Book Review: 101 Longeing & Long Ling Exercises

Sure we all love to ride right? But I have spend a great deal of time lately not able to get in the saddle. And I really don't think that I will ever be riding Ike or Madison, My legs would drag on the ground. Even for Abby though, I have done a lot of ground work. And longeing, around and around and around. It gets boring for the both of us. That is where this book has come in handy.

101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises: English and Western is a staple in my library lately. Longeing can be a great way to work your horse when you can't ride, but so many people don't have a clue what to do other than endless circles. Longeing can be so much more than that. Once you get into long lining too, the world opens up to so much more. In addition to just adding another tool to your tool box, it helps with under saddle work, and it is an introduction to driving.

I highly recommend this book to be used along with Longeing & Long Lining English and Western Horse, its companion book. This book gives more detail on the how to do longe and long line. Long lining is just another term for ground driving. If you don't have any clue how to longe, round pen, or long line, this book would be the place to start. It covers how to prepare your horse, what equipment to use, and generally all the other stuff you need to know. I really like that Cherry Hill is not a classical dressage rider or a pure western. She shows both an English and western approach.

Once you now how the longe then 101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises teaches you what to do with those skills. It is broken into 5 parts, in hand, free longeing (round penning), line longeing (longeing on a longe line), side reins longeing, and long lining (ground driving). Free longeing requires a round pen but the rest can be done just about any where. I think Cherry Hills cheats a little. Exercise 1 is "fancy footwork" and exercise 2 is "whip works." neither of which requires a horse. The next few don't really require a horse either. After that though there are some good ideas. Not it just a circle either. These exercises have straight lines, spirals, and other figures other than just traditional stand in the middle and have the horse run around you.

If you have no interest in this type of training, by pass these books. If on the other hand you want to add a new dimension to your tool box pick them up. A library card works great for Longeing & Long Lining English and Western Horse, since it just gives the general how to, once you have that done you don't need the book. Although I have to admit I do pick it up and reread different sections from time to time. 101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises: English and Western is just as its subtitle says, is a ringside guide. Keep it near by.