menage as it was known in the 17th century - was incredibly
'skilled, relying on horses performing a series
'of precisely controlled and disciplined moves
'in complete harmony with their riders, like Cavendish,
'who trained every morning for a lifetime to perfect the art.'
OK. So, now you're putting your right hand to the back of the saddle.
- Yeah. - And that's it there. Bend this leg.
- Up, like here, and put your knee in my hand. - Can I?
Put your knee in my hand. See, I'm going to hold you here,
hold you there, and we're going to go one, two,
- three, and I'm going to lift you as you jump... - No way!
One, two, three..
SHE SQUEALS
- Oh, OK. It worked! - Perfect.
- Wonderful. - Look how high I am!
So, what we're going to do now is, you need your pedal.
- Ooh, ooh. Rough. - How is it up there? Is the air colder?
It's rather thrilling.
SHE CHUCKLES
Brilliant. So, let's push your balls of your toes in to there
- and you're pushing the heel down. - Am I supposed to be gripping
- with my knees? - No. - No. - Relax. So, that's a command, you see.
- Is that why he's doing that? - Yeah.
- I didn't mean it, Almonso, sorry. Stop, stop. - Good boy.
- So, next were sorting your reins out. - In there.
- Elbows in. - Elbows in.
BEN LAUGHS
- There we go. - I like the way you're treating me like a horse.
You just gave a little spank to my elbow, didn't you?
- You saw it sticking out. - Well, you keep popping your elbows out.
LUCY LAUGHS
They have to stay in. Right, are you ready?
- What, to walk? - Yeah. - Yeah!
You say to him, "walk on" and push and flex with the heel.
- Walk on, please. - That's it. So, squeeze me, squeeze.
Let's take a left.
- Now, left hand down. - Left, please, Almonso.
- Turning with your right - right hand. - Right. Whoa, that was a good turn.
OK, so push him on. Left hand down, start to turn him.
- Right, please. - Remember to turn with your shoulders.
Push forward. So, push, push, push.
Little squeeze on the heel, give him a kick. Turn your right hand down.
- You're not on a motorbike, you're not dropping down in. - Wow, we are as one.
- As one, yeah. So, when you're ready. - Off you go.
Forward. Look with your shoulders. That's it.
- Right hand down. - Oh, sorry.
Don't do anything that I don't tell you to.
I'm sorry, I got carried away.
'So bossy!
'I can see it's going to take some time just to learn how to
'stay on a horse, let alone get it to dance which, of course,
'is why menage was once considered such an aristocratic pursuit.'
It not only needed leisure time to practise, it also required money.
Cavendish had to construct a wonderful riding house
and purchase the specialised athletic horses with the strength to
perform these amazing moves.
His favourite grey steed, Le Superb, was so called
because of his superbly enormous price, and because he was
a Spanish stallion he also had to be shipped from the Continent.
And just like elite sports today,
menage came with its own expensive kit, some of which survives
at the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire.
So, Ben, this is said to be the actual menage saddle
of William Cavendish. That's amazing, isn't it?
- His bottom sat just here. - Exactly.
You can see where the suede that covers the saddle,
when worn away or when ridden in,
it happens in modern saddles as well, you see, it turns to leather.
- Turns a bit shiny. - Turns shiny.
And what we can see from this is how, you see,
there's much more around the back of the saddle.
- Is that because he was rearing up and doing manege? - Exactly.
All these manege moves are pushing you further back,
and, as well, because we have this very forward leg sticking out
in front of the rider position.
So, this saddle is small, so you can sit back in it,
- but you'll still be well forward on the horse. - Exactly.
Oh, OK. It's almost like the seat in a racing car, then, that's forcing
the driver to sit down and back and low and to be
- in a sort of fast position. - Absolutely.
That's exactly how this saddle is created.
It looks to me like that's freakishly small,
like you'd never get your leg through there. Is that right?
Yeah, I think that Cavendish designed this saddle for that very purpose.
So, it's so that that thin space is clamping the leg,
it's holding the thigh to keep you positioned sitting up and sitting
back with the leg forward, which was very much the style of the day.
What Cavendish has done here, he's created the saddle that
- doesn't allow you to ride in a bad position. - It's a prison saddle.
HE LAUGHS
It's a corrective. It's a saddle that will help you teach yourself
and also give the horse the best possible ride.
I think I need one of these.
I'm not saying anything.
Owning a stable full of dancing horses,
with their customised saddles and gear,
reveals how passionate Cavendish was about this art.
But his obsession wasn't just a personal whim,
menage was an activity that was absolutely expected
of a 17th century nobleman, and this began at the very top.
Charles I was equally dedicated to the art.
He even placed his son, the future Charles II,
in Cavendish's tutelage so that he could learn from an expert.
'To find out why they all invested so much in this
'peculiar activity, I'm meeting Cavendish expert Elspeth Graham.'
