Riding: A Guide for New Riders

RIDING - A GUIDE FOR NEW RIDERS tells the beginning rider everything he or she needs to know: what to do, how to do it, and how to be sure it's done right. From your very first day in the saddle to the day you ride over fences, this book will patiently guide you, explaining each step clearly and completely in plain language and with more than fifty illustrations. Following each chapter is a quiz so you can measure your own progress as you go along.

Among the topics covered in this essential book are: how to find a good instructor; what to wear (and what not to wear); how to tell a good horse from a bad one; how to buy, lease, or rent a horse and the pros and cons of each; what equipment you'll need to get started and what it will cost; what not to buy and how to get the best value for your investment; supping exercises for the rider to establish balance and confidence; the dynamics of the horse's movement at walk, trot, canter, and gallop; the rider's position at each gait; the basics of elementary dressage; how to "think like a horse;" how to ride safely across country, over fences, and in traffic; how to lead, groom, tack up, braid, trailer, catch, tie, mount, dismount, and even take a spill safely; and more.

Highly recommended by the United States Equestrian Team, and endorsed by Olympic Gold Medal winner Bruce Davidson and other leading riders and coaches, RIDING - A GUIDE FOR NEW RIDERS is a book no rider can afford to be without.

Not much in sports looks more regal than the sight of a well-turned-out rider on a beautifully groomed horse, two fine athletes working as a single unit. There is, of course, far more to horsemanship than mounting up and slipping a pair of shiny leather boots into the irons. In easy-to-follow steps, this thoroughly illustrated, readable primer by an internationally accredited horse show judge patiently takes beginning riders through the requisite paces from the simplest notions to the more sophisticated concepts of equine psychology and communication.