Horsemanship

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The art and expertise related to the riding, training, and management of horses includes skills in handling, caring for, and understanding equine behavior
2. Proficiency in the activities associated with riding, training, and caring for horses entails a deep knowledge of equine behavior coupled with practical handling skills
3. The practice and skill involved in riding, training, and maintaining horses involves understanding their behavior and effectively managing their needs and care

Etymology: Horsemanship is a plain compound, built from "horseman" and the suffix "-ship", and its history is mostly the history of its two halves. "Horse" comes from Old English "hors", which goes back to a Proto-Germanic form "hrussą" and is the same word across the Germanic languages. "Man" goes back to Proto-Germanic "mannaz" and came into Old English as "mann", meaning a person of either sex, a sense that later narrowed to adult males. Put together, "horseman" was an ordinary Middle English word for a person who rode, and it was later joined by the suffix. The suffix has the most visible story. "-ship" descends from a root meaning "shape" or "form", which in Old English appeared as "-sċiepe" and was used to form nouns of state, condition, or skill, so that "friendship" and "lordship" named a condition or a status. When "-ship" was attached to "horseman", the result named the skill or condition of being a horseman rather than the rider himself. The shift from person to ability is the whole trick of the word.

Synonyms: equestrianism, riding, horse riding