Riding with Oliveira (My Time with the Mestre—Forty Years Later)

The true Mestre is a person who directs and changes your life. Renowned champion of classical equitation principles and bestselling author Dominique Barbier names the revered Portuguese equestrian Mestre Nuno Oliveira as his. “Through great discipline, scholarly, serious inquiry and analysis, and a nonstop relentless passion, he formed his understanding of the Equestrian Art,” says Barbier. “As any student of Mestre Nuno Oliveira will know, he was anything but a simple man.” Over several years Barbier had the unique opportunity to form an intimate relationship with Mestre Oliveira. In this deeply personal book Barbier chronicles their time together. Beginning in a tiny, dimly lit riding hall in Póvoa de Santo Adrião, Portugal, where seminal moments of Barbier's riding education dawned under the watchful eyes of many luminaries of the European riding elite, the book then explores what came later when Barbier studied with the Mestre in Avessada and traveled with him to Belgium. Barbier's recollections are complemented by those of three other equestrians who learned from the Mestre: Dany Lahaye, Bettina Drummond, and Luis Valença. The result is a remarkable and insightful retrospective of one of the most extraordinary horsemen of all time.