Elspeth, this whole business of menage is bonkers, isn't it?
I mean, I don't believe he had a horse with wings, OK,
he's making that up, but this is a real movement, he could do this.
Not only are these real movements from the menage,
which are very precisely shown, he's in the position giving
what are called "the aids" to make the horse do that which is a real
menage movement called the capriole, cos it looks like a goat jumping.
- And they could really do this as well? - And they could really do that.
Though, normally, you would have a rider or someone on the ground.
- Controlling them. - Controlling them. Yes.
Oh, wow, so it does have some roots in reality, this image?
The thing about these is, they're absolutely real
and they're very precise.
The position that he's sitting in - or almost standing, actually -
is exactly the position he would have used to create that movement.
Why did Cavendish practise this art?
He was passionate about horses,
but it's also a very important skill for anybody at his level in society.
- It's the thing that really made you a leader. - A leader?
- It's as important as that in society? - Absolutely.
In fact, our modern word, "management", comes from the skills.
- Of the menage? - From the menage.
- Oh, my goodness! So it is. - It's from the Italian, manegiare.
How can it be that prancing about on a horse wearing a silly hat
represents management skills? What's the connection?
Well, first of all, it is very skilled.
I mean, to do something like this takes years
and years of training and studying and practice.
You also have to be in total harmony with the horse,
just as a leader has to be completely focused on what they're doing
and in harmony with the people he's leading.
'I think I can see why the ability to perform menage moves with skill
'and ease was an excellent way for a 17th century courtier to display
'his self-control and confidence - two qualities that I hope Ben
'will be able to teach me as my own lessons
'progress towards my performance.'
Whee!
Up like a pro. Almost.
What are we going to do today, Ben?
So, today, we're moving on to the sort of the first real meaty
bits of classical, more Cavendish's menage, more extravagant movements.
- Well, if you think I can do it. - I think you definitely can.
I think I'll be all right, but it's a bit daunting.
So, the first of them is the Spanish walk.
What you're going to do is, you're going to rock gently
from side to side, and contrary to popular belief, most people,
when you watch, they think it's as the foot hits, the horse strikes out.
Actually, for example, as the right leg comes in
and the left leg comes out, the horse's left leg will come out,
cos what you're doing is pushing the pressure to push him up and out.
Do you understand?
So, as this leg pushes in and this leg lifts out, this leg...
HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE
- Will jump up. - Aye.
HE KISSES HIS TEETH
Will come out.
And it's also the first in the building blocks of our other,
more extravagant, more balletic moves as well.
So, we're going to see a bit of ballet from you, Almonso, today.
Yeah, absolutely. He's a dancing, dancing pony. Walk on.
- Just kick him. - Walk on.
That's it. I'm going to Spanish walk back with you this way,
- so, left hand down. - Left hand, please.
Easy with your hands. Keep them in. Walk on.
LUCY GASPS
Look at me, I'm Spanish walking!
- Good. Now, right hand down. - Oh!
Push him forward. Concentrate on your riding,
don't get distracted by what you're doing.
- That's it. - Showing off there. - Now push him on.
- Now, I want you to ride back to the top and we'll start again. - Right.
So, kick him on.
Remember, you're going to rock gently.
Your rocking is going to ask him to elevate and collect out. So..
- Good. And turn right. - Oh, fantastic!
See, I felt then like he was mirroring me with my big legs.
Hoo! Giddy up! Giddy up. Come on.
- Good, turn him round. - Go, go.
'Even if you're deeply impressed with my new riding skills,
'you might still be asking yourself whether all this was worth
'the effort to show off your power and status.
'After all, building the odd castle or two
'ought to have done the trick.
'But the answer lies way back earlier than Cavendish's time.'
I've returned to Britain's most famous Norman castle,
the Tower of London, where I work as chief curator.
It's no coincidence that the Tower's mastermind - William I -
conquered the country with 1,000 cavalrymen.
His opponent, Harold, had fought on foot.
And as for Richard III, we all know what happened
to his kingdom when he lost his horse.
In fact, throughout the medieval period, good horsemanship
was so crucial to success on the battlefield that it became equally
important in the pomp and ceremony of majesty in times of peace.
Now, 100 years earlier,
Henry VIII was also using horses and horsemanship
as a really important part of his kingship.
This really fabulous suit of armour wasn't made for the battlefield,
it was made for sport, for jousting.
You can tell it comes from early on in Henry's reign
because he's still married to wife number one,
Katherine of Aragon, hence the Hs and Ks that decorate it.
I think the really special thing about it is the way that the
man's armour and the horse's armour, they're sort of fused together,
that's what gives this Robocop armoured car type impression.
And I also really like the detail of that decoration.
Had there been a dull moment in the tournament,
Henry could have read his armour like a comic book.
At the front here I can see St George killing his dragon
very decisively, he's completely skewered it with his spear.
