The Greeks

"Whenever a horse chooses to show off before other horses, he stretches his neck highest and flexes it most. ... Therefore, whenever you induce him to carry himself as he does when he is anxious to display his beauty, you make him look at though he took pleasure in being ridden,and you give him a noble, fierce and imposing appearance." -- Xenophon

Xenophon did not have the battlefield success he would have liked, in fact he is best known for leading a succesful retreat! Yet, Xenophon still made a great contribution to warfare with his unique horse training ideas. He wrote the first known treatise on horsemanship and his approach is still used today, most famously at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

Xenophon watched horses and believed that their natural antics of running, jumping, rearing and kicking could be useful in war. He devised a method that harnessed these natural tendencies and also allowed horses to overcome their natural instinct to run from something frightening.

Alexander the Great used Xenophon's techniques to tame the wild stallion Bucephalus. No one could ride the horse, but teenaged Alexander, who already had a thorough classical education, wanted to prove that he was ready for more action. After noting that Bucephalus was afraid of his shadow, Alexander first rode the horse in circumstances that diminished the shadows. The two were said to be inseperable.