100 Ways to Improve Your Riding: Common Faults & How to Cure Them

This is a really great book! I rode around like a wild thing, bareback, as a kid, and now I've just bought my first horse in 25 years. I'm rusty, my body is less elastic, and memories have dimmed. This book puts it all together in an easy to understand way--some of it I recognize from childhood, things that I did right without knowing why. Some of it I remember being taught. But much of it is new to me--tons of info on using my weight and seat, and what my hands are really supposed to be for. The "100 Ways" format is excellent. Each way is presented on one page, or as a two-page spread before you, and at the bottom of the page is a bar with "Related Areas of Improvement" that lists three other "Ways" to check out that relate to your current page. With "100 Ways," I can skip topics that don't interest me right now (jumping) and leave them for later, without wading through chapters looking for what I need. The book is divided up into Seat and Weight, Hands and Arms, Head, Shoulders and Back, Legs, Non-communication, Schooling Techniques, and Mental Approach. I found the instructions to be clear most of the time. I have a hard time with visualizing descriptions of what to do with my body --this book doesn't confuse me overly, most of the pictures are helpful. With some, though, it's hard to tell if it's a picture of what you should be doing, or what you shouldn't. There's also a little too much of "have a trained eye watch and comment" for those of us without many well-trained eyes around. The author also recommends lunge line work without reins a bit too often for those of us without access to that kind of training. But the good outweighs the bad--the vast majority is perfectly clear, and the author's discussion of the uses of your weight, hands, etc. is worth the price of admission alone. I found plenty to work on all by myself, and became conviced that I should indeed seek out some help for other things. I can't say if this book is good for the young set, but if you are buying a horse after a long layoff, you can't go wrong with this book!

Excellent product. Very pleased! Thanks for the quick and easy delivery of my purchase.

My riding instructors have recommended this book to me and to their other students. It is based on classical riding methods and includes a lot of pictures showing form, both good and bad.