Through his lifetime career as accomplished horseman, competitor (winning an Olympic medal in Berlin, 1936), teacher, and Director of the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna for 26 years, Colonel Alois Podhajsky knew, loved, and learned from a wide variety of horses. There were willing crossbreds, sensitive Thoroughbreds, bold jumpers, talented dressage champions, and of course the unparallel Lipizzaner stallions.

In recalling his experiences in training an showing his horses throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada, Colonel Podhajsky shows how each horse contributed to his learning of the equestrian art, and how patience combined with understanding and affection can produce amazing results. With acute insight and care, Colonel Podhajsky brought out the best in each of the horses he rode, and as de describes his methods, mistakes and discoveries in this book, he proves once again that each new training experience show how psychology must work together with technique to achieve success.

Every rider who aspires to achieve true harmony with his horse will find this book both inspirational and memorable. It is a unique contribution to equestrian literature.

softcover, 202 pages, illustrated.

Excerpt from the book:

When I was twelve years old my father consented at last to regular riding lessons, which I was to be given by a sergeant of the Fourth Dragoon Regiment, stationed in Wels in Upper Austria. Gabriel was of medium height and stout; he wore a beard and whiskers like the Emporer Franz Joseph, and possessed a tremendous voice which would have been sufficient to drill and entire squadron. He was dead serious about his new job.

After a short introduction a horse with a saddle but without reins or stirrups was brought in to the open arena in front of the barracks. There were side reins which led from the rings in the snaffle to the front girth of the saddle. I was given a leg up and was allowed to hold on to the saddle while the horse moved on a circle around Gabriel, who stood in the center and held a long rein of hemp. First used in France in the seventeenth century, it is called a longe rein. By his rhythmic movements the horse was to teach me to find the proper balance on his back, which is easiest at the walk and most difficult at the canter.

It is not absolutely necessary that riding be first taught on the longe, especially if there are no suitable longe horses or experience riding instructors. My own experience in many years of activity as a teacher, however, has confirmed that although it seems to be a long way and a waste of time to train a young rider on the longe, it is the best means of teaching him perfect control over his body, with harmony and suppleness, so that he does not disturb the balance of his partner and both finally will fuse into one. This was the goal that lay in a very distant future in those days, because my first problem was to remain in the saddle during the different movements of the horse.