Creating the perfect musical freestyle can be an overwhelming prospect, but this compilation provides a proven step-by-step process that makes learning to ride with music an enjoyable and achievable goal. With a guide for each level through Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), this resource starts with the compulsory requirements and do’s and don’ts, explores the addition of music, and culminates with reinforcing exercises. Applying those new elements while riding can be applied immediately with the accompanying practice CD. In addition, the book provides a guide to available technologies, the best types of metronomes, as well as a music notation guide for beginners. Anyone who is actively coaching, teaching, or training will find this to be an invaluable addition to their curriculum or training program.
You and your horse can be one with the help of Tai Chi. Have you ever seen a talented dressage rider performing an exquisite test, her seat seemingly melding with her horse's back, and his movements airy, animated, and effortless? Or, perhaps you have watched a great cutting horse at work, his direction and momentum changing on a dime as he reads his cow, his rider's body flowing fluidly above him as if they were one. We all dream of experiencing this kind of connection with our horses, and in this groundbreaking new book, James Shaw shows us how the practice of Tai Chi--an ancient Chinese art that unifies the body, mind, and spirit in a series of flowing movements--can help us achieve it. His methods will enable you to: develop a sensitive seat; learn to use your breath as an aid; reduce tension unconsciously held in your hands; lower and expand your center of balance; create free movement in your lower back and spine; heal pain and stiffness in your body; and much more. James' techniques have worked for hundreds or riders, and with practice, they will work for you. As you gain Tai Chi experience and apply it to you rider, you will find your horsemanship becoming not just more skilled, but more deeply satisfying.
For more than 30 years, Yoga Journal has been helping readers achieve the balance and well-being they seek in their everyday lives. With every issue,Yoga Journal strives to inform and empower readers to make lifestyle choices that are healthy for their bodies and minds. We are dedicated to providing in-depth, thoughtful editorial on topics such as yoga, food, nutrition, fitness, wellness, travel, and fashion and beauty.
Provides basic information on different styles of riding, such as Western, English, and trail; and discusses caring for horses, staying mentally and physically fit, and entering competitions.
A practical guide to using reward-based training techniques to create a true partnership with your horse. This leads to lifelong connection, effective problem-solving and joyful performance.
Within riding exists a fundamental conflict of interest: The rider needs to have control—her confidence depends on her ability to control the balance of her own body as well as that of her very powerful horse. The horse, by nature, needs to feel free—free in both mind and body to express himself through movement. In When Two Spines Align, author Beth Baumert, writer and editor at the equestrian magazine Dressage Today, resolves the freedom-control enigma by taking a close look at the individual components that make up riding and dressage and providing practical ways riders can learn to harness the balance, energies, and forces at play. Readers will discover how to use “positive tension” and their body’s “power lines” to become balanced and effective in the saddle. They will then find ways to understand and manage the horse's balance and “coordination challenges.” Ultimately, the rider learns to regulate and monitor the horse's rhythm, energy, flexion, alignment, bend, and line of travel by properly aligning her spine with his. When the center of gravity of a balanced rider is over the center of gravity of a balanced horse, that place where two spines align becomes the hub for rider and horse harmony.
At last a book that demystifies the communication system between rider and horse.Equestrian sports physiologist Eckart Meyners, and Hannes Müller, head instructor for the German National Riding School, show how good riding is a three-dimensional dialogue. Beginning with a thorough explanation of the classical training scale and a six-step program to build balance and rhythm, Meyners and Müller go on to three basic riding techniques –the flexing technique, the bending technique, and the half-halt technique, which they believe to be the foundation for all training. These are the primary skills for riding in dialogue with a horse. Throughout, exercises are provided to refine technique and work through the training scale, finally achieving the skill level necessary for horse and rider to work in collection.
This remarkable book takes a fresh look at life as a process, not an end, encouraging readers to look for the meaning of life not in terms of achievement or others' opinions, but in the everyday joys of living. From the Preface ...It is easy to become attached to goals. Goals promise certainty, and the anxiety they induce only makes their achievement seem more meritorious. The trouble is that goals, even worthy ones, remove our sense of proportion and our sensitivity to what is happening around us. It sometimes takes a fall to bring us back into the present. 'Where have I been? What have I been doing all my life?' We awaken to the world as if for the first time. We have written this book out of an increasing sense of the importance of these moments. Once you recognise life as a gift rather than an achievement, you realise that 'meaning in life' is found only in the vitality of the social relations in which we participate.