This book is written in a style similar to a series of short stories. Colonel Podhajsky passes along some of the lessons he has learned from his four legged teachers that any horse person can understand. It is like listening to a friend speak of his experiences rather than studying a textbook. This makes the book both entertaining and educational. What a pleasure to read!

Have you ever wondered what happened to the Spanish riding school when Hitler matched across Europe? Without this man the riding school might not have survived. An under rated horseman. His explainations on dressage are insightful. A very useful book, absorbing even if you don't ride. The photos sometimes leave something to be desired but in somecases they are 80 years old. Wonderful book a pity the rest of his books aren't still in print.

Highly recommended! This guy is the Tom Dorrance of the classical dressage world. I think everyone involved with horses should read this book.

I really can't understand why this book has gone out of print. If more riders and instructors read it then maybe there wouldn't be so many problems in the horse world. I really liked the way that the book dealt with the unsaid rules of the riding academy: how an instructor-rider relationship works, how to work with grooms, and what the necessary qualities of a school horse are. It is also a relief to find an author that reminds people that learning to ride right does take time!

One of my faorite quotes is on pg. 137. It reads "With riding, much more important than recognizing the fault is to find the cause. The teacher should beware of demanding that the exercise be performed strictly according to the clasical rules right from the beginning." If nothing else, the reader will learn WHY certain lessons should be in a specific order and how to know when to do them.

This book is probably one of the best investments an equestrian can buy. Written by a man decades ahead of his time, it will make a positive impact on the way you work in the horseworld.Enjoy!

This is an absolute must-read for anyone who rides dressage horses. It's like a basic textbook. For the earthbound, or for the rent-a-pony crowd, it will be a crashing bore. Podhajsky is not an easy-reading "how to ride" book. This is a very technical manual for serious riders, and it is engrossing. Podhajsky's attitude toward positive reinforcement as a training aid is right on, as is his discussion of how the training of horses was often misdirected in the past. My only complaint is that I wish there were more illustrations.

Podhajsky does a marvelous job of detailing the Classical dressage theory of the Spanish Riding School. He starts with a brief history of dressage & ends with airs above the ground. This is a must-read for any serious student of dressage. This book will help the reader understand the mechanics & methodology behind this extaordinarily successful system.

In my opinion this is one of the finest horsemanship novels ever written. Alois Podhajsky, dressage icon and former head of the Spanish Riding School, has created an exemplary literary piece that few horse books ever come close to. The book is divided into six chapters; each chapter has smaller subsections for easy referencing. Although younger readers may find this book to be "long" or "boring" due to its eloquent vocabulary, any serious horseman (or woman) will find this to be an exceptional novel. For people with little time I would recommend reading small sections at a time. The author explains so much that the reader should reflect on what he or she is learning, not just try to "cram" through it. The explanations in this book resulted in a marked improvement in my own skills, and I often refer other riders back to it whenever they are having trouble. Podhajsky makes even the most complex dressage manuvers easy to comprehend. I especially liked the way that he formed two different chapters on "the training of the horse" and "the training of the rider." By breaking the two concepts apart, a rider is able to first read of what the horse should be doing and then what he or she should be doing at the same time. Other chapters are about the principles of riding, definitions and key concepts, saddles and bridles, and the Spanish Riding School. The photographs and drawings in the novel are logical and illustrate the points wonderfully. Wise is the rider (even Western riders will benefit from the control and balance exercises) that buys this book; it is the perfect companion to horsemanship lessons.