Vladimir Littauer served in the Russian Imperial Cavalry from 1911 to 1920. This book recounts, with humour and modesty, his experiences as a cadet at the Nicholas Cavalry School in St. Petersburg, through the hair-raising struggles of the First World War and the trauma of the Russian Revolution, to his escape in 1920. By the time you turn the last page, you will feel as if you have galloped beside the author through the early years of his amazing life. As Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart writes in the Foreword, this is quite the best book on its subject ever written, and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in cavalry warfare, life under the Czar or European military history. Littauer arrived in the United States in 1921, and shortly thereafter founded the famous Boots and Saddles Riding School in New York. For the next sixty years he taught successive generations of riders and teachers, and revolutionised riding in the United States and overseas. He wrote ten books on equitation and training, all of which are full of long experience, a deep love of horses, and plenty of common sense.