But that's all in the detail.
The overall impression then as now has to be,
"Here comes the King."
Jousting was an elite sport
born out of battlefield tactics in the age when medieval knights
in shining armour charged in to war.
But tournaments weren't just for displaying testosterone,
they were central to the medieval idea of chivalry,
the word itself coming from the French for horse - cheval.
This is a jousting lance,
as would have been used by Henry VIII and his courtiers.
This particular one probably belonged to Henry's brother-in-law,
the very good jouster Charles Brandon.
You're wondering how on earth did he pick that up,
it looks enormously heavy?
The answer is it's actually hollow, this one was probably ceremonial.
Your ability at jousting really determined your place
in the pecking order at Henry VIII's court.
It's very interesting to look at the scorecards from jousts.
Charles Brandon, for example,
beat absolutely everybody except for the King.
Very diplomatic of him.
You can also see the role of jousting in international diplomacy
in this painting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
This was a huge party held in a field outside Calais in 1520.
It was called Cloth of Gold because
that was the material used for these very luxurious tents.
The main people there were Henry VIII of England
and Francis I of France.
And what was the highlight of the whole thing? It was the jousting.
Look here, they've constructed a whole temporary jousting arena
with places for the spectators, and they took so much trouble building
this from scratch because of the importance of jousting to both men.
It showed off their skills as horsemen
and it implied their strength as leaders.
So, to find out what was involved in wearing Henry VIII's armour,
I'm heading to the Royal Armoury's tilt yard
or jousting arena in Leeds.
OK. Let's assemble my right leg.
Slide your toe in.
Bring the greave round.
- Please go on. You can do it. - Done. We'll leave that for now
and we'll come round and start doing some of these straps.
- My inner thigh strap. - Your inner thigh strap, yeah.
We're getting to know each other quite well here, aren't we?
I'm afraid it all does get very personal. And I shall behave.
Point it off, tie it nice and tight.
And the next thing, though, it would be more appropriate for you,
is a skirt that's going to go on next.
- A skirt? - Yeah. But this time...
- Oh, I guess you're wearing a sort of mini skirt. - Yeah.
Right, so if you can daintily put one leg in. You can hold me as support.
And then adjust your weight, try and get the other leg in.
Now, here's the magic bit. Go on, you can do it. Go on.
One, two, three, done. OK. And then together. There we are. Slide it up.
And if you don't mind me I shall come and adjust you round the back.
Shove me in.
The most important thing about it is that,
yes, it might be comfortable, but it's got to protect you.
And obviously having a metal skirt means slashing
and cutting is not going to slice through that metal.
So, reasonably good protection.
- It's nice and flexible. - Good. - Yeah. OK.
So, we've now got a skirt on,
so you've got your manoeuvrability. You look...
I love the way my feet are jointed
and they bend in an almost creepy manner.
- Well, they're supposed to be... - I look like a robot.
They're supposed to be something good.
If you just count the number of separate plates on there.
There's over 20 separate plates all riveting and sliding over each other
to enable you to do everything that you need to do while in the armour.
- So, let's have my Tudor torso, please... - Perfect. - ..squire. - Behave.
Right, so we'll go with the breast and back.
Are you tying it on again with string?
Yeah, well, a combination of buckles and straps.
- Ooh, I like this. - Do you? Excellent.
It's going to make it slightly easier to put it on you, then.
Is it nonstick?
I mean, one of the things about the armour, obviously,
is that it's very bright. It's shiny.
White armour sometimes it's known, and the reason for that is
the whiter you make it, the smoother you make it,
obviously, as weapons come along,
they deflect or have a greater tendency to reflect
rather than sort of bite.
So, the next thing, you start putting the arms on.
So, you're going to tie it on up there, are you?
I am. Through there, through there, through there.
And, again, obviously,
these wax points come in handy, keeps it in place.
The last thing you want, certainly with armour,
is it to start moving on its own. If this was to slip an inch...
It could do you a nasty injury, couldn't it?
It would do you a nasty injury, but also the armour locks up,
and if it locks up and you're posing at 55mph in a joust
and you can't get your lance down in time,
you get the full force of His Majesty's lance in your face.
So, now you're four-fifths there and kind of ready to go.
- My hat. - Hat? - Sorry.
Ladies wear hats, men wear caps, berets or helmets.
- We'll put it on. Are we ready? - Yeah.
Slowly lower it down just above your brow. Strap it in.
- And then the visor would come down. - Oh, yes.
I would lock it in to place. And you'd be ready.
Oh, yes, I am Robocop.
Now a medieval knight's armour
obviously fitted rather better than mine.
But even so, I find it pretty impressive that anyone could
function at all clad in 90lbs of metal, let alone get on a horse.
And with only a couple of lessons under my belt
I'm rather relieved to leave the tournament unscathed.
