Breaking and Riding: With Military Commentaries

One of the most important works ever written on dressage, Breaking and Riding is essential reading for the serious dressage enthusiast. In this work, the result of a lifetime spent training horses, James Fillis (1834–1913) clearly explains his theories and methods, starting with the basics of breaking—lungeing, work in hand, and first mounting—and progressing to advanced work, including canter pirouette, tempi changes, piaffe, and passage. Throughout the work, Fillis always returns to his basic principle: The horse must be “correctly balanced and light in forward movements and propulsion, in order that the rider may obtain the most powerful effects with the least exertion.” Fillis was an apprentice to a student of the legendary trainer François Baucher. In this book, while expressing admiration for Baucher, Fillis also explains in detail the ways in which he believed Baucher was mistaken in some of his methods.

Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest high school riders of all time, James Fillis spent sixty years training horses and served as Écuyer en chef to the Saint Petersburg Cavalry Riding School. Barbara Burkhardt is a U.S. Dressage Federation “L” judge and author of Dressage from A to X: The Definitive Guide to Riding and Competing.