April
14
Can you recommend any books/videos on the basics of dressage / riding in general?
I’ve been riding English for a few years, but I have just recently started riding dressage about two months ago. Since I started riding dressage with my new instructor, I’ve realized how little about horseback riding I actually know! At my other barn, they never taught me about the basics of riding. Now, I have years of bad habits to break that I’ve been doing for the past seven years, especially bracing my upper body in the saddle and learning using all of my underdeveloped aids. Although my instructor is amazing, I can only have lessons twice a week and I don’t quite understand some things that she has tried to explain to me. That’s why I want to get another informational source on the basics of dressage and basically riding itself to try and improve my understanding of dressage. Do you know any books/videos that have personally helped you? I’ve heard that Sally Swift’s Centered Riding is good: what’s your opinion on it? Thanks for the help! (:
Jane Savoie is a leading authority on dressage, and although I ride mostly hunter/jumper/XC I have three of her books and her training video and it made a vast improvement on my riding skills in addition to giving me tips on working with my horse that made all the difference in his cooperation with me. She has a web site which you can google and her books can be found there as well as amazon.com, but on her web site she has offers for riders such as a "video" consult. You can send her a video of your riding and she will critique your riding and give you help on how to improve and the cost is very reasonable. Hope that helps.
April 14th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrjLQRS8NlA
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April 14th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
A must have: "The USDF Guide to Dressage" (about $35) is a detailed discussion of every aspect of dressage. An excellent reference if you don’t understand what a move is or how to do it. Discusses everything from tack to conditioning the rider.
Any of the Mary Wanless "Ride With Your Mind" series (various prices for different titles). Excellent tutorial on how your riding affects your horse’s performance and how to ride him properly.
"On the Levels" dvd, ($20) from the USDF, if you are interested in competing even at low level dressage,running commentary as riders perform tests points out why each test movement gets a lower score, then it shows the same rider/horse performing the same movement more properly with the higher score.
http://www.artofriding.com/ – "The Riding School" excellent short articles, arranged to be easy to find what you want, use to look up a particular point or go through the series of short tutorials
"Centered Riding" is a good guide.
The USDF online store has a bunch of dvds and books. I am sure all are good but these are a really good place to start. Sometimes there are good dvds on Ebay relatively cheap.
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April 14th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Jane Savoie is a leading authority on dressage, and although I ride mostly hunter/jumper/XC I have three of her books and her training video and it made a vast improvement on my riding skills in addition to giving me tips on working with my horse that made all the difference in his cooperation with me. She has a web site which you can google and her books can be found there as well as amazon.com, but on her web site she has offers for riders such as a "video" consult. You can send her a video of your riding and she will critique your riding and give you help on how to improve and the cost is very reasonable. Hope that helps.
References :
experienced equestrian.
April 14th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Hi,
I have heard Centered Riding is good…
Here are a few good books:
Deciphering Dressage (K.L Davis): This book has a ton of great info…
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Deciphering-Dressage-Karen-L-Davis/9780764578205-item.html?ref=Search+Books:+%2527deciphering+dressage%2527
The USDF Guide to Dressage (J.O. Bryant): My favorite book I own…
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/USDF-Guide-Dressage-Official-Guide-Jennifer-O-Bryant/9781580175296-item.html?ref=Search+Books:+%2527the+usdf+guide+to+dressage%2527
The Principles of Riding: I’ve heard it’s a good book…
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Principles-Riding-Official-Instruction-Handbook-German-National-Equestrian-Federation-Staff/9781872082936-item.html?ref=Search+Books:+%2527the+principles+of+riding%2527
There are tons of books out there!:)
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April 14th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Riding Logic by Wilhelm Musler.
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