SYLVIA Loch first started teaching when she was 15 at her family's home at the foot of the Pentland Hills on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Little did she know that she was laying the foundations for the art of classical riding that she is best known for today.

From an unorthodox background in horses she later became a member of the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire branch of the Pony Club. "It was very structured, with strict horse management and I learned to ride properly there," explained Sylvia.

"When I was still young, people started to bring horses for me to school and this led to teaching. I did camps and treks and by the time I was 19, Kaimes Riding School was flourishing. It was very popular and I would teach parents as well as children.

"I would buy ponies at the Kelso sales and they would naturally fall into shape. I never had much fear and the trust seemed to be mutual."

Naturally confident, it has served Sylvia well. At 21 she gave up the riding school and moved to London to become a secretary until being offered a job on a huge cruise liner. "I ran the first discotheque at sea for a year, it was an amazing opportunity and gave me a chance to travel."

Afterwards Sylvia moved to Lisbon, in Portugal, it reminded her of Edinburgh and she quickly became fluent in Portuguese. It was here that she met her late husband Lord Henry Loch, a former cavalry instructor who first introduced her to the classical horse, the classical way of riding and Lusitano horses.

"Henry loved the Portugese horses. They are bred for bull fighting and as well as brave are very light on their forehand, can lift, turn and spin on their hocks. Classical riding is a way of riding that's been largely lost in Britain for the past three centuries," explains Sylvia.

Henry and Sylvia ran a dressage academy in Portugal, before moving back to Suffolk where at one time they had around 20 Lusitano schoolmasters. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Henry died, and she was forced to give up the school and rehome most of the horses. Afterwards Sylvia founded The Lusitano Breed Society of Great Britain, and felt compelled to write about the breed.

Today she has written seven books and two have been translated into French and German. An eighth book is due out in spring 2013. Sylvia is proudest of the book Dressage in Lightness, which was written in 2000 but is still a best seller today.

Her historical books, The Royal Horse of Europe and Dressage, the Art of Classical Riding are labours of love – she spent four years getting up at 4am to research, write and illustrate them. They include a history of the horses of Spain and Portugal and it was this work that led to her being presented to H. M. The Queen at the Portuguese State Banquet at Buckingham Palace in l993.

For Sylvia, writing and teaching go together.

"I wanted to make people aware of the principals of horsemanship, the way it was taught in Greek and Roman times," explained Sylvia.

"I'd seen the way the horses moved so effortlessly, moving from the seat only with the rider's hands so soft.

"The poll must always be the highest point and riders have to forget about controlling the horse from the front end with over-dependence on the hands. Instead, they need to appreciate more fully how the horse's hindend works, how energy can only become connected through freedom of the back and well-engaged hocks and how the application of weight aids in the saddle can either make the work easy or difficult for the horse.

"Most children sit perfectly in the saddle even before they've had instruction; they have good natural balance and we should capitalise on this," points out Sylvia.

"In the early Olympics, dressage was more about agility and nimbleness, but in modern times we seem to have lost that. There's a big difference between huge powerful gaits and a light nimble horse. I want a horse that will turn on a six-pence when I ride.

"All of my horses I've produced from scratch – they are sensitive and quick to pinpoint any weakness, they really help students to ride more safely and in a better posture.

"The whole point of competition dressage was that each cavalry officer trained his own horse – no matter its size, shape or breed – to be a wonderful and obedient ride."

Bouyed on by the positive feedback she has received from her books, in 1995 Sylvia formed the Classical Riding Club, to rekindle an interest in the type of riding still favoured by the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, old Saumur and the Portuguese and Spanish Schools of Equestrian Art. There are members all over the world and they are committed to the horse's education and happiness.

Today Sylvia demonstrates with a pure-bred Lusitano stallion Prazer, which means Pleasure in Portuguese.

She bought him as a six-year-old, and he has delighted audiences all around Britain.

"The Lusitanos are very sensitive, they are short backed, and with their centre of balance further back, they're naturally on their hocks," explains Sylvia.

"When I teach I look at the horse and can tell straight away if the rider isn't sitting correctly."

Sylvia moved back to Scotland to the outskirts of Kelso 16 years ago to a large beautiful house that overlooks the Cheviot hills. It has allowed her horses to have plenty of space for grazing and stables as well as facilities to offer individual tuition on her own or on students' own horses.

Currently, Sylvia is finishing her latest book and holding training sessions. At the time of my visit there was an American lady over for two weeks of concentrated lessons as a follow up from her first visit three years earlier. She has also produced 10 instructional dvds. "I, myself have learned so much from watching, I don't think people realise how much you absorb," points out Sylvia.

Just last month Sylvia judged the Lusitano and Spanish horse classes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show and has also judged showing classes all over the world including New Zealand, Australia, several times in the USA, and San Paolo in Brazil.

"I would like to think that dressage continues in the future as an art, not a sport, there's a huge difference. I would like to see it marked more on the training not on the type of horse; today it's about the mount with the flashiest movement.

"We do have some amazing riders but its a shame that it often comes down to the most expensive horse. I'd like to see dressage judges reward better riding, where people get rewarded for a quiet, sympathetic style. The first rule of the FEI Principles is the lightness of the forehand but you don't see much of that today.

"I want to see supple horses that are properly engaged and light in the shoulders and which accept the bit without being driven. My dream is a system where riders who have trained their own horses, not bought themselves into the sport, can be properly rewarded and where how you ride rather than what you ride matters more.

"The horse hasn't changed in thousands of years, neither have human beings. We are all ruled by the same physical laws of nature, which is why there is no middle way – only correct, and incorrect," concluded Sylvia.

* To find out more see www.classical-riding.net