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by Sylvia Loch, on 13th July 2009

It is rare to pick up a book today that one can truly term an Oeuvre. Exceptional in lay-out, weighty, stunningly illustrated, lovingly wri...Read Full Review

It is rare to pick up a book today that one can truly term an Oeuvre. Exceptional in lay-out, weighty, stunningly illustrated, lovingly written with thick crisp pages that smell just right - you instinctively know when you pick up this book that you have a Masterpiece in your hands. Cadmos Books has done the world of academic horsemanship a huge service by reproducing a book of such depth. It takes a particularly brave publisher to set costs aside and to produce something as generous and formidable as this, without considerable soul-searching. After all, not everyone in the English speaking world has heard of Egon von Neindorff, still less may be aware of his student, successor and translator Melissa Simms and who – in these troubled times – can afford a book of such quality? The price tag of £39.95 is considerable, yet once you have take a peep, – let alone read a word – I defy anyone to disagree that the cost is actually very modest. For those who think of the German position as that ugly driving seat displayed by so many competitors who claim to have ‘learned’ it in Germany, the reader may be heartened by the pictures of this book. Throughout 30 riveting chapters, black and white and coloured photographs jostling for supremacy on almost every page, there is no evidence of that position which so separates the ‘neo-Germanic’ rider from the classicist. For every picture tells a story – of beauty, of balance, of poise and correct posture both in horse and rider and of course, with the horse at all stages of his education. The rider clearly in empathy with his or her horse.