Lesley Skipper
I spent my early childhood in North Yorkshire obsessed with horses, but then lost touch with the horse world until adulthood. I spent the interim years travelling and studying Russian history, going off to Russia on my own at a time when very few Western Europeans went there.
Marriage into a horsey family rekindled my early enthusiasm for horses.
Voluntary redundancy after nearly 20 years in the Civil Service enabled me to realise a cherished project of writing a book about Arabian horses (The Arabian Show Horse, published by JA Allen in 1997). In 1999 JA Allen published my second book, Inside Your Horse's Mind, which was an equestrian bestseller. Others soon followed: Realize Your Horse's True Potential was published in 2003, followed by Let Horses Be Horses in 2005. Both were published by J.A. Allen. New Holland published Understanding Horse Behaviour in 2007, followed by Exercise School For Horse and Rider in 2008.
(For reviews of the above books, visit http://www.xenophon.org) I have several other book projects in the pipeline: watch this space!
I write about equestrian matters and Russian history and have contributed to various magazines, including Horse & Rider, Riding, Horse, Dressage, and various regional newspapers and magazines.
As well as being an Internet Liaison member for the Classical Riding Club, I am a regular contributor to the latter's quarterly Newsletter. I also contribute articles to Equine Behaviour, the magazine of the Equine Behaviour Forum.
I give lectures and seminars on equine behaviour; please see our Lectures and seminars page for more details.