The Classical Seat - The Key to Great Riding, Sylvia Loch
Second Edition A “Horse and Rider” publication – 2009 ISBN 978-0-9556298-2-2
 | Book Synopsis Classical Riding is relevant to everyone who is interested in improving their own and their horse’s performance. In this book, Sylvia Loch demonstrates how all riders – from all disciplines and at whatever level – can attain and develop a correct, classical seat, which forms the basis for all disciplines, whether you’re a weekend leisure rider, dressage devotee or professional three-day event rider. The book explains how to….
What makes this even more attainable is the author’s clear, concise instructions, combined with witty anecdotes, which results in a fresh, fun and simple-to-understand approach. That, together with imaginative use of full-colour photographs and easy-to-follow, self-explanatory illustrations, makes book both enjoyable and educational.
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CRC Review
The first edition of this work was published in 1988 and was considered by some to be not only controversial but open to serious criticism. We should not forget the message that has slowly but very clearly emerged in the intervening years since then that so called “modern dressage” has demonstrated no superiority over classical techniques where the two diverge and that the F.E.I. has been obliged to pay close attention to aspects of schooling and training which have attracted criticism from classicists and veterinarians alike. Likewise we have seen the slow re-emergence into the public spotlight of the works of the great Masters so that one is no longer surprised to find that those who now practice and enjoy the equestrian art may well have analysed for themselves the writings of Baucher, de la Guérinière, William Cavendish and even the early Neapolitans. In her foreword to the second edition of “The Classical Seat” Sylvia Loch reminds us of the fact that when this was first published her slim and useful book was followed in some quarters by a pamphlet and various articles in the equestrian press which sought to undermine her views. She was, for example, criticised for reference to the works of the great Masters and some of her critics described the three point seat contact as “anatomically impossible”. One suspects that those responsible for these criticisms had merely a passing acquaintance with the historical exponents of the equestrian art. All this has now come full circle and the publication of the second edition arrives after huge and consistent sales of the first edition which experienced no less than 7 re-issues over the space of 21 years and coincides with not only a rejection of those criticisms as entirely unfounded but an expanding public knowledge of the historical development of the classical seat. The critics must have fallen silent many years ago but what they did not trouble to appreciate or even investigate at the time was that Sylvia Loch’s work had a sound academic and practical basis. In 1968 she first set foot in Portugal and was soon by chance to sit for the first time on a fully trained high school horse. This is how she described that experience in a book which I was fortunate enough to buy many years ago on the evening of a presentation which Sylvia Loch gave at the Royal Mews in London[1]:
"I had gone to lunch with a charming Portuguese couple I had met in Lisbon on business, who had invited me to drive out to their quinta along the coast near Colares and who were particularly keen to let me taste their home-produced red wine.
When we arrived, the first thing I saw was a man schooling a magnificent grey stallion. He sat as still as a rock and, fascinated, I watched a complete re-enactment of all the movements I had once seen when the Spanish Riding School came to Wembley. No matter that here the arena was just a dirt ring, little more than 25 metres in diameter, the atmosphere was very relaxed. Under the midday sun, horse and rider were clearly enjoying themselves and every move, every feint, every twist and turn made by the horse seemed effortless and spontaneous. It was impossible to see if the rider had in fact aided the horse as the two moved as one and there was no visible sign of instruction.
Dressed in trousers and having rather naïvely exclaimed that I too loved horses and could ride, there was no excuse to refuse the invitation when the stallion was passaged up to me and brought to a dramatic standstill ...."
Those who have also read that book, published almost ten years after “The Classical Seat”, will either remember what followed next for Sylvia Loch that day or will wish to read it for the first time themselves but despite the experience that was to follow when she mounted the stallion it was obviously the beginning of the journey which she was to undertake and which was in due course to enlighten many. What the critics did not take the trouble to understand was well established in equestrian history and in daily practice in the Iberian Peninsular and in Vienna yet the critics never troubled to consider the fact that what Sylvia Loch had to say was by 1988 based on 20 years of experience which was to follow that first visit to Portugal. By the time “The Classical Seat” was first published she had been inspired by her late husband Lord Henry Loch and not only had a fundamental and deep rooted understanding of the principles of classical riding but had by then come to know and exchange ideas with some of the great modern Masters many of whom, including Michel Henriquet and Egon von Neindorff had been visiting the foothills of Lisbon where the school of Mestre Nuno Oliveira was located. As she points out in the foreword to this new edition she was not alone in history in being the subject of untutored criticism for Baucher’s star was also eventually to return to the ascendant.
