4th October 1814: Dancing with horses

It was 8:30 in the morning. Willoughby had had an early leave from the house, riding Fairplay, with Herrero accompanying them on a longer rope. They made a stroll through the park. It was a simple walk, leaving the animals to enjoy the fresh air.

After a short while he proceeded towards the training grounds. He was in good spirits while Herrero seemed well rested and awake. Fairplay, the red pelted horse he was riding at the moment, was a bit livelier and more curious than his spotted companion. But both had stretched their legs and warmed up just enough that injuries could be avoided.

He did not intend to ride Fairplay at the competition. He would wait in the stalls once they all gathered, but for the moment he needed a stretch and this was as good an opportunity as any. After the 'formalities' of getting the doors to the training grounds open and the grounds reserved for them, he began with a walk that changed gradually into a canter. Both horses were made to turn left, complete the bigger circle then continue along the length of the grounds.

Punctually at half past eight, Torrington too appeared at the riding ground, a groom behind him. He had of course chosen to ride Trueno; his big Cartujano stallion was the best trained and best suited dressage horse he owned, despite his war service.

The somewhat different claims of the campaigns had made it impossible for horse and rider to stay well in practice, but the engineer hoped that the stallion would remember his training and still have the ability to perform well. He himself had taken the precaution of taking another horse and his father's head groom, who had taught him much of what he knew, out to the park early this morning.
The hour they spend had not gone quite as effortless as Torrington, who considered himself not without justification a very good rider, had thought. He had been unpleasantly surprised when the groom had pointed out several bad habits and some slackness in the aids he was giving his horse. But he had chosen his companion for a reason (mainly that he was one of the few persons whose critique Torrington accepted easily), and after an hour of rather intensive work, the engineer felt slightly exhausted, but much better prepared.

Now he rode through the arch that gave unto the training arena and raised a hand in greeting.

"Good morning. I see you have come early to warm up your horse as well, Gwydyr."

"Good morning." Willoughby turned his horses about and smiled, raising his hand. "Yes. It was as good an excuse to have to leave home early." He rode closer, Fairplay quickening his step, with Herrero following suit.

"And you." He noticed that Torrington as well have taken two horses with him. "Which one will you perform with?" He asked, taking a good look at each of the horses from where he was almost as if deciding for a purchase.

"Trueno, of course. Saladin here has just kept me company for a ride in the park."

He patted the Fresian's neck and dismounted, stroking the horse's nose before exchanging the reins with Trueno's.

Just when he was about to get into the saddle again, Captain Stympher appeared on a large bay.

"Guten Morgen, mylords", he said politely with a halfbow in the saddle, but refrained from further conversation as he set about warming his horse up.

"Guten Morgen, good morning." Willoughby answered with the inclination of his head then turned again towards Torrington. He leaned slightly to the front then brought his leg easily over the horse's back slipping to the ground smoothly as well.

Fairplay twitched his ears gazing to the side of him then back to see what his rider intended to do. He stomped his foot against the ground and waited patiently. Herrero already seemed to think it is time for show as his neck was arched proudly, his tail held a bit as though he intended to turn it into a flag and his all in all posture like a fine baroque painting.

He did not seem aware of the fact his colouration was far from usual nor thought it something negative. "Good. Shall we start of with a walk and some changes, before the others arrive?" Willoughby inquired patting Fairplay lightly on the side of his neck and then rubbing the fur.

"The plan for today is to see how much experience in dressage horses and riders have. We will probably have everybody show it first, then together with one lead horse, the others will follow. Mostly evaluation how hard we can make the quadrille, and who might be asked to do what." He looked at his friend. "We don't want them doing airs, if they can hardly walk." He chuckled softly. "We are also going to agree on a routine, I hope, and.. enable everybody to experience riding to music during the last part of our training." He looked thoughtful. "Before that, we can have a show on how we wish to have it appear so that some can rest as well. We'll see about that." Herrero was mounted this time, the rheins still lax while the rope had now been exchanged to Fairplay. For the warm up the second horse could move along side as well.

Trueno, well rested and never one to let another horse get the better of him, snorted and danced. Torrington sighed and settled into their daily ritual of Trueno testing him and him demonstrating to Trueno that he would not allow him to get away with bad behaviour.

"Yes, we might need to have to spend some time on that ... Our riding skills might be offset by the fact that the other side knows each other much better."

Vickery joined them a bare five minutes later, riding a white horse and leading his faithful chestnut gelding. He had decided to ride Brandy in the actual event, which meant keeping him fresh, and so he had elected to ride Shilling to the riding ground. Brandy, having been through several marches in the Peninsula on poor forage, could probably have coped with being ridden here and then later on, but Vickery saw no reason to do that if he didn't have to. And back here in England, with access to his father's horses and not ten miles from Tattersall's, he didn't have to.

