Giordano Ruffo, De Medicina Equorum

[Chiron]

Has anybody heard of it, it supposedly as well as veterinary includes texts on horse training. If someone was interested in finding evidence for training horses to bite and kick as in the text you might find it here. I didn't see any online version after a bit of google-fu, I wonder if there's even an english translation, which for me personally would be preferable since my Latin is merely the classical school Latin, cogito ergo sum, bibo ergo cogito, bibo ergo sum.

[Piermarco]

Seems to be a few copies around, although it appears to concentrate of veterinary matters.

Manuscript Italian and Catalan versions here:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8433302p/f5.image
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8438665s

And a printed Italian copy here (last on the page, together with some works on related topics):

http://amshistorica.unibo.it/fondomaestrini

Alessandro Malatesta's book has a more military bent, but nothing on biting or kicking I could see on a quick browse:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k388 ... ta&f=false

[Chiron]

Thanks a ton, my Italian isn't what I'd like it to be but I should get the gist of it. The other manual is interesting, I'll have a good look at it, but the biting kicking may not be in it for several reasons.

[Piermarco]

No problem

Some of the others from the Fondo Maestrini link above might be interesting too. Giuseppe D'Alessandro talks a fair bit about fencing in his book and even includes some plates of guard positions, but I'm not familiar with the contents of the others.

[Ariella Elema]

That text was also translated into Old French during the Middle Ages. There's an edition of the OF text called La science du cheval au moyen age: le traité de hippiatrie de Jordanus Rufus by Brigitte Prévot.

[Chiron]

Thanks Arriella I'll see whether I can get a copy of either the french Italian, Catalan is one peninsula too far. In the Preview I think I saw the bit about training, I'll have another look but it didn't sound very promising. It sounded like it just covered taking a colt to hand but I'll have another peek when I have some time.