Nuno Oliveira’s Art of Riding & Life: Pureza Oliveira on Her Father, His Books, and Her Story | INSIDE THE MANÈGE
In episode 4 of the Inside the Manège podcast, I sit down with Pureza Oliveira, daughter of the now legendary classical rider Nuno Oliveira, at her father’s old farm – Quinta do Brejo in Portugal.
In this special episode, we talk about stories and insights into who her father was as a person and a rider, as well as explore her own story of becoming an artist, and translating his writings into English and Portuguese. Compiling his complete works in English in the two books; Equestrian Art: The Collected Early Writings (1951-1956) by Master Nuno Oliveira, and Equestrian Art: The Collected Later Works by Master Nuno Oliveira, Pureza has made his methods and philosophy accessible for riders in English for the first time.
If you’ve been wanting to get a glimpse inside what it was like to live alongside Nuno Oliveira, this conversation also reveals much more than his techniques, and this is what makes this episode a little bit different: this time, it’s more about exploring the culture around classical riding, told through stories of a person’s life, character, and influence on the classical riding world.
Part of the culture, as she describes, were the passionate discussions on classical riding her father would often have with friends and students, who were also very accomplished riders. Riders like Dom Diogo de Bragança, Ghuilerme Borba, and Miguel Tavora would regularly come together and talk about lightness, collection, and impulsion. She also shares how much Nuno Oliveira emphasized the importance of reading classical riding books, and how he continued to read the works of the old masters throughout his life.
Pureza continues to be an important representative of her father’s life and work, and shares what it was really like to grow up with him, and observe him working with the horses. She describes her father’s big personality, his family, their daily life, her artistic work, and their shared artistic approach to life.
As a master of equestrian art, Nuno Oliveira continues to inspire riders and is celebrated as one of, if not the greatest rider of the 20th century.
To watch this episode with subtitles, and in additional languages, turn on closed captions for the video on YouTube and select your preferred language in settings.
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