"Oh dear. Am I late?" he said, dismounting and looking around.

"No, Sir, you most certainly aren't! Because that would make me abysmally tardy", a cheerful voice declared and Lord Worcester appeared.

He was riding one of his hunters at the moment, but a groom led a chestnut Thoroughbred on long rein. Sympher, passing them by on a working canter, touched his hat and wished both newcomers a good morning. His big horse seemed to be a coldblood, but it moved elegantly enough and seemed well trained and the artillerist showed himself to be a good if somewhat heavy rider.

"Good morning, Major." Willoughby nodded and raised hand to greet the next arrival. Herrero was certainly not going to allow Trueno to best him in showing off.  He did his own amount of 'dancing' though taking good care not to spook Fairplay at his side, nor to kick him by accident.

"You are not late, It's not yet 9 o'clock." He studied the poise and the movement of the coldblooded horse that just passed them then turned again to the two. "I will explain what today's proceedings will be again when all are gathered. However if you have any questions in advance, you are welcome to ask." He smiled and motioned for them to move alongside of each other. "Lets have our horses walk, while we talk. Otherwise they might turn quite impatient." He was surprised how many have brought a second horse with them. Well, it was sensible if they wished for their horses to be completely fresh before the start of the training and, it was always a nice place to show off what horses you had.

"We'll probably sort the horses by size as well as skill of the rider." He spoke having Herrero begin a walk, and the horse did so after having a few nice jump motions where his front left or right leg raised  and made him look like a marching man.

"It is good not to be late then, my lord," Vickery replied with a smile, unclipping the leading rein from Brandy's bridle and mounting with the ease of one who was used to being in the saddle. "None of your usual tricks now, Brandy," he told the horse with mock severity, a gleam in his eyes.

Torrington had guided Trueno to a circle a bit away, putting him through a few turns and curves. He was pleased to feel the stallion responding well, although he still occassionally tried to prance and challenge Herrero and the other horses. The German's horse, a gelding, was unimpressed, but Worcester too had to reign in his horse as it accepted the challenge.

The ADC was a good rider, but - as the engineer (the lesson of the morning still smarting a bit) somewhat gleefully noticed - he too had lost some style on the Peninsula. It was certainly forgivable in a man who had mostly tried to get safely and quickly from one point to the other in adverse and sometimes downright hostile circumstances. But it still seemed that at least some of them would need the training to readjust.

The young man was not deterred, however. Keeping at Vickery's side, he complimented:

"A very handsome horse, Major. Is it the same you wrote in Spain?"

Sympher, satisfied with his preparations, joined Willoughby again, asking:

"Have all agreed to come this mornig, Mylord? Or do you prefer Captain?"

"Indeed he is," Vickery replied, affectionately pulling at one of Brandy's ears. "He saved my life on more than one occasion - although with Spain being so infernally hard on the horses, I more than once thought I should not bring him home again." He looked over at Lord Worcester's own horse. "Is that one you had in Spain, or a recent acquisition?"

"Captain will suffice." He answered then leaned forward a little to caress the neck of his horse, Fairplay easily moving alongside Herrero, though his ears seemed to listen to the other horses and their riders and his gaze did avert in this or that direction to see what went on.

"I have not gotten all replies back, but so far, even those whose replies I have not received have showed up and there was no reply in the negative, so I am confident that all will come by 9 o'clock." He smiled. "Yours is an impressive animal." He complimented the horse, thinking him quite well muscled and trained.

Through the door another rider arrived, and in short succession also another, of the same uniform as Willoughby's. The first was the captain of the 4th Dragoons, Captain Bernard, the second Captain Burlingame, of the 15th Light Dragoons, Hussars. They each greeted the men already in the 'ring' before starting off with the warm up of their own horses. Burlingame did a few charges, mostly out of fun, had started the horse at a faster pace, then halted him quite as abruptly, turning a tight corner to repeat this once more.

"Guten Morgen, Herr Hauptmann," Vickery said to Sympher, noting the uniform of the KGL which he wore. "No, Brandy, we are not chasing the French today," he added lightly, urging the horse back onto the bit as he seemed inclined to break into a trot around the ring.

Worcester pulled a face.

"At least there we could be sure to beat Alconbury and his friends to kingdom come. No, this is a rather recent aquisition. Forester got shot right towards the end, and Firefly can run in Newmarket, but is about as much use for this as my coachhorses. Probably less."