You can see why Henry VIII and his chums enjoyed this extreme sport
to show off their manliness.
But a century later,
jousting had almost completely died out and the courtiers
and the soldiers of the 17th century
had lost their taste for heavy metal.
I'm visiting the Royal Armoury's store room to find out why.
Here we've got the last gasp of the medieval knight.
This is the heavy cavalryman.
But it's not as heavy as what I was wearing
out in the tournament yard, is it?
I mean, there's less of it, he hasn't got the bottom part.
No, you're right. They're all beginning to shed it.
They're no longer wearing leg armour, they're just wearing boots.
Yes, yes.
They may well have gauntlets, but they've still got full protection,
but not as complete as what you were wearing.
And is that because people now have guns
and this won't save you from a gun?
They were proofed against guns.
Oh, wow! So, this is actually bulletproof?
- It's bulletproof. - Oh, blimey, goodness.
And why were they getting rid of armour then?
The infantry is no longer drawn up in lines, they're in blocks,
and they're moving, so the cavalry is weaving its way round it.
So, we need this weaving agile movement on a horse,
and you need to have that expertise and skill.
So, an ability to control and move a horse and turn it fast
is something completely new in battlefield tactics.
They wouldn't have that at all in the Middle Ages, you just went forwards.
So, it's like somebody's turned up the speedometer
and battle is now a lot quicker.
- Now, instead of strength and weight, you just want to be nippy? - Yes.
So, what would your up-to-date, flexible,
nippy light cavalryman be wearing?
Ah, he's wearing something really special.
- Oh, not armour at all. - Leather.
That's not going to stop a bullet either though, is it? No.
It will absorb some of the shock, but, no, that's why...
Ah, you wear a little breastplate on the front.
- Little breastplate. - Oh, OK.
So, he's still lightweight and mobile.
The leather will protect against a sword cut.
This is the bulletproof part of it and, of course, the helmet.
He's wearing a little helmet on the top.
So, our up-to-date 17th century cavalryman
is wearing less gear than a medieval knight
and he has to dash around the battlefield a lot more.
So, it's probably quite a good idea for him
to train his horse with the art of menage, is it?
Yes, absolutely.
Although jousting might appear more manly,
the art of menage was better preparation
for the style of fighting on the 17th century battlefield.
The ability to impress people with your horse dancing
not only made you a far cooler king,
but suggested you could also be a killer king -
as Ben's now going to show me.
Was that the piaffe that you were doing there?
- The passage. - Passage. That's that one.
Piaffe is stationary, passage is moving forward.
I have to say it looks a little bit effeminate.
Is that really a manoeuvre from the battlefield?
The collection and strength gained by the horse by performing this movement
is very vital on the battlefield.
If you watch soldiers work in rank, in line,
the man on the outside may have to do double time,
but the man in the middle is central
and not moving and marches on the spot.
- Oh, that's why it is. - And there is no difference when on horseback. - OK.
So, he might be waiting for the others to catch up sort of thing.
- To catch up. - Right. - And to keep the rhythm and power in the horse.
So, imagine we're a troop of cavalry, we're all straight,
we're doing this on the spot,
what else might we want to do next that you can demonstrate?
So, the next stage from this is to go in to the piaffe.
So, the horse remains stationary while he trots on the spot.
So, he's collecting... He's bringing his powerhouse,
his bum underneath him and coiling that spring,
twisting and getting ready for the big leaps.
When you see them going on the spot like this,
they're actually getting ready to go?
Yes, it's very much like a boxer on his toes before he goes in the ring.
So, it's that bouncing, that sort of building power right behind
so we can go in to those big airs off the ground, like the capriole,
- the courbette and the levade. - Let's see it.
Yeah.
Now what about changing direction then?
That's very important too, isn't it?
Right, so now we have the horse being able to collect and move stationary,
we want him to see some more of these movements where the cavalry excels
and it's fast-moving, fast-changing, open-plan battlefield.
So, what we're going to move on to now is the canter pirouette.
The canter pirouette means moving direction really quickly
- without stopping. - Absolutely.
So, it's being able to turn on the spot
without losing the momentum of the canter.
So, all riding we've got that rhythm, those beats,
and if you were to stop and turn it so much, it will lose that speed.
So, and it also means we can practise deception on the battlefield
if we have the horse turning and moving fast enough.
Oh, we don't know which way you're going to go next.
Absolutely not. At the last minute I can drop my horse on to his hocks,
spin him round in to you and take you out.
I really hope you're not about to do that.
- This is the art of deception with the horses... - Oh, OK.
..and with other people. So, we'll see now. We'll work in to canter.
That was pretty good.
So, that spinning around that you were doing then that's called the...
- The pirouette. - The cantering pirouette. - Pirouette. - Wow.
So, what we have there is the horse is coming in.
You see we can go to wherever we want
and then swift in to that movement literally on the spot.
