Scotland is famous for its lochs. But as far as riders are concerned, especially dressage riders, there is only one loch: Sylvia Loch

• Author of no less than seven acclaimed equestrian books , which have been translated into three languages and published around the world, including the most famous of all, The Classical Seat, which has just be completely revised, up-dated and re-published.
• Star of eleven instructional DVDs, which sell in 35 countries, including the latest, Sensitive Schooling Vols I and II, Collection, Explored and Confirmed, which has just been released.
• Founder of The Classical Riding Club, which has just been recognised by the British Horse Society as its first Independent Partner, a special category it has established for respected associations.
• Founder of the Lusitano Breed Society of Great Britain, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary and was established partly in memory of her husband, Lord Henry Loch, a former cavalry instructor who first introduced her to the Classical Horse and Classical Riding.

And it all started with her first pony, Tommy and a deep love of the countryside. “He was very sharp indeed. He took me hunting, 'took' being the operative word. It was terrifying most of the time but I always wanted more!” she says.

“We lived in the deepest countryside and I enjoyed the freedom having a pony meant. There were few neighbours near us, especially not my own age, so the ponies were my constant companions. I loved the closeness of them and the fact in those days we could ride all day without seeing a road in sight. Over hill and dale and beside frozen lakes and so on. Where we lived in Scotland was very beautiful and I just went where I wanted. There were two huge estates close by, one with an absentee landlord and I felt I owned the land, the wonderful trees and the ornamental lakes. Such beauty all around - very inspiring.“ “At the time, I never for a moment thought I’d end up where I am today. “But I was always hungry for knowledge. I was also quite a perfectionist and worked very hard at what I liked doing.

My father could turn his hand to anything. He started as a businessman, became a dairy farmer and ended up a portrait painter. My mother wrote poetry. We were all musical. There were animals everywhere. I was never lonely because there was so much to do. I read a lot and started writing from a very early age - pony stories of course.” Sylvia admits she also owes a deep debt of gratitude to the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Branch of the Pony Club, where she says she was the one with the less than perfect pony.

“At the Linlithgow & Stirlingshire Branch I learnt excellent stable management and a modicum of sound horsemanship, which included jumping cavelletis with my arms folded, and how to ride cross country in a civilised fashion. Instruction in those days was thankfully traditional and based on sound cavalry principles, such as sit firm in the centre of the saddle, hands and legs down and treat your pony’s mouth as sacred. Where did that rule go?“ 

By the age of 15, people were bringing me ponies to school. From this, developed a small business to keep everyone occupied and happy as well as pay for the hay. Out of this grew my small but efficient Kaimes Riding School in the Pentland foothills, near Kirknewton where by the time I was doing A-levels,I was also running pony camps in the summer and giving lessons in the ring to improve position. I often found myself teaching the mums and dads too.

“As regards exams - regretfully, apart from the Pony Clubs, I never took any. Pony Club Exams were actually quite tough when I was a child. It’s very nice, therefore, to have this recognition from Portugal.” .
Think of Sylvia Loch and most people think of Portugal. Many think she was brought up there. No so.

“ I went there first at the age of 22/23 to run a discotheque! I left my safe publishing job in London and moved there because it was an amazing opportunity and a huge challenge. The disco thing was merely a chance to travel. But it also meant hard work, lots of responsibility. But it was also the greatest fun. I met some amazing people - including my husband Henry Loch. And in between working, I rode. And that's where I learned about classical dressage having before just been a hunting, jumping rider.“ Before long, with her husband, Henry, she was running a big dressage academy first in Loule in the Algarve and then back home near Clare in Suffolk where at one time they had 22 Lusitano School masters. “We were a little ahead of our time,“ says Sylvia with a wry smile.

Then suddenly in 1982 just after the birth of their daughter, Henry died leaving Sylvia without her mentor and soul-mate. She was forced to give up the school but was determined that people should know about their wonderful Lusitanos. "I went to J A Allen, the publishers, and discussed the idea of writing a history of the horses of Spain and Portugal." I never dreamt that it would turn into a voyage of exploration taking us back to before the time of the Romans.

The result was 'THE Royal Horse of Europe'. This was described by Horse & Hound in l986 as 'the equestrian book of the year'. It also gave my teaching a huge boost especially as I was teaching on these highly sensitive horses. "Imagine my surprise when a month after publication in 1986 I was invited to Buckingham Palace. The Queen was celebrating the Treaty of Windsor – 500 years of friendship between Britain and Portugal – and I was invited to attend the State Banquet being given for the Portuguese President. It was all pretty mind boggling but very exciting."

