About a month ago, I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of 101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider by Jec Aristotle Ballou. I found the book doing one of my guilty pleasures, perusing Ebay. I type in the word Dressage, click on auctions ending soonest, and look. Yeah I know… a pretty terrible idea and I try not to do it often. Well I must say this was a $30.00 book that I paid $5.00 for it, so I felt the damage was kept to a minimum and I had a new book on the way. I love getting things online. For one, I live in the boonies and going shopping is something of an ordeal. Two, I love getting the package shipped to me because it makes me feel special when it arrives on my doorstep. ”A package for ME…Oh wow.” I try to put out of my mind that “I” was the one that ordered it.
I got the book and did a quick skim through it. I usually skim books by reading the parts that jump out at me. Then go back later and read the introduction, etc., when I have more time. The first thing I noticed was that this book was made for skimming. It is set up in chapters somewhat representing the training pyramid. The exercises are drawn with diagrams and written in big words. I wondered why the words were so big? Then when I went back and read the introduction like I was supposed to in the first place. I found out the book was made so that it could be hung on the wall or on a post in your arena. Then you can refer to it as you are riding. I thought “wow that is a great idea.” Then I wondered, but who has a “wall” in their arena? I guess this author must have access to an indoor. A lot of times riders that have indoor arenas also have instructors on the grounds, so why would they even need a book on dressage arena exercises when they have someone to tell them what to do all of the time anyway? Alright, I’ll leave it alone…I still like the “big” about the book. It looks – neat.
Overall, I have really enjoyed the book. I have tried several of the exercises some of them have worked great! I’ve only had the book one month and have just scratched the surface of the exercises inside of it. One word of caution I would throw out to readers. Keep in mind your current level of training and fitness of your horse. I have just selected exercises to practice that I know will work well with the type of training exercises I am already working on with my instructor. Don’t try to stretch for something you and your horse aren’t ready for yet. Let a knowledgeable trainer help you with those kinds of things. Listed below are my comments on the book.
Likes
- nice size book with one of those neat plastic spiral bound thingys so the pages are easy to turn
- The diagrams are easy to read with good keys
- The book has a level of difficulty scale which is indicated by the number of little horses in the key. This is helpful when determining if you should try the exercise or not.
- The diagrams are accompanied by written steps to help understand how the exercise should be ridden.
- Tips are included with many of the exercises which are quite helpful.
Dislikes
- The only real dislike I could come up with is that book is pretty big. So it is a bit heavy to lug around. See…I like the size of the book, but then I complain it is too heavy to carry around, leave it to me to put the same item in both categories.
Suggestions
- I think the author of this book should make some small companion books. Maybe base them on the test level you are training at so they aren’t so dense in size. Make this pocket size so we can have it on us when riding if we want to. Then those of us without ”Walls” can use the book while riding. Maybe that’s my million dollar idea? I’m always joking I’ll come up with one. Yeah… I like that
.
If you are interested in the book, I do have it on my little Amazon widget on my home page. I recommend checking Ebay first though to see if you can get a deal like I got. If anyone else has experienced this book and would like to comment please feel free!
