Publications

Originally published in 1971, and now in its third edition, Morris’ Hunter Seat Equitation often is recognized as the definitive work on the subject. Morris also has authored several other books and videos on riding and judging. Live broadcasts of training sessions led by Morris are featured on the United States Equestrian Federation, USEF, network.

On March 15, Morris will release his new autobiography UNRELENTING -The Real Story: Horses, Bright Lights, and My Pursuit of Excellence

Carouser, competitor, taskmaster, dreamer, teacher, and visionary, George Morris has been ever-present on the rarified stage of the international riding elite for most of the 70 years he’s been in the saddle. He has represented our country as an athlete and a coach and, at one time or another, instructed many of our nation’s best horsemen and women. His carefully chosen, perfectly enunciated words are notoriously powerful. They can raise you up or cut you to the quick. His approval can be a rainmaker; his derision can end a career. But as much as people know and respect (or, perhaps, fear) the public face of George Morris, he has lived, in other ways, a remarkably private life, keeping his own personal struggles—with insecurity, ambition, and love—behind closed doors. It is only now that he has chosen, in his own words, to share the totality of his life—the very public and the incredibly private—with the world. This engrossing autobiography, the real story of the godlike George Morris, beautifully demonstrates his ultimate humanity.

Raised in the affluent New York City suburbs in the forties and fifties, GEORGE H. MORRIS was magnetically attracted to horses from an early age. It was a time when riding was popular with the New York social set, and his family connections with the wealthiest of the old guard allowed for his eventual ascent as a talented rider. In 1952, at the remarkably young age of 14, Morris won two of the most esteemed competitions at Madison Square Garden, making him the youngest rider to do so. After a hiatus from horses when he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre on East Fifty-Fourth Street, along with actress Joanna Pettet, Morris went on to earn an astounding number of medals for the United States in international and Olympic competition, both in the saddle and as a coach. He has ridden with and taught many well-known people, from Nancy Kissinger and Tab Hunter to Georgina Bloomberg and Athina Onassis—and, when staying with Doris Duke, even gave a first riding lesson to Imelda Marcos!

Morris also writes a very popular column in the monthly equestrian magazine Practical Horseman, entitled Jumping Clinic, in which he critiques the jumping form of riders in photographs that have been submitted by readers. He coined the term “Drama Riding” for the lack of classical position seen in riders in the show ring today.