He padded the horse's glossy neck.

"There comes the rest of the cavalry ... Good morning, gentlemen! Who's still missing? The Foot officer, isn't it?"
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Sympher padded his horse proudly.

"Yes, he is a very fine beast. And well up to my weight. He doesn't like to jump over things, and he is not galloping around like one of your horses, but he does what I want even if I am standing yards away, and can go on and on without tiring. It's a shame that the French took all the brood mares without regard for the breed. He might well be one of the last of his kind."

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Seeing nearly all riders gathered now, Edward guided Trueno back to them. After an exchange of greetings, he inquired:

"So how shall we set about doing this? Start by going around in file with somebody giving the commands and see how well we manage that?"

"

"Oh, even our horses only gallop around if we want them. "Willoughby answered smiling. "We won't do any jumping over things today, though we will see if any airs are possible at all with any of the horses." He glanced at the new arrivals again then at Torrington and what he had asked and nodded.

" We have several options on how to do the first part. What I'd like to see is..the basics first. How the horses interact as a group. If there's any biting among them and which are more stubborn to be at the front and which are calmer." He hesitated. "I would also like to get the first impression of what each of us can do so maybe a quick personal show with the horse for each. It does not need to be a display of everything we can do, but simply a few points. Then we'll progress to two groups of four and set to starting on the quadrille. An instructor here is at hand, should we need his opinion or suggestions on what to do for the performance." He shifted in the saddle.

"And as I've said before also in the letter. We will have the chance to practice against music today, in the last part of our training session. " He gazed about. "Anybody who has done that before, raise a hand." He would ask again when the late comer arrived.

Sympher raised his hand, and after a moment Worcester followed, but Torrington shook his head.

"Not since school days."

"Then you have.. albeit not recently." Willoughby nodded, looking quite pleased to see that some have had experience in the riding to music. "...It's quite like marching.. everything needs to follow a certain rhythm.. and quite in general like army life. Just a little more melodic." He was not saying it to put anybody at ease, but simply because he considered it so. He gazed at the door and then rechecked the time.

"...Let us hope that we have a full number. We can't loose a day."

"Since you suggested that we ride solo to begin with, we might as well start now", Torrington suggested. "That way we won't loose time."

He looked at Sympher - The artillerist looked as if he was doing this on a more regular basis, so he was probably a good candidate to start with.

"Agreed. Everybody, form a line." He looked at Sympher. "And may I ask if you would be willing to be the first, sir?" He asked allowing the man of course to choose to wait his turn or to take it. By having the others formed up, they were neither in the way, nor shifting their attention elsewhere!

Lieutenant Dalrymple came in at this point, looking rather apologetic as he saw everyone else was there already. He was riding a bay gelding.

"I - oh. I thought I was going to be early. I beg your pardon," he said, saluting the most senior officer present.

Vickery smiled. "Well, no harm done - and it is not yet nine, so you are early, if not so early as you had hoped."

After the next round of "Good mornings!" had died down, the artillerist nodded.

"Certainly, Captain."

He guided his horse onto the track again, and began to demostrate his and his horse's skills. After a short demonstration in all the gaits he proceeded to perform the airs on the ground and even a few above, showing a more than passing familiarity with La Guérinière's works on horsemanship and the moves of the classical dressage. It also soon became clear that he had done this before, because the whole performance was clearly choreographed and practiced. It finished with an expertly performed Courbette that showed of the large frame and musculature of his horse perfectly.

Worcester whistled softly.

"That caps it - there's no way Alconbury can top this."

Willoughby observed the performance, his rather reserved smile growing bigger and more excited. It was good, it was certainly much better than good and it would be perfect for when Lord Alconbury and his friends will need to be proven how wrong they were.

"..Impressed." He said honestly, clapping when he was certain that the horse would do no more, though he had almost wished for it to last much longer. "You will certainly not escape doing airs and..quite a few of what you have shown us, for the final presentation." He grinned.

Sympher smiled, very satisfied with the reaction he got, and padded his horse.

"It is a hobby of mine", he admitted. "And Troubadour is a very good horse. He never needs to be more than nudged."

Worcester, still grinning, declared:

"Should you ever want to sell him, then I want first right to buy. A pity there won't be any little foals of his. Well, now that you have put the bar on the top peg, who wants to go next? Certainly not me - it wouldn't do to see a hussar outclassed by an artillery man."

"You could certainly see that." Willoughby agreed. The horse was quite fluid in its motions and impressively obedient. The Hussar captain turned to Torrington. "Would you be willing to go next?" He asked after a few moments.