Good Books for Beginners?

I am quite interested in learning dressage. I have just started riding a new horse, he is 4 and pretty green, so we would both be starting from the ground up. Can anyone recommend a good basic dressage book for a newbie? Is there such thing as Dressage for Dummies? :-)

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Permalink Reply by Anni on September 26, 2009 at 1:04am

Centered Riding by Sally Swift is one of my absolute favorites, it's a must read!

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Pannell on September 26, 2009 at 5:15am

Riding with feel, By Zoe Harrison. Printed by Openbook Publishers, Adelaide S.A. This is a realy good book to start with, easy to read and understand.

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Permalink Reply by Kinni P on September 29, 2009 at 8:02pm

Sylvia Loch has several good books. Dressage in Lightness is a good starting point. It's very readable and assumes that both you and your horse are beginners.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Hogan Poulsen on October 5, 2009 at 3:12pm

How about a few videos? have a look at these!! Ruth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ALCkUEaZIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8z6jZg0N4I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYBP5C8olyQ

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Goucher on October 5, 2009 at 7:31pm

Thanks Ruth! Those were very informative videos!

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Permalink Reply by J.Everheart on November 10, 2009 at 12:07pm

Jane Savoie, who is an Olympic dressage coach, says the Bible of dressage for her is "Complete Training of Horse and Rider" by Alois Podhajsky. He was the director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
I love this book and re-read it all the time. He says the goal of a dressage horse is to be calm, forward and straight and so he begins there and bases all the more advanced stuff on that foundation.
I think it's a great book!

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Permalink Reply by Alaina M. on November 11, 2009 at 4:49pm

I agree, Centered Riding is an awesome book to read when you're first starting... and even when you've been riding for years!

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Permalink Reply by J.Everheart on December 11, 2009 at 4:30pm

I love that you mentioned "White Stallion of Vienna." That is my favorite children's book ever.
On a different subject, I recommended "Complete Training of Horse and Rider," and I will admit that as a beginning rider, a lot of it is over my head. The more I take lessons and spend time riding, the more I understand it. Often I will be riding my horse and think, "Ooooooh, that's what Podhajsky was talking about." It definitely does not replace lessons for me, but it is fun to become more in tune with my horse, develop better feel and have the book come to life for me.

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Permalink Reply by Hank on December 5, 2009 at 11:15pm

Mary Wanless is really great too and, of course anything by Reiner Klimke. If you can find any videos of Athur Kotas, the former head of the riding school in Samur, he's amazing.

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Ellin Fox on December 8, 2009 at 6:17pm

Basic Training of the Young Horse by Reiner Klimke would be an excellent book for someone with a 4 year old. He's a Gold Medalist. Also Cavaletti- same author.

For the rider , Classical Seat by Sylvia Loch and Dressage for the Young Rider by Pegotty Henriques. Don't let the title fool you.

Gee there are so many good books... and I agree with Ruth Poulson, videos are a fun way to learn

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Permalink Reply by Carla on December 13, 2009 at 10:33pm

Having a dressage trainer is always the best, but try "Practical Dressage Manual" by Bengt Ljungquist

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Goucher on December 14, 2009 at 6:28pm

Just to clarify, I'm not a beginner rider, I have been riding for 22 years, although most of it over fences as a hunter princess, ha ha. Dressage is a new area for me, I have been playing at Eventing the last 5 years, and the dressage part of it intrigues me. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. I have been riding with a level 2 dressage coach for the last 3 months, and we are REALLY going back to basics! It's a lot of fun though, learning as we go. The horse I have is an OTTB that retired sound off the track one year ago. I gave him a year to just be a horse, and wanted to start him on the flat in dressage. I know he's very obviously not a typical dressage mount (he would actually make a great hunter :-) but we are having fun and learning lots! I just sometimes wish I knew more, so I don't sound like a dummy when asking my instructor questions.