10/15/2026
In 1658, an exiled English duke published a riding manual in Antwerp.
Parts of it still sound modern.
William Cavendish, later Duke of Newcastle, wrote La Méthode Nouvelle in French, for riders on the Continent.
In 1667 he published a different book in English, A New Method, and Extraordinary Invention, to Dress Horses.
He was no softie.
He believed in firm discipline, and he wrote openly about fear.
But he called striking a horse about the head "Abominable."
And he compared bad training to bad teaching.
"I would fain ask such stupid people, whether, by beating a boy, they could teach him to read, without first showing him his alphabet?"
When his horses did well, he wrote, "I Cherish and Reward them."
As soon as a horse obeyed, he advised the rider to get down and cherish him.
According to historian Elaine Walker, riders still use two of his ideas: the lunging cavesson and the shoulder-in.
Show the alphabet before you ask for the reading.
Then reward the try the moment it happens.
He wasn't gentle by our standards.
But in his century, refusing to rely on force made him unusual.
Who was the teacher who showed you the alphabet first?