So, what's next? Is it the big leaps, the airs above the ground?
- Absolutely. The capriole. - The capriole.
The piaffe and the passage, so the horse leaping
clean off the ground and striking out with the hind legs.
- We're going to change horses... - Yeah.
..and we're going to bring out a big black battle stallion for that.
- A good kicker. - A good kicker, yeah.
- The best kicker in the stable. - Yeah.
- Here he comes. - Easy.
Here's the big black beast.
Hello, there.
He's a good boy. He's only a baby,
so he's learning the airs above the ground.
Let's see your airs above the ground then, please.
Wow!
If you were standing behind that,
- you would be toast by this point, wouldn't you? - So, yeah,
the cavalryman's worst fear is that he can't move.
- Someone's come up behind him. - Well, surrounded.
Imagine, you charge in, you're laying about you with your sword
and then suddenly you're surrounded with men, you can't get out.
You and your horse are now not the terrifying thing,
you're just a very big meat target.
And so here, that's where we see here comes collect, collect,
- and then we're up.. - Kicking. - ..and out.
And as soon as you land you would ride hell for leather.
A kick in the face from you and you would be dead.
And they'd have studs in the horses' hooves as well, like footballers.
So, it's a nasty way to go.
Oh!
So, now it's time to test my own killer instincts.
Ben, do you realise my life is in your hands?
Well, it's in his hands,
and you can trust him a lot more than you can trust me, I promise you.
So, basically what this is going to do,
getting the horse to rear while you're on,
it's going to do is get you used to that motion
of the horse lifting himself with his hind legs
and bringing those front legs off the floor.
OK, let's have rearing for beginners.
Come back.
Come in.
Goodness.
That really makes you think that he's a force of nature.
That was like being in an earthquake or something.
Good boy.
Fantastic. Well done, Almonso.
I'm slightly shaking now.
Like we said before,
it's not something you're going to forget for a long time.
I've lost my rearing virginity
and that's a wonderful climax to the day, really.
Thank you, Almonso.
Now that I'm armed with some actual riding experience,
I'm not only beginning to feel more confident in the saddle,
but much more in tune with the 17th century monarchs I've
encountered so often over my years as a curator.
I must have seen this picture 1,000 times.
I've always known it shows Charles I on horseback coming in to
a riding house, a bit like Bolsover, for his daily lesson.
And that's his riding teacher,
who was also the riding teacher of William Cavendish.
But now I've been hanging around with the horses, there's a lot more
that I can see here.
This particular horse has got an extra well-developed bottom.
He's been powering up to do his rearing with his back legs.
He's also walking in a way that's a menage move, he's doing something
called the piaffe, that means, sort of, skipping on the spot like this.
And look at Charles' armour.
No need for him to be wearing armour for his riding lesson,
but that's old-fashioned armour, it's a nod to the chivalric past.
So, it's pretty clear why Charles I has chosen to be
shown on his horse of menage.
Here, he's in control of a tremendously powerful beast
and that's a metaphor for the control that he has, as a king.
It's a metaphor for his own majesty.
With his shining armour and powerful steed,
Charles I may have thought he was the ultimate king and ruler.
But, unfortunately, as history revealed,
he was rather catastrophically wrong about that.
In 1642, Charles' people rebelled against him,
and the country descended in to Civil War.
Perhaps the greatest irony, was that Charles' passion for horse ballet
became the most potent symbol of his enemy's discontent.
As every schoolgirl knows, the Civil Wars were
fought between the Parliamentarian Roundheads, so called because
of their pudding basin haircuts, and the Royalist Cavaliers who get their
name from their horses,
just like in French, the chevalier is the horseman.
This is Prince Rupert, one of the top Royalist Cavalier generals
on his horse, and it's actually performing the levade,
something he would've done in the riding house in more peaceful times.
He looks pretty dashing,
but if Prince Rupert had heard you calling him a Cavalier,
he wouldn't have been very happy, because, originally,
it was an insult.
It was dreamt up by their Roundhead enemies with
the implication that this lot, the Royalists,
spent far too much time prancing about on their ponies and not enough
time paying attention to the serious business of running the country.
For Cavendish, the ultimate Cavalier and horseman,
the Civil War was particularly humiliating.
At the hour of greatest need, all that self-control and discipline
he developed through a lifetime of menage, somewhat fell apart.
It all went wrong for William Cavendish at the
Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
When he and his men arrived at the battlefield, they were late
and his co-commander, Prince Rupert, noticed that they were all
still drunk from the night before.
And then, at the very moment that Oliver Cromwell
and the Roundhead Cavalry came charging up the left wing,
well, William Cavendish was having a smoke.
He was in his coach and calling for a pipe of tobacco.
He did get back on his horse and he did fight bravely,
but he'd missed the moment.
The battle was a miserable defeat.
