H. DV. 12 German Cavalry Manual: Training the Horse & Rider Xenophon Press

Xenophon Press

“Lasting success can only be achieved, if the heart and soul of all instructors and pupils is filled with the joy of riding and the love of the horse…”

The Riding Regulation H. Dv. 12 in its last edition of 1937 is the foundation of German classical horsemanship. Authored by the German cavalry experts and issued by the German army commander-in-chief, these guidelines governed all training of remounts and recruits with the goal of creating a sound, able, willing, and obedient military mount and equally capable rider. As the original source of the renowned Training Scale, the H. Dv. 12 also served as the basis for today’s FN Principles of Riding, the German National Equestrian Federation’s official instruction manual.

Free of the alterations that were introduced to the FN Principles of Riding at a later time to accommodate the world of modern equestrian sports, these pure and simple “how tos” represent the culmination of hundreds of years of proven cavalry experience and show a remarkable insight into the nature of the horse and the biomechanical realities of horse and rider.

Many respected German authors and clinician’s-such as Professor Eckart Meyners and Dr. Gerd Heuschmann-point to the H. Dv. 12 as THE classic, pure, correct source of ‘how to train and ride’ with the ‘horse’s wellbeing’ in mind. As more of their work is translated into English, more readers and fans of classical horsemanship have been asking when this book with a mysterious title would be available in English. Horse Wellness specialist, Stefanie Reinhold has delivered a careful translation of this treasure.