Dear Leslee Connell Schwartz,

A friend of mine, who knew that I knew your father and learned a lot from him, got a copy of the book "Vaquero Style Horsemanship" for me and sent it to me as a complete, and pleasant, surprise. I had no idea that a compilation of Ed's articles had been published! Some of them I already had, namely those published in H & R and Western Horseman, which I had subscribed to at the time, others were new to me.

I do appreciate what you did, and Ed certainly deserves it. He was a very special man, the rare thing among horsemen: a teacher. I had the pleasure to translate his "Hackamore Reinsman" into German some years ago, a book that is, as far as I know, still in demand. I was just recently asked to do a hackamore clinic in April, and it will give me another chance to keeps Ed's legacy and his name in people's minds. I met him in 1975 at Jack Carroll's place after I'd had a lengthy correspondence with him, which started in '73. When I wrote the first book on western training, Ed was kind enough to write a foreword for me. I still have most of the letters he wrote me, and cherish them. I'm absolutely proud to have known him personally.

Anyway, I'd like to applaud you for a job well done. I'm going to re-read Ed's old letters and see if there is anything that might be of interest for you to quote, should there be another edition...

Best regards,

Hardy Oelke
Othmaringhausen
58553 Halver
Germany