As a consequence of the Civil War, Charles I lost his head,
Cavendish lost face and his estates, and along with
the rest of the Royalist courtiers, he fled in exile to the Continent.
When he and the rest of the court were finally able to return
with the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, the new
regime retained its horsey passions, although the Merry Monarch
took his own equestrian activities in rather a different direction.
Now, this is said to be Charles II's whip.
It is of the right period and it's got on it a coat of arms
belonging to Barbara Villiers, his favourite mistress.
And the story goes that she gave it to him as a present.
Who knows what for? But Charles II did love horses.
He wouldn't have been using his whip, though, for the art of menage,
like his father. He wasn't interested in that.
Charles II would have been using his whip to make horses
go as fast as possible.
Instead of pouring his efforts into menage, which by now had
negative self-indulgent connotations,
Charles II focused his attention on horse racing,
creating a mini racing metropolis here at Newmarket, where
he transported his entire court, mistresses and all, twice a year.
To find out why Charles II favoured the gallop,
I'm visiting the National Horseracing Museum.
So what's this gallery here then?
This is Gallery One. It's quite interesting.
This was the subscription rooms.
It was the only room women were allowed in the whole club.
- Oh, is that right? - Yes. - And what are we looking at?
Are we looking at this one?
We're looking at what's really a scene in 1709, by James Ross,
and shows, very clearly, what a race meeting would have
appeared like at the end of the 17th and early 18th century.
So, you've got to forget the idea of a modern racecourse with
grandstands and the public all in a, sort of, pre-built structure.
How did they see what was going on?
Well, either on horseback themselves
and they would have followed the race on horseback, or in their carriages.
So, in a sense, a race meeting at this time would have
looked like, almost a rabble of people in the countryside,
very different from what you might think of as a modern race meeting.
There does seem to be some drinking and carousing going on in the tents.
Absolutely. And it certainly was a kind of excuse for people
to have a good time, but it wasn't as frivolous as sometimes you can think.
There's a real seriousness of purpose that sits behind it, which is
the selective breeding of cavalry horses.
So these are, in a sense, still a thick-set cavalry horse,
not quite the thoroughbred that you get developing through the 18th
and 19th centuries.
So, are these horses heavier? Fatter? Chunkier?
Much heavier, much chunkier.
Remember, they've originated from having to carry
a knight on horseback in full armour.
In the 1660s, Charles II comes up to Newmarket to re-establish
it as a base for racing.
He founds, in 1665, the Newmarket Town Plate.
That's a race for a prize of a 100 guineas presented by the King,
a huge amount of money at the time, to give a real impetus
to the development of good horse stock.
And just to give you an idea,
this is a four-mile marker here of an original
eight-mile course.
- So that's only half? - That's only half. - ..of one race. - Yes.
- And that's four miles. - Yes. - Is that quite a lot longer than races today?
Much. I mean the longest race we have in this country is
the Grand National, which is just over four miles,
and that's in one go, whereas these were multiple heat races.
So, if that was over four miles, that would have
galloped 16 miles in one day.
These are real stamina animals.
I'd always assumed that when Charles II was at Newmarket,
he was messing around being the Merry Monarch.
But, actually, you're saying that he was trying to revive
- the English Cavalry. - Absolutely.
There's a real seriousness of purpose, because it's very
easy for us to imagine that it was inevitable that Charles II would
keep his throne, but he felt that he had to defend it at any point.
So what he's trying to do, is replace the vast amount of cavalry
stock that's been lost during the English Civil Wars and really create
the kit with which he can go to war and defend his throne if he needs to.
- So, this is a kind of boot camp for the Army, really. - Completely, yes.
No, absolutely.
What fascinates me about Charles' passion for horse racing,
is that his motives had a lot in common with jousting and the menage.
Although each equestrian activity had very different horsemanship
skills attached, all three were about spectacle
and shared the same intent, training in the art of war.
In the case of the Merry Monarch his dedication to racing certainly
paid off. He died in 1685 of natural causes after a long
and relatively peaceful reign.
Under Charles' patronage, horse racing became the sport of Kings
and enjoys equally enthusiastic royal support to this day,
whereas the art of menage was almost completely swept under
the royal red carpet by the end of the 17th century.
For an old-school royalist, like Cavendish,
it was a bitter loss.
As he lamented in his book...
"The science of menage has been so neglected
"and discouraged in England, that young gentlemen are now obliged to
"go to foreign nations for this part of their education."
So, following in their footsteps and in need of a little education
myself, I've come to Vienna, once the capital of the horse-loving
Hapsbergs, one of the greatest royal dynasties of Europe.
Because menage not only flourished here during Cavendish's lifetime,
but still survives here today.
Now, in Britain, so far we've only had two rulers called Charles,
but in Austria, Charles' have been rather more successful.
There were six of them.
