A robed rider sits on a black horse seen in full side profile, facing left with its head lowered slightly. Thin dark reins loop down to the rider's hand. The rider's face is entirely hidden beneath an oversized wide-brimmed hat, which rises into the upper right as the tallest element in the scene.

The horse's musculature and the rider's draped black robe are built from angular, faceted planes, with hard-edged shifts of colour standing in for naturalistic shading. Loose, dry brushwork fills the background edge to edge with no horizon line. Muted olive green, deep matte black, brick red and pale warm cream sit under soft, even light, giving the figure study a quiet, enigmatic and gently whimsical mood.