Riding by Torchlight: A Grass Roots Advocacy for Classical Horsemanship from Arena to Savannah

Riding by Torchlight, A Grass Roots Advocacy for Classical Horsemanship from Arena to Savannah is a collection of editorials and stories written during the tumultuous recent history of modern dressage. Susannah West Cord covers a wide range of topics from rehabilitating a retired racehorse, to the Rollkur controversy haunting the competitive world of dressage, to thoughtful essays on classical horsemanship.

Riding By Torchlight is eclectic, thought-provoking, entertaining, intensely personal and introspective. Cord's writing is alternately philosophical, humorous, adventurous, moving, fierce and inspiring. With heartfelt tributes to extraordinary horses and scathing commentary on the vagaries of the ruling equestrian bodies, this collection of essays is a look inside the heart and mind of a devoted horsewoman trying to make sense of a swiftly changing equestrian landscape with seemingly shape-shifting principles and beliefs. Cord's work carries a torch for a classical horsemanship developed over the centuries by trial and error, while shining a light on its countless applications and benefits with humor and devotion.

Raised in Denmark, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, Susannah West Cord is a lifelong horsewoman, life coach, horse trainer, speaker and writer. While her studies have taken her down paths that included natural horsemanship and western riding, classical horsemanship remains the focus of Susannah's horsemanship. Building on her foundation of cavalry-based horsemanship, Susannah furthered her studies with Jane McLoud and her mentor, Liz Searle, in California. Her teachers include Walter Zettl, Eddo Hoekstra, Carol McArdle, and Manolo Mendez. Long-time student of Nuno Oliveira, Stephanie Grant Millham [author of The Legacy of Master Nuno Oliveira] has mentored Susannah since 2010. Now located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Susannah continues to pursue her passions of classical horsemanship, travel, writing, and life coaching.