In 1948, the year of the London Olympics, the Daily Mail carried a
centre spread of a Lippizaner horse performing a capriole. On the
strength of this photograph, the young Charles Harris took a train
to Aldershot, where the equestrian events were held, and after
narrowly avoiding arrest for loitering without authorization in the
stable area, managed to procure a meeting with the rider of the
horse, Alois Podhajsky. As a result, and sponsored by Colonel VDS
Williams, one of the leading equestrian figures of the day, Charles
became the first pupil to complete the 1948 - 52 course at the
Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Every day he wrote down what he
had learned, illustrating each point in his own inimitable style,
filling two thick A4 notebooks. These numbered notes are faithfully
reproduced just as he wrote them, forming a unique and fascinating
record of the nuts and bolts of classical horsemanship as taught at
the most exclusive and famous riding school in the world. The
workbooks are prefaced by a memoir of the author's life, taken
mainly from transcripts of conversations with his nephew, Robert
Sherman, together with additional contributions from his
contemporaries. Born Charles Gallewski in the Jewish quarter of
Sunderland in 1915, Charles experienced a traumatic childhood,
spending time both at a workhouse and a children's home. After an
incident-packed period during which he deserted from the army and
changed his name twice, Charles, a talented horseman, gained a
fellowship of The Institute of the Horse and his future looked
promising. However, his return from the Spanish Riding School found
him a prophet without honour in his own country as the equestrian
establishment resisted the teaching and discipline of the Spanish
School. A fierce and unforgiving opponent when disputing points of
equestrian technique and safety, Charles became a thorn in the side
of the British Horse Society who having previously awarded him a
fellowship, then stripped him of the honour. This memoir, at times
painfully frank, often extremely moving yet full of humour,
provides a compelling insight into one of the great characters of
the horse world: a brilliant, yet always controversial man.
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