Re: Rider/horse training

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

At 07:47 AM 3/29/2000 -0500, Maggie Mieske wrote:
>Thanks for a really good reply....I didn't mean that you were actively
>discouraging people from riding endurance...I guess I often read posts from
>the viewpoint of a total newbie and how they might interpret our posts.  

I hope that newbies reading my posts will become aware that there is more to
riding a horse than just sitting in the saddle, kicking the horse's sides to
go, being able to turn a corner by moving their hand to the left or right over
the withers, and stop by pulling on the reins -- that good riding involves
using more of your body in many different ways.  Your seat, weight, and
legs do
the cues before your hands even enter into the picture...and this involves
everything from merely slowing down the horse's speed to more advanced
maneuvers such as canter pirouettes or two-tempe flying changes. 
 
>So....have any good videos you can recommend?  We had this discussion
>during the winter but I didn't have anyplace I could really ride and
>practice (at least not bundled into ten layers of clothes...my first
>priority in the winter is just to be able to say I got on, we went down the
>road and made it back without freezing to death!)...  :)

I'm going to have to look at my video collection (they're in another building
along with most of my books on horse stuff) and I will get back to you on this
question a bit later.  Without even looking, I would automatically recommend
Sally Swift's _Centered Riding_, which is also in book form.  In regards to
books that I would recommend...if you were only going to buy a couple and
wanted the most bang for your buck...I would start with Jane Savoie's
_Cross-Train Your Horse...Simple Dressage for Every Horse, Every Sport_, Book
One and Two...and _Balance in Movement -- The Seat of the Rider_ by Susanne
von
Dietze.  This last book is one of my newest acquisitions.  It was just
translated to English in '99 and is a book currently being read (in my copious
spare time (not!) so it feels like it's taking me forever.)  It's one of the
best that I've seen for explaining how body position affects horse and human
balance.  It's truly a superb book...as are Jane Savoie's and Sally Swift's
books.

Back later on "Sue's Most Reccomended Videos" list.  ;-)

Sue


"If all you can do is what you've always 
done, then all you can be is what you are right now."
                              author unknown

sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.
ARICP Certified Riding Instructor
Recreational Riding II, Dressage I