My wonderful son asked me last week what I wanted for Christmas, muttering that it was probably too late to order on-line to get something by Christmas.  I went to the wonderful book site (amazon) and found that I could get any amount of horsie books by Christmas, and I asked for "Riding and Schooling Horses" by Harry D. Chamberlin, the Captain of the US Cavalry teams for international competition so long ago.  This book,…

(dazzle-to blind or dim the vision by an excess of light)

Many, many times over the past few years I have faced Mia, the Arab mare I ride, with puddles. Like many Arabs Mia does not like crossing water. I have spent a lot of time coaxing Mia through these horrible puddles, and after some resistance Mia, the brave mare that she is, eventually crossed every puddle, and throughout the lesson she would improve. However let a few weeks go by without puddles and the next time out…

While reading Gustav Steinbrecht's "The Gymnasium of the Horse" I was impressed that he did not seem to think that the "classical" dressage seat was suitable for riding all horses all the time. As a Forward Seat rider I was particularly impressed by Steinbrecht's "forward" seat (which he calls the "crotch seat") and how much it resembles the Forward Seat for Slow Equitation (as described in my blog…

Around a year ago. I got Gustav Steinbrecht's "The Gymnasium of the Horse" (first published in 1884), one of the truly classic dressage books. I've read the first 93 pages several times, and I found myself coming back to certain passages over and over again, for they introduce and explain a concept that I had not fully understood from my earlier dressage…