Wallhausen - Ritterkunst figure 1

Reproduction of Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen's Ritterkunst. Figure 1

The first illustration in "Ritterkunst" shows how to train your skills as a rider. The first three steps show how to practice sitting up on a wooden horse. Here follows a translation of the picture descriptions from the German of the original work.

1. Here you see a life-size wooden horse, intended for a lancer or cuirassier.
2. Here you see how the rider trains himself to sit up in the saddle in full armor from, as is usual, the left side of the horse.
3. Shows you how to win to be able to sit up from the right side in full harness: and these two ways of sitting up you have to learn first on a wooden horse.
4. Here you see how you first stick your left foot into the left stirrup, that's the first approach.
5. Shows how to swing off the ground with your right foot.
6. Shows the sitting position halfway with the right foot raised high.
7. How you have swung up over the horse, sat in the saddle and stuck your right foot in the right stirrup.
8. Learn how to sit up from the horse's right side, which, even if it is an uncomfortable position for you, will often come in handy in unforeseen situations.
9. Shows you how to sit up in an emergency with a gun in one hand and the sword in the other.
10. How to do a leg bend for the left leg, or move sideways to the right.
11. How to do a leg bend for the right leg, or move sideways to the left.
12. How to teach your horse to back up.
13. how you should train your horse to stand up on its hind legs, something that is useful and beneficial to you on numerous occasions, in skirmishes and field battles.

Read more about Wallhausen's Ritterkunst.