These are the credentials behind the author’s original and her new edition, but what now of the book itself? First of all, its format is very different to the original first edition. It is profusely illustrated in a simple but compelling way and like all of Sylvia Loch’s work provides at a glance a practical guide to the message which the writer intends to convey. I particularly like the commentary that runs in the occasional column next to some of the photographs and which helps the reader to obtain a grasp of the overall structure of the book. When the author says “My aim is to take all the meaningless ‘guff’ out of riding” she has done exactly that and her aim to keep the application of the principles simple is laudable for how else can this book reach the wide audience who deserve to read it? I imagine that the author had to ask herself many times whether she had struck the correct balance between simplicity and instruction. The solution was to impress upon the reader the importance of applying a logical system of horsemanship based on an understanding of the reasons why the components of the seat are so essential. In my case having read attempts by other and hugely experienced writers to define the classical seat I have sometimes struggled to retain the message or not been able to ‘see the light’ because the text didn’t explain the point simply and clearly enough. The acid test must be whether the novice and the experienced rider can both find the book instructive and valuable and this test has been satisfied with this edition. I noted for example that the illustrations include simple ‘every day’ photographs of riders of all ages under instruction or in competition adjacent to photographs of those with international reputations at work with their horses. One of the points the author consistently makes is the need to learn from the examples provided by the great riders but at the same time to understand the reasons behind the principles. There can surely be no better way to learn and understand.
The book is divided into areas of practical instruction. The ‘seat’ of course embraces every aspect of a rider’s position, balance and composure on a horse. A very strong point has been made concerning bad posture and the author reminds us that an unbalanced head stresses the spine. Sylvia Loch emphasises that we cannot blame the horse all the time for the ‘bad back’ that many riders simply attribute to riding without wondering why that should be. Riding is not something which disposes the fit and active rider in itself to a ‘bad back’ and the author makes the point that it doesn’t explain the ‘Dowager’s hump’ seen in the hunting field or the ‘turkey nod’ so often seen in dressage riders leaning back from the vertical with a loose and uncontrolled head. The more important point she makes however and which one suspects few people appreciate is how this affects the horse for the author reminds us that the horse too can suffer from these inadequacies. The harsh seat will impact upon the horse’s back and riders too often resort to using the reins to maintain balance or support.
This absolutely critical message emerges loud and clear and is well explained during the preliminary phases of the book. The author reminds us that a good seat is not just about staying in balance but it is about utilising different sets of muscles for the giving of the aids and that one of the most difficult aspects of riding is keeping in balance with the horse – so the author describes the importance of ‘core stability’ and takes the reader to what is termed the ‘Key elements’ or the ‘logic’ behind the classical seat and this is well set out and explained in a practical and instructive manner – explaining the importance of supporting the back and resisting any temptation to round the spine or ‘tuck tails under’. It is here with so many writers that many people struggle with terminology and the author points out how terminology can be misleading. The message is that we don’t necessarily need to dwell on the interpretation of terms such as ‘kreuz’, instead we need to be reminded, as we are, that it is important not to be ‘taken in’ by some of the riding we see in the competition arena for the author points out that any extreme position will be counter productive of the welfare of the horse. It is the author’s view that the reason why this does not show so much in dressage competition is the proliferation of the warmbloods with their strength and generous nature; I suspect the author means also that the Iberian horse with his innate sensitivity may not only be less forgiving but the impact upon him would be more apparent. I found the illustrations of Nuno Oliveira well suited for inclusion with the text at this point, serving to remind us that he rode with an unusually strong and well controlled back and thereby demonstrating its value in collection.
What the reader may not have appreciated at first sight is the emphasis which the author has placed on the importance of correct saddles and the requirement to sit as close to the pommel as possible. It is of course well known that one of the failings of many riders is to believe that in the saddle lies the key to everything. If they succumb to temptation the search for the right saddle for them becomes a search for a solution to their problems. The message in this book comes across very clearly that while the choice and use of the correct saddle is vital it is only one of the ‘keys’ and we find that we have in the space of a few pages a very clear message – the saddle must be correct but it is not the panacea. The author’s guidance and the detail she provides both historically and of her own experience particularly with her ‘old favourite’ Portuguese saddle is invaluable. This part of the book precedes the detail concerning the truly critical element – the three point contact with the two pelvic bones and the crotch, described as the junction of the two ischia (seat bones) and the inferior process of the pubic bone. This is the position of the seat which the critics of the first edition described as “anatomically impossible” in their ignorance of the understanding of the seats of the great classical riders both past and present.
This invaluable book would not be complete without the helpful and detailed sections on the hands and legs and with it goes the “Buttons” – the means by which the author has described the position of the legs in conjunction with the leg aids. They are all here as they were before but with excellent illustrations. This was one of the aspects of the first edition which the late Captain Elwyn Hartley-Edwards found to be attractive in the review which he produced for ‘Riding Magazine’ in 1988. He described this means of explaining the leg positions and their function as ‘ingenious’ and I found the illustration attached to 'Finding the Right Button' at page 101 equally so. I suspect that had Captain Hartley-Edwards still been alive he would have been writing this review instead and I have little doubt that he would have embraced the new edition with equal enthusiasm.
[1] “The Classical Rider” – page 78 - J A Allen & Co 1997.
Review by Robert Smith Q.C, North Yorkshire, England.
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