The Classical Rider

Sylvia Loch was born in Edinburgh.  Leaving Scotland at 21 to work in the wine industry and later the editorial world in London, she found herself as a young company director in Portugual in the late sixties.  She was soon to be enveloped by the horse culture of the Iberian Peninsula after meeting her future husband Lord Henry Loch whose family had also orginated in Scotland.  The Lochs established a small dressage school at Quinta das Esporas, near Loule and later moved it to England.  The Lusitano Stud and Equitation Centre was founded near Lord Loch's old Suffolk home at Stoke by Clare and was the first classical academy of its kind in the UK.  After Lord Loch's death, Sylvia founded the Lusitano Breed Society of Great Britain and became involved in writing to spread the word outside the Peninsula about the wonderful horses her late husband had loved so much.

This book, which contains some interesting biographical detail, concentrates mainly on the physiology and psychology of the horse.  The author reminds us how, in order to ride better, we must constantly pay respect to how the horse is built, locomotively engineered and how his mind works.

This is a spiritual, as well as a deeply researched instructional book.  As a committed Christian, the author believes that the horse is a gift from God and that we owe it to His creation to ride in humility and in praise of its beauty and generosity.

There is much here for the advanced student of dressage as well as the beginner.  Cross-country or pleasure rider, hunting, jumping, or High School scholar, there is much here for everyone.

Hardcover.  Very good used condition.