Synopses & Reviews
Elevate your performance on horseback by mastering the basic principles of classic riding. Every rider active in English equestrian sports, whether dressage or jumping, will benefit from a solid review of the fundamentals. Taken as a complete program, 40 Fundamentals of English Riding provides core training designed to give you more confidence and better control while helping you communicate more effectively with your horse. McNeil's extensive experience as a teacher comes through in the clear, orderly instructions that describe each fundamental. To further explain every position, technique, and exercise, photographs illustrate key moments, and the enclosed DVD brings action sequences to life. The emphasis throughout is on avoiding and correcting common riding problems. The 40 topics include establishing correct riding positions; effectively using primary and secondary aids to communicate with your horse; improving the rhythm and regularity of your horse's gaits; and understanding and using all elements of the training scale. McNeil also discusses riding techniques, schooling figures, and lateral work. These 40 essential concepts reinforce the basics and remind riders at every skill level to pay close attention to the subtleties that make good riders into great riders.
Synopsis
Master the 40 basic elements essential to all riders in the classic disciplines of dressage, jumping, and eventing with this book and 90-minute DVD showing action sequences for each fundamental. These fundamentals include correct seat, leg, and hand positions for the rider; the three basic gaits of walk, trot, and canter; how to perform halt and half-halt; how to direct a horses movement correctly and energetically; the stages of the training scale (rhythm, looseness, contact, impulsion, straightness, and collection); and how to perform basic schooling figures in the arena, from circles and serpentines to diagonals. Each fundamental is defined and explained in text and photos throughout the book, as well as in the 90-minute DVD, with an emphasis on how to avoid common errors. The DVD won a Telly Award for excellence in video production.
Synopsis
Learn correct seat, leg, and hand positions; the three basic gaits of walk, trot, and canter; how to perform halt and half-halt; how to direct a horse's movement correctly and energetically; and much more. Each fundamental is defined and explained, with plenty of tips on proper technique and an emphasis on how to avoid common errors. The book comes with a 90-minute DVD showing action sequences for each fundamental.
About the Author
Hollie McNeil is the owner and head trainer at Riding Right Farm in South Cambridge, New York. The facility provides more than 3000 riding lessons each year, plus numerous shows, clinics and events.
Hollie holds a German Trainer’s License, and an International Trainers Passport, recognized by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI). She has been awarded Large and Small Bronze Performance Medals in Dressage and Jumping from the German Federation (FN).
She started riding when she was four and has enjoyed a vast array of riding experiences, from western riding and show jumping, to work at a harness track and breezing Thoroughbreds at Saratoga. For the past 30 years Hollie has been a serious student of dressage, showing and training through the FEI level. She lives in New York.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Lendon Gray Preface Chapter One: Learning Control Control from the First Step Chapter Two: Riding Position Dressage Seat Leg Position Hand Position Light Seat Chapter 3: The Riding Aids Seat and Weight Aids Leg Aids Hands/Rein Aids Auxiliary Aids Diagonal Aids Chapter 4: Working on Gaits The Walk The Trot Posting and Sitting Trot The Canter Canter Leads The Halt Rein-Back Transitions Chapter 5: The Training Scale The Training Scale Rhythm Looseness Contact Impulsion Straightness Collection Letting Through the Aids Chapter 6: Key Riding Techniques Flexion Bending The Half Halt Chapter 7: School Figures The 20-Meter Circle The 15-Meter Circle The 10-Meter Circle The Half Circle Figure Eights Bending Lines Three-Loop Serpentines Long and Short Diagonals Riding Corners Chapter 8: Lateral Work Turn on the Forehand Leg Yield Chapter 9: The Destination: Intuitive Riding How the Book and DVD Work Together Cast of Characters Index