In the early 18th century, Emperor Charles VI decided to
rebuild his palace complex in the city of Vienna.
He put in all the usual ballrooms and state apartments
and also an absolutely stupendous riding house.
To this day, Charles' palatial riding house is home to the
Spanish Riding School, one of the few surviving institutions
dedicated to the art of classical menage.
The spectacular riding house itself was completed in 1735,
although the school was founded in the late 16th century,
around the time that Cavendish and our Charles I were born.
I've been invited to witness a morning training
session, where the riders and their Lipizzaner horses practise
every day in preparation for spectacular shows.
Just the sort of thing that Cavendish would've done himself.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
This is like being at the theatre, isn't it?
- We're watching a wonderful show behind us. - It is. It is.
And every day, hundreds of people come in to see the show
- just like the theatre. - Yes.
They come to see the show, but they also come to see
- the training session. - The training. - Yes.
So we have... Every day we have the public here.
Are all the horses here white?
Well, most of the horses are white, but we always have one or two
bay horses, brown horses, and that's considered luck for us, you know.
There's a saying that as long as there is a bay horse
here at the Spanish Riding School, that the Spanish Riding School
is going to continue, and so far, it came true, I guess.
- It's continued for 450 years. - 450 years. Yes, we celebrate this year.
Why is that?
Why has it always survived through wars and changes and politics?
I think a big part of it was that the
people are proud of the Spanish Riding School here in Vienna.
Well, I think you need to look after your dark horse.
- You don't want to lose him. - We will. We will.
No, no, we'll make sure that we always have one.
How do you become a rider here? Is it many years of training?
The first part of the training is about four to five years.
You learn on a trained horse, so the young student learns from the trained
horse and then later on the trained rider teaches the young horse.
That is about the system that we have here.
So, is that eight years in total?
- I would say around ten years is about the... - Ten years? Ten years? - Yes.
Before you're ready to ride here. Fantastic.
And the riders are training the horses for four or five hours
every day themselves?
Yes. Every rider has around seven horses to take care of and to train.
That's a huge amount of discipline, isn't it?
Every day, six days a week and riding
for four hours a day on seven horses.
- I would say even more than that. - More than that?
Yeah. Five, five and a half hours.
Five and a half hours a day, for six days a week, for ten years.
Well, that is just your education, but then this continues
until you retire.
That's an enormous commitment, isn't it?
Yeah, but it's a great... It's the best thing that you can do.
Having watched the training, you won't be surprised to learn
that my request to join in a live show was met
with a categorical, "No!"
And when you see one of the Spanish Riding School's
performances, you'll understand why.
Since these balletic moves haven't changed for 450 years, I think
it shows why Cavendish gained such an extraordinary reputation
when he performed the art in the 17th century.
This theatre of classical horsemanship has spurred me
on for my next lesson towards my own public performance.
Now, it's taken 250 years, but the art of menage is actually having
a bit of a renaissance through its related sport of dressage,
in which the British, after all, are now Olympic champions.
William Cavendish would be pleased to know, that finally,
menage is coming home.
Because menage was kept alive with such vigour on the Continent,
horse ballet, or dressage, became a competitive sport at the turn
of the 20th century and included in the 1912 Olympic Games.
Over the years, we Brits have become rather good at it.
Our former national dressage champion, Joyce Fearn,
has agreed to give me a quick lesson.
After all, it's only a few weeks before I've got to get my act
together for my own public performance in Cavendish's
riding house.
- That's incredible, Joyce. - Ah, thank you.
It looks like he's walking on the tips of his toes, like a little...
- He's a little elegant person. - He's elegant, isn't he?
Now what do you think you can teach... Well, what can Damien
and you teach me to do in the way of dressage moves this morning?
- Well, we'll get you on the pony and see what you can do. - OK.
- I don't know how much riding you've done. - Very little.
Well, I hope I can teach you how to move the horse in the way
that's not necessarily use your leg and go faster,
but more a way of move your leg and feel the response from his body
and how you can move him sideways and backwards
and forwards without him thinking your leg aid means run away.
So we'll see what we can do with that.
This does feel like I'm about to sit an exam,
knowing that you can get points for this, points for that,
points for the other.
It's not about the thrill of the audience,
- it's all about hitting the mark. - Precision, yes.
Fingers, and draw your elbows back slightly.
Lean a little bit forward and put your legs back on him
and see what effect that has.
- Ooh, is he going backwards? - Yeah. - LUCY LAUGHS
- You just told him to. - That's fantastic.
- He's so well trained, I can put him into reverse. - Yes.
So let's go. You give him a little squeeze.
- And, if that doesn't work, he needs a bigger one. - Walk on, please.
Yes, because he's used to being told what to do. There you go.
Go faster, go sideways.
You're on your own now, Lucy.
Push him over. Well done. Lead with your right rein and over you go.
Little bit of left leg.
- Stop. - And then think of reining back.
