Kip Mistral
Cultivating legacy and posterity for classical horsemanship and traditions

Reasons for Riding (On the Freedom, Lightness and Enjoyment of the Horse)

Reasons for Riding (On the Freedom, Lightness and Enjoyment of the Horse)

(I printed out this article from an old internet site (http://members.ozmail.com.au/) on 7/12/02. It does not display the name of the author. The site’s name may have had something to do with Inner Riding. I put out a call for help on Facebook to see if anyone is familiar with the author, his/her esoteric writing or the old site, but so far have had no luck. If I could be in contact of course I would seek permission to reprint! I have kept the original UK spellings of the wording.)

Reasons for Riding: On the Freedom, Lightness and Enjoyment of the Horse

Watching riders work their horses, and handling them on the ground, makes me wonder sometimes why we own horses. I see riders who seem to have lost all sight of why they first were attracted to horses and riding, or what they are trying to achieve with their horses.

They shout at their horses and hit them every time they do something wrong (‘wrong’ in their owners’ eyes, anyway). I wonder if they realise that all they’re doing is displaying their lack of knowledge and understanding of horses.

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Richard Hinrichs: German Master of In-Hand Work and Classical Equitation

Richard Hinrichs: German Master of In-Hand Work and Classical Equitation

I’ve been following German classical specialist Richard Hinrichs since his beautiful DVD and its companion book “Schooling Horses In-Hand” were published in English in 2001 by Trafalgar Square Books here in the U.S. [The DVD is on the list of Recommended Reading on Longeing for the Fourth Level on the USDF website, to this day.] If you have not heard of Richard Hinrichs, he is literally the product of a lineage of hundreds of years of European classical teaching. But twenty years ago, in all my years of study of horses and riding, I not yet seen anything like these classical training principles.

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UNCUT: “Up in Heaven” — The Full Interview with Walter Zettl

UNCUT: “Up in Heaven” — The Full Interview with Walter Zettl

(© Kip Mistral 2007. Photo credits unknown.)

[NOTE from KM: Sometimes when I interview subjects, they can be more direct than the publication’s audience at the time might be ready for, so in the past I have erred on the side of caution and eliminated certain content from the final article. However, those honest remarks are the parts I like the best. I asked the charming and gracious Walter Zettl if he wanted to censor any part of our interviews and he said, “No, I’m old…they can think what they want.” So in that spirit, I publish here for your enjoyment the uncut transcription of my recorded interviews, over a weekend clinic here in Tucson years ago. I leave undisturbed the syntax of his speech.]

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Book Review: Friedrich Wilhelm Baron Reis von Eisenberg and “The Art of Riding a Horse”

Book Review: Friedrich Wilhelm Baron Reis von Eisenberg and “The Art of Riding a Horse”

(© Kip Mistral 2017. First published in the United States Lipizzan Federation quarterly NEWS publication for Winter 2018. Feature image is Painting #26: Gallop leading with near fore, from “The Classical Riding Master”. Subsequent illustration credits inline.)

The great horsemen of the European baroque and romantic eras were undeniably aristocrats. After all, making a great horseman and a great horse—in those days—was expected to take a lifetime in the first case, and many years in the second case. Only aristocrats and nobility had the time and the money to acquire fine horses and undertake the deep study that in these times made becoming a graceful, elegant rider an important character-building experience. The German-born Friedrich Wilhelm Baron Reis von Eisenberg (1685-1764)1 was such a lucky one.

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Walter Zettl: Up In Heaven…The Language of Harmony

Walter Zettl: Up In Heaven…The Language of Harmony

(© By Kip Mistral. First published in Equine Journal July, 2007. Photograph Courtesy of Premier Equestrian.)

“Now…we take up the reins very carefully,” Walter Zettl speaks softly into the microphone, “The mouth is the most sensitive part. Softer…softer…”. Here at one of Zettl’s winter clinics in Tucson, Arizona, the rider has been walking her horse on the buckle during one of the frequent breaks for the horse. We are all comrades in escaping the desert sun, and those of us observing have joined Zettl under the canopy where he sits to instruct.

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