“Because of the book, which had taken years to research, I was now being asked to give talks and lectures. One of the most memorable was to a group of art experts at the Royal Academy in London!  I was quite scared. But afterwards they all came up to me  and said how much they had learned!  Whilst they knew about equestrian art,  they had no idea about the breed of  horse those artists were painting and now felt able to discern the difference.  That was a really good feeling because my whole lecture was about the type of horse people like Van Dyck and Velasquez were painting, why they rode them and then how everything changed when the Oriental breeds came into this country and the English TB was born!  It seemed that they had never thought about that before. But I had. Hence my book.” 

All this interest in the Iberian horse meant Sylvia was becoming more and more in demand. To give demonstrations. To write for newspapers and magazines She was also competing in dressage. But this was not where her heart lay. She was finding much greater satisfaction and motivation in being creative. She saw teaching, demonstrating, lecturing and writing as the way forward.

“After The Royal Horse, I wrote The Classical Seat which was only a small paper back but it caused a huge furore in the horse world because nobody had ever written about the rider's seat in such depth before. I got attacked by a few elderly gentlemen who seemed more concerned about their nether regions than learning how to sit on a horse correctly. Whilst the arguments raged on, my book simply sold more and more copies. Within as many years it had gone to seven editions.“

“ I then decided to study and write the History of Dressage, another big and important book, which has been translated into French and German and is this year going into a second edition in Germany. Its proper name is Dressage, the Art of Classical Riding. It has been seen as the reference book of all time for dressage enthusiasts.

I can be quite academic when I am motivated and I spent three years researching the book and sourcing a lot of original material. But again I am amazed it is still going but obviously very pleased.

“Two years later I published  The Classical Rider,  a book I never believed anyone would buy, let alone gain me an award from J A Allen, my publisher. It was basically a biography yet it sold more copies  than any other Allen book that year in its first six-months of publication. To launch the book, I demonstrated with two of my horses at the indoor riding school at Buckingham Palace and did a full dressage test with only a cord in my horse’s mouth.

“As a result, the book was warmly reviewed all over the globe, provoking more letters and confidences than one ever dreamed possible. People completely unknown to me still write to me today  to  say how much courage it has given them.  I feel humbled when people speak of inspiration, but maybe it just shows anyone can make a silk purse out of sow’s ear – including me. ”

The success of these books led to Sylvia deciding to found the Classical Riding Club. She did this as a way of giving something back to all those people who had demonstrated their interest and support in what she was trying to achieve for the ordinary rider.

“I also felt that The Classical Riding Club would encourage other teachers and trainers, especially those who for reasons beyond their control, had often remained undiscovered. I knew there were many out there who should have been recognised, but who – perhaps through their dislike of the staged examination system – had remained unknown to the very people they might have helped.

“ I like to think CRC has re-addressed the balance, even although we cannot officially approve anybody. What we can do is support, encourage and help teachers and trainers to follow their own star. Also, not to be afraid to swim against the flow when that is in the best interests of their pupils both equine and human. “I also wanted to provide a self-help source for people riding at home to feel they belonged to something special, global and totally committed to the horse's education and happiness.

“I do find it difficult to keep up with everyone in the horse world but CRC is a wonderful vehicle for reaching out to old friends, students and readers. By writing a monthly Editorial, publishing a Blog on line, they can hear from me but without my devoting my whole day to dashing off emails!!!  Mind you, even so... it's hard...I do sometimes feel, help - stop the world - I want to get off.  But I am sure that I’m not alone in feeling like this.”
Sylvia Loch has achieved so much, helped and advised so many people all over the world. Does she still have any ambitions left?

“Yes,” she says.
 “I really want to see dressage judging changed.  To be horse friendly, to respect the horse as a delicate, sensitive creature, not a macho, super-charged, machine.  People are far too impressed by big movement, huge extensions... where has the ballet of riding gone, one wonders?

“Dressage tests too. I'd love to see the whole mark system to be closer to what I devised for the Classical Riding Club and what has proved so ground breaking. British Dressage have already implemented some of our Rules since we published them, but I'd like to see more done. And maybe some consultation for courtesy's sake.

“It's time we saw Rider Marks become much more important. Where people get rewarded for quiet and correct riding. Where others are properly penalised for corrupting the FEI rules, for example, lightness of the forehand. How dare judges reward riders where the horse is massively overbent from taut reins and a strong harsh seat driving them into unrelenting hands. It's a travesty."

“No, I am not the washing rein type of person either. I want to see horses properly on the bit because they are properly engaged and are light in the shoulders and accept the bit without being driven. Instead, accepting the bit because they 'want' to find your hand. And because your hand is light as the result of correct aiding. Why can't judges be trained to understand the difference?"

“I would like to see extra classes for one-handed riding tests where it's much harder to cheat in this way."

“I would like to see a system where there is some way riders who have trained their own horses, not bought themselves into the sport, can be rewarded."