Whatever your primary equestrian discipline, dressage is an ideal way for you to increase your riding awareness and enhance your relationship with your horse. Providing an overview of basic techniques and a series of helpful training exercises, Jennifer O. Bryant stresses the tenets of harmonious communication between horse and rider as she guides you through the graceful movements of dressage. With suggestions on how to find qualified instructors and information on necessary equipment, this comprehensive guide will inspire you to explore this exciting and rewarding world.
This series of Western Dressage exercises are designed to improve suppleness, balance in movement, and responsiveness. Each exercise has a specific goal in mind, and they are organized by different areas of focus: softness, looseness, rider development, engagement, adjustability, and ground work. With illustrated step-by-step instructions and full arena diagrams, you’ll quickly be on your way to mastering this exciting discipline.
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."
A fantastically detailed and uniquely organized dressage reference for the rider. Discover the what, the how, and–most importantly–the why of more than 100 dressage movements. Color photographs of riders of various levels and on different breeds of horse show how each movement should look when ridden correctly. Each movement is clearly defined. Explanations include common mistakes and how to avoid them. Readers find out the benefits of each exercise and how it contributes to the “bigger picture” of the dressage training scale. “This book appealed to me,” says gold-medal-winning Olympian Isabell Werth. “Especially important is the emphasis on the meaning of the individual dressage movements within the overall context of a horse’s training. Only the rider who understands why the movements are important and what their purposes are can build a dressage horse systematically. This applies to both the development of the horse's muscles and the development of his mind.” Throughout, emphasis is placed on the horse as an individual and how it is the rider's responsibility to learn to customize movements and lessons to benefit any horse, with his particular physical and psychological characteristics in mind. Practical and easy-to-follow, this valuable resource provides explanations in seconds that will last a lifetime of rides.
Calm, Forward and Straight must always serve as guiding principles during dressage training and the order of these concepts should not be changed. "In these volumes, I capture and explain the training foundations passed down to us from the great Masters. I provide appropriate exercises to restore, develop, and enhance the horse's natural gaits. This goal is shared in all riding styles and training disciplines, including dressage, jumpers, hunters, western, pleasure, and many others. Book One includes the fundamental training progression from the beginning to the elementary level. The training mastered in Book One is necessary to advance to the collected and extended gaits, pirouette at the canter, tempi flying changes of lead, piaffe and passage that are presented in Book Two." - Francois Lemaire de Ruffieu This work-study program explains how to Divide and Conquer the horse's body parts. To be able to properly perform the exercises the horse should be able to find the appropriate head position independent of the rider. The exercises are beautifully illustrated by hundreds of the author's drawings and diagrams. Using Ruffieu's experiential teaching method, horses and riders are transformed by a wealth of exercises, patterns and aids revealed in a logical, progressive sequence.
This enormously popular book for riders at every level, makes dressage training accessible with step-by-step guides for improving pace, riding movements and competing.
The word dressage means training in French. Training makes a horse more balanced, supple, and responsive to his rider. But dressage is also a sport in which the accomplishments of the horse-and-rider team are judged according to certain standards. Dressage by the Letter addresses the needs of those riders who want to get started in the sport. It tells them how to select the right horse, choose an instructor, get the most out of lessons, maintain schedules, and prepare for the first show. This is a true beginner s book--one that assumes no prior knowledge of dressage. Moira C. Harris is the editor of Horse Illustrated, the largest all-breed magazine in the U.S. She lives in Huntington Beach, California, where she rides and shows lower level dressage