Comment by Translator

With Xenophon's 'Peri Hippikes' we are reading the world's oldest written document on horsemanship. Modern horsepeople, especially riders interested in classical dressage but not only these, will agree, that - generally speaking - this text is still both true and useful. Of course there are also some exceptions (as there are usually three opinions or more when just two horsemen come together).

In addition to recommendations for buying a horse, riding, grooming and equine health care, Xenophon also teaches never to treat a horse with anger, nor to use punishment when the horse is frightened, but never to forget to reward the horse for doing things according to the rider's will.

This translation is based on the original text in Old Greek, compared with several translations within the last 200 years. It tries to overcome insufficiencies of these translations which may have arisen from a lack of knowledge in questions of horsemanship on the one side, further from repeated translations (e.g. Greek-Latin-French-English), and finally from transcriptions of translations to the horseman's language without paying enough attention to the original text. The author is still trying to improve the translation and appreciates any comments sent by e-mail.

Translation and Copyright
by Stefan Welebny 2000, All Rights Reserved
Warning: This translation is registered by a notary public. No portion of this translation may be used in any manner, or for any purpose, without our express written permission.