- Backwards. - It's all right.
- Backwards. - Oh, turn on the forehand.
Oh, you can't go backwards now, cos you're into the wall.
Could you put him towards the wall again, please, Lucy?
And now we will halt.
And I will shorten the reins, and I will go back.
Back.
Back?
Back!
LUCY GASPS
He's done it! He's done it! He's done it!
And stop. And...
..forwards, please.
Oh, that didn't work!
- Put your legs forward. - Forwards, please. Come on.
Giddy-up. Yes, that's it.
And we're off.
Oh, that's much better. Well done, you.
Olympic Games for you next, I think.
- How does that feel? - Lovely.
Oh, you can have an eight for that one.
No way! An eight?!
Yeah, cos it doesn't look as though
it's being done by accident this time.
- LUCY LAUGHS - Very good, well done.
"It doesn't look as if it's being done by accident."
THEY LAUGH
Right, let's see what the dressage champion Joyce
has got to say about my riding. This is my scoresheet.
Collected walk, half pass to the right. Didn't do that.
Ooh!
She's given me a good mark for paces, freedom and regularity.
But I've done less well on submission.
I haven't been very submissive this morning.
And she says here, "Must continue with the dressage training."
Hmm. So I'm not a champion yet.
Competitive dressage has renewed that ancient link
between manege and royalty.
Think of both Princess Anne and Zara Phillips.
I've also discovered that the skills of manege
are used in another, very regal spectacle of horsemanship
on a visit to the barracks at the Royal Horse Artillery.
Thank you.
This is fantastic fun, they come like that.
Yeah, the split.
Not without its perils, I have to say.
The King's Troop was set up in 1946 to commemorate the tactics
used by the Royal Artillery in the battlefield.
Their ceremonial displays at royal and state functions,
such as the Queen's birthday, keep alive the skills
used by the artillery before mechanisation,
when they charged into position and fired their guns
before repositioning their horses for the next attack.
And what is fascinating is that the original training
at the Royal Horse Artillery can be traced directly back
to manege and the Spanish Riding School.
- So is this an actual gun from the First World War? - It is, yeah.
All of our guns were built just before the First World War,
and most likely all of them saw action in the First World War.
- And were they pulled into position by the horses? - Yes, yeah.
These are... The quickfire 13lb gun was a horse artillery gun,
so, yes, it was pulled in by horses.
I'm quite intrigued by the links between this modern,
very technical art of horsemanship and the art of manege.
When horse artillery was first brought into the British Army,
the Duke of Richmond got in a chap called Captain Quist,
who had the knowledge from the Continent of horse artillery
and was able to teach them.
So this is Captain Quist. He actually trained
at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna before he came over to us.
Well, I recognise these pillars that are used in the art of manege
- and that's essentially what he's doing. - Mm, yes.
What could he offer as an expert in manege to the British Army?
The artillery was slow before he came in,
and that was because most of the gunners who actually manned the guns
and fired them walked next to the artillery rather than riding.
The skills he was able to bring, and the connection with the horse
that he was able to teach the soldiers
meant that they could ride alongside the guns
and they'd be a lot faster and a lot more manoeuvrable on the battlefield.
So you're saying that the skills of the manege -
which is not so much about going fast
but it's about changing direction very quickly, isn't it? -
that would have been useful
in pulling these big, shiny guns around?
Yes. Turning on a battlefield is very important.
If you go in a straight line very fast in the wrong direction,
you're not going to be of any help to anyone.
So, yes, it is being able to put yourself in the right position,
and that involves using manoeuvrability and turning.
This is the gravestone of a legendary member
of the Royal Horse Artillery.
It reads, "Underneath here lies an old horse called Wonder,
"who had lived to the extraordinary age of 40 years."
And the legendary Wonder belonged to Captain Quist himself,
who lived to the extraordinary age of 91.
And I like to think of Captain Quist
and his "Wonder-horse" coming from the circus-like atmosphere
of the Spanish Riding School and teaching their skills
to the very serious officers of the British Army,
who would use them in the very serious arena of the battlefield.
And it strikes me that all of these great horseman of the past -
Captain Quist, William Cavendish, even Henry VIII -
have something in common.
Their control of the horse gives them control of themselves,
which leads to control over other people
and, in the case of a king or queen, that stands for control of a nation.
So, finally, it's time to put my training to the test
and to perform for the paying public.
Watch out, everybody - I'm on the hoof.
- Now or never. - HOOVES STOMP
Look, he's pawing the ground, he's ready to go.
I think he's readier than I am!
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Oh! And we're off!
I'd like to get off now!
LAUGHTER
So...how did I do, Ben?
- It was good. - What's the verdict? - Well done.
Was that the rear of the year?
I think that was definitely your rear of the year.
I think it was the rear of the century!
SHE LAUGHS
Well, thanks, Armando.