30 Years With Master Nuno Oliveira: Correspondence, Photographs, and Notes

By Michel Henriquet

This classical text, which knowledgeable horsemen have been anxiously awaiting for years, is finally available in English. Henriquet's personal record of correspondence provides a unique window into the private problem-solving dialogue between master and student. Now a master écuyer in his own right, Henriquet embellishes this new edition with 50 photographs from his personal collection. This first and only English edition includes many more photographs of Nuno Oliveira and his teacher than earlier editions. It has also been embellished with a glossary and a descriptive table of contents for the 71 chapters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xenophon Press LLC
• Release date: Aug 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9780933316553

Michel Henriquet

Michel Henriquet was born in 1924, and holds a degree in Law and Letters. In search of elusive traditional classic French equitation, he believed might be lost, Michel Henriquet first studied with the Baucherist, Rene Bacharach, a student of Captain Beudant. Henriquet was among the first admirers of Master Nuno Oliveira, becoming a friend and disciple over thirty years, until the latter's death.

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involved.

PREFACE

My friend, Michel Henriquet, has asked me to write a preface as part of the collection that he is publishing: namely, his correspondence with Nuno Oliveira. While the invitation is flattering and friendly, I nonetheless hesitated for some time. What could I possibly say that is new with respect to Nuno Oliveira and his art?

Jaime Celestino Da Costa and Nuno Oliveira

To convince me, Michel gave me some of his reasons and hopes. The reasons: "because you are the only witness to what was once the manège and teachings of Master Miranda before and after Nuno made the scene. His hopes: in that you played a part in these undertakings and in Nuno’s evolution, you ought to say a few words. That is why I am convinced that it will interest everyone and why I put my trust in you."

Let us hope that I neither contradict his reasons nor disappoint his hopes. But I fear that this may be a story that is too long which could tire the reader and, at the same time, abuse the space allotted to a simple preface.

Joachim Gonçalves De Miranda (1870-1940), a man who lived from the horse and for the horse, was an unforgettable teacher and master. While more than fifty years have passed, he continues to live in my memory in his double role: as professor of equitation and as a master and teacher of dressage [the art of schooling of horses.] These roles must be considered separately in their own right.

PROFESSOR OF EQUITATION

Monsieur Miranda, as everyone called him, (the term maître was seldom used), founded, at the turn of the century, a remarkable School of Equitation (O Picadeiro do Senhor Miranda) at number 135 on the Rua do Borja. This school was the most famous and respected in Lisbon, as well as the most frequented. Everyone, especially those belonging to elegant society, frequented Miranda’s place to learn how to ride. This was, at the time, part of a person’s education. Above all, young girls were able to find in this manège a respectable place to which they were allowed to go (accompanied by their mothers!) Thus a large number of Miranda’s pupils were ladies riding side-saddle.

The School at Rua do Borja was part of Lisbon’s social life. On certain afternoons, the gallery of the manège became the meeting point for elegant society.

As professor of equitation, Miranda was primarily concerned with preparing his pupils to be able to sit properly on a horse. He made us sit on a horse without stirrups for a whole year, which resulted in a good seat; all kinds of games and exercises taught the pupils how to guide and move their mounts: elaborate vaulting was another element obligatory to one’s apprenticeship. But we did many other things such as jumping bareback with the saddle under one’s arm. I learned to perform The Rose game in public, which was jumping with three horses (mounted on one horse, another led in tandem, a third close by, led only with a single halter.) Yet another feat: he presented a dozen side-saddle riders jumping simultaneously in a single row. I cannot remember having seen this accomplished elsewhere.

Miranda made us jump and participate in various horse shows. Yet this was not his forte. He did this only to give us a wide preparation for our equestrian education and to instill in us the spirit of competition. Only the most interested and gifted among his many pupils took the path of dressage - which belonged to the upper level course of horsemanship.

Monsieur Miranda spent the whole day in the manège, never frequented any non-equestrian entertainment and never lunched nor dined in town. He drank only cold tea (never alcohol) and smoked cigarettes which he rolled himself.

Master MIRANDA, 1913.

When he moved about in Lisbon he went either on horseback or used a little one-horse American phaeton to go to the boot maker (Barroso, père), the saddle maker, or to visit his friends (Monsieur Chatelanaz, his friend and sponsor, as we would say today.) I often accompanied him and he allowed me to drive. Just before his death, he was preparing a certificate on my behalf which would have allowed me to have a license as coachman. I still regret never getting it.

Life in Lisbon during the thirties was peaceful. Monsieur Miranda worked in his manège until the day of his death which occurred just after he returned home from a ride on his horse.

MIRANDA, Dressage Master

As écuyer in the Royal House, Miranda could have been influenced by a pupil of Baucher, namely Brunot, and General Vito Moreira who had worked in Saumur for three years. Not much is known about the equestrian youth of Miranda. He, himself, did not often speak about this period.

He claimed to be a Fillist (as it was fashionable in Portugal), but comparing the text and the photos of Fillis with the dressage of Miranda, one becomes aware that they have nothing in common.

