Dressage Masters takes the reader into four of the greatest training stables in Europe. The master instructors express their philosophies and practices with regard to training horses and riders, and the state of dressage in the United States and elsewhere in the world. They also share fascinating and enlightening stories about their own education, and the triumphs and hurdles encountered along their paths to success. The trainers are: • Klaus Balkenhol: Olympic Individual Bronze and two-time gold Team medal winner; coached the German Olympic gold medal team including the individual silver and bronze medalists and the USA Olympic bronze medal team. •Ernst Hoyos: trained Ulla Salzgeber, winner of two Olympic Team gold medals, and Lisa Wilcox, member of the United States Equestrian Team bronze medal squad. •Dr. Uwe Schulten-Baumer: trained Nicole Uphoff and Isabel Werth, Olympic equestrian record holders of four gold medals; Dr Schulten-Baumer Jr., winner of team gold medal in the 1980 Alternate Olympics and 1978 World Championships •George Theodorescu: trainer of many top international teams and riders, including his daughter Monica, three-time Olympic Team gold medalist Each chapter includes insightful descriptions and sequence photographs of exercises and other teaching techniques, and the book concludes with a detailed index that cross-references training problems as a handy guide for the reader-rider's own program. Already eagerly anticipated by the international dressage community, Dressage Masters is destined to become an instant classic in the literature of classical horsemanship.
Maybe the best way to introduce this book to our audience is to quote Max Gahwyler when he read the book when it was in manuscript form: "You must publish this. It is superb!" We agree this is, truly, one of, if not the clearest, most readable books on training dressage ever written. It's just delightful! As Egon von Neindorf, a recognized master himself, says in the Foreword, "If you are not fortunate enough to be taught by Walter Zettl personally, he gives you in this book a very valuable guide to the art of classical riding. In clearly worked out and easy to understand chapters, he takes you through each step of the training stages, discusses problems that occur, and assists with competent, sensible corrections, from Beginner to becoming a Master. With Walter Zettl's guidance, it is made possible."
Discover how to learn more effectively, how to develop a better relationship with your horse and how to successfully compete at dressage. Foreword by Mary Wanless BHSI BSc.
This delightfully written book gives readers a first-hand, behind-the-scenes look at what dressage training abroad entails. In this personal memoir, the author chronicles the year she spent in Germany studying with the great dressage master Walter Christensen. A fascinating read for anyone familiar with the challenges often faced by those who choose to seriously pursue a riding sport.
Master Dressage - www.masterdressage.co.uk Get Access to free weekly webinars, videos, audio and articles upon purchasing the book. Details inside the book. The world of horse riding is changing. People are no longer satisfied with vague instructions, the mystique of talented riders, or the mishmash of teaching methods - which seem to contradict each other and lack long-term effectiveness. Riders want answers! Riders today are becoming more intelligent about their training, and are much more concerned with the welfare of the horse and using ethical training methods. In this book you'll discover how to learn more effectively, how to develop a better relationship with your horse, and how to develop an end-to-end strategy for training yourself and your horse to compete at dressage. I will show you the map, give you the right tools, and be your guide to a more successful competitive experience. This book is ideally suited for riders elementary/level 2 and below. It provides riders and trainers alike with new ideas, new approaches to competing and provides a framework for continued learning, putting the rider firmly on the side of the horse! I choose the title Master Dressage, because by reading this book, you will have a way of thinking, training and learning which allows you to go out and master dressage. Note: This book has been designed to be read in print format with the text on the left and a diagram on the right. The kindle format is laid out well, but nothing beats the readability of a book for instructional text Testimonials "If you would like to improve your accuracy, get more marks and understand the basics of riding and training dressage, then buy this book!" Lindsay Jenkins International Grand Prix Rider, British Dressage List 1 Judge, FEI 3/4 star Event Judge, Accredited Coach with British Dressage - www.lindsayjenkins.co.uk "Peter Dove has done a great job in explaining the geometry of the movements, and the problems that people commonly experience when riding them. Understanding the reasons for doing them, and how they fit and flow together is a great help in both riding a test that will score well, and within day to day training." Mary Wanless BHSI BSc International Rider Biomechanics coach and author of the Ride With Your Mind Books & DVDs - www.mary-wanless.com "This book is a fantastic concept for riders from grass roots, to those advancing up the levels. We all need some guidance and a plan to work to both short term and long term, to achieve our goals, and this book gives that support and logic to really encourage a thinking rider. It will be a well used book in anyones tool kit." Demelza Hawes International Classical Dressage Rider/Trainer - www.hawesbordas.com "What the book provided for me was a clarity and structure in my thinking about preparation for competition, both for myself and my clients. It also gave me a new way of viewing the purpose of the competition, which may take some of the stress away from competitions themselves (currently I don't get out often). For less experienced riders, I believe it will provide a great foundational structure. It will guide them on the best path forward. Even if there are some elements they don't yet understand or have feeling for, it will bring to their awareness things they might be thinking about and noticing, and in due course giving them valuable AhHa moments. I wish I'd had this book as a reference point when doing my Pony Club tests and BHS stages." Karin Major - Move To Improve Equestrian - Rider Biomechanics Coach and Rider Body Awareness and Movement specialist. www.mtie.co.uk
James Fillis' classic work Principes de Dressage et d'Equitation originally written in French was translated into English in 1902 by Mathew Horrace Hayes and came to be known under the title of Breaking and Riding. This faithful Xenophon Press edition, restores the title to its clear meaning: Principles of Dressage and Equitation. In the interest of preserving this title forever, Xenophon Press has painstakingly reformatted the text and illustrations in a convenient, well laid out format including all of the text and imagery, unlike lesser facsimile copies on the market."My method of equitation consists in distribution of weight by the height of the neck bent at the poll and not at the withers; propulsion by means of the hocks being brought under the body; and lightness by the loosening of the lower jaw. When we know this, we know everything, and we know nothing. We know everything, because these principles are of universal application; and we know nothing, because they have to be applied practically. "Practice cannot be taught in a book; but I will try to set forth principles." - JAMES FILLIS. "Having fortunately had many opportunities of seeing Mr. Fillis ride both in Germany and at the St. Petersburg Cavalry Riding School, where he is Ecuyer en chef, I can fully endorse the correctness of the good opinion held about him by his most enthusiastic admirers. "With extremely few exceptions, school riders abuse their power, and sacrifice freedom of movement to exaggerated control, with the result, in many cases, of getting their animals behind their bits and straining their hocks. Such men ride in a mechanical manner, which is inelegant in a school...and is entirely unsuited for work in the open. Mr. Fillis, on the contrary, acting on his motto "en avant" (ride forward), has succeeded in showing how a horse can be made clever in his movements, without in any way diminishing his usefulness on the road or over a country. I therefore trust that all English-speaking horsemen...will profit by the valuable instruction which he now puts before them." - M. H. HAYES, translator:
Rider Biomechanics is a collaboration between rider biomechanics coach Mary Wanless and functional anatomist Thomas Myers. Myer's seminal book Anatomy Trains explains how connective tissue joins muscles together into functional chains. Some of these chains extend from head to toe, and they are the 'lines of pull'. Elite riders excel in balancing the tension in their lines, creating a stable balanced structure which can transmit and redirect the forces of the horse's movement. Easy, fluid, sitting eludes less skilled riders - but this book, with its copious photographs and illustrations, provides a route map for reorganising 'lines of pull', sitting, and influence on one's horse. It is through balancing one's own lines that you learn how to balance one's horse, changing his carriage and movement, and discovering the secrets of the few talented riders who naturally possess those skills.
