When hearing about the various schools of horseback riding in today's world, one is certain to eventually learn of "classical horsemanship" amidst the sometimes confusing jumble of hunter/jumper, western, Australian, saddleseat and so on. The presence of classical horsemanship, a style embraced by the renowned Spanish Riding School of Vienna, owes its existance, in part, to Xenophon. An Athenian who lived from 430 to about 335 B.C.E., Xenophon was a cavalryman, who later in his life was awarded an estate by the king of Sparta. His most notable work, from an equestrian's perspective, is On the Art of Horsemanship, though his work On the Cavalry Commander includes several suggestions on the care and training of horses. Modern riders still draw their training methods from Xenophon, finding satisfaction and results in his method, based on the understanding of a horse's psyche. Xenophon constantly admonishes his reader to not treat the horse roughly or out of anger, but to understand his mindset and treat him accordingly. His intent in On the Art of Horsemanship is to instruct his reader in the basic training of horses, particularly those that are to be used in war. On the Cavalry Commander is largely a military treatise, but it nevertheless offers a further source of information on the horse in Xenophon's time. Unfortunately, a treatise on horsemanship by an Athenian named Simon has been lost. Its existence is known only through references to it by authors as Xenophon. As such, Xenophon's work is the earliest known example of a fully preserved treatise on the proper training and riding of a horse. On the Art of Horsemanship | On the Cavalry Commander The Horse in Ancient Greece