My Master was an instinctive artist, undoubtedly self-educated, an écuyer belonging to the national tradition (as are those horsemen practicing bullfighting and other isolated disciplines of the equestrian art.) We would have known a little more about the influences he received if a large framed board in the shape of a horseshoe which featured in the gallery of the manège and filled with photographs had not disappeared. It entailed this caption: "Écuyers whom Miranda had known and admired." I retain only two pictures in my memory: that of D. José Manuel da Cunha Meneses (Sr.) executing a brilliant passage; and that of Captain Caeiro, executing a magnificent Spanish trot.

Having lived so many years close to Master Miranda, seeing him ride and teach, I, who was taught by him and received his advice, became convinced that he lived primarily through his equestrian genius and by an art based on experience, acquired in the course of his long life.

Miranda followed no method. Neither did he follow any classical books on equitation which, I believe, he did not know and, certainly, did not possess. He read horses, not books.

He did not travel and was not personally acquainted with the great foreign masters, his contemporaries. Furthermore, living in a town that was, at the time, not very cosmopolitan, one can state that Miranda’s art was his own.

Still young, he had presented himself, with great success, at two public dressage events. In the first one, he won the First Prize on a horse of Alter lineage (Favorito.) In the second event he presented three Thoroughbred horses (from the stud of Conde de Sobral) and won three first prizes. With the first prize on Dartmoor he executed, amongst other airs, 150 single tempi flying changes at the canter (with voltes and rein changes.) When he was through facing the Jury, the three judges got up simultaneously, with their hats in their hands.

The student amazones of Master MIRANDA

It was Miranda himself who told me this and which helped him devote his life as a dressage teacher.

Miranda was a very simple man, friendly (despite terrible but fleeting rages), modest, yet aware of his value. He could have answered in the same manner as did Jules Renard, author of "Histoires Naturelles" who, when asked what his conception of himself was, answered, it is bad when I look at myself, but much better when I compare myself to others.

Monsieur Miranda dressed very simply when riding: long trousers of the same material as the jacket (a real suit) or a black blazer, rubber ankle boots and box spurs with delicate rowels. No gloves.

One had the impression that he wanted to be as close to the horse as possible (hands and legs) and that his dress was not an important aspect of his art. Mounted, Miranda was totally relaxed. Slightly bent forwards in the last years of his life, he had a perfect seat as though glued to the saddle.

He never tried to appear handsome on his horse, to show himself; rather, he wanted to show off his horse, give him the best appearance. Having extraordinary feeling for the horse, as soon as he was mounted, regardless of the kind of horse he was on or the level of his schooling, he transformed the horse immediately. Miranda gave him correct carriage, putting him at the rassembler and collected him. One would think he was on a different horse. And he, the master, was not aware of the little marvel that he had created. To him, this was simply as it should be!

With Miranda one held the reins only in the left hand, those of the curb bit adjusted, those of the snaffle bit above, either falling in loops or more adjusted. Acting with the right hand on the right rein of the snaffle. This classical way of holding the reins was usual to us, being prescribed by the practice of bullfighting and side-saddle riding. It must not be forgotten. One used both hands to hold the reins only in the breaking of the horse and for sports equitation. When schooling, the curb bit was added to the snaffle early on after the horse was started. A gentle S-bit was used with delicacy when dealing with a quiet, but relaxed mouth, achieved by means of flexions performed in hand.

The position was somewhat low, with the horse’s back never hollow, one of the factors leading to a perfectly immobile head, fixed, but without any contraction [rigidity] in the neck. The tail fell motionless. There was never any tail-lashing provoked by the spur. One had the image of a calm horse, and calmness reigned on horseback.

Miranda followed the formula hands like silk and legs of cotton wool and exhibited perfect accord between hands and legs.

His hands gave the appearance of immobility by their fixity, while there was great mobility and lightness in the fingers, sometimes in the wrists.

But the secret of my Master could be found in the way he used his legs: his long trousers, rubber ankle boots and box spurs, set quite low, gave him considerable freedom to adjust his legs to the horse, enveloping and caressing its skin, but without being clamped, always ready to produce a well-placed stroke, mobilizing the foot, lowering the toe and raising the heel.

Master Miranda rigorously followed the advice of Fillis "for the true écuyers, the use of legs; for the ineffective ones, the whip." Thus the whip was not used in mounted dressage. If, when mounted, one needed to correct certain airs or exercises, this was done with the help of the legs (together with hands and seat) and not by means of a whip. This was one of the most personal traits of the maître’s type of dressage.

Should one wish to describe this kind of dressage in one word, one must say that the horses were extremely well-schooled. At no time were they robots merely prepared to execute fixed programs; rather, they were so prepared to respond to the aids at any time and to change or alternate the exercises.

The important foundations of dressage were total lightness, a rassemblé adapted to the exercise, and a permanent impulsion at the walk, trot, and canter, with perfect cadence and the horse very straight. The secret of great artists is to perfectly execute the simple things.

The walk, halt, departure, and correct rein back were the other requirements of his work.

Joachim Goncalves de MIRANDA riding Favorito, passage

There was no extended trot required, only ample trots. One did not execute the shoulder-in, for that did not exist [in his method.] One did not work at the pillars, nor did one execute the high airs.

The half-passes were less bent than they are today, but horses never plunged forward [losing their balance.] Minor tricks such as oscillating the shoulders or pirouettes