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.

Book Review: Going Gone

I know, two book reviews in one week!

Nothing is worse than reading a book with horses and the text reads like this: Ashley put the halter on the stallion's head. She mounts Thunderbolt and picks up the bridle. Slowly she gallops across the meadow, black mane flowing in the breeze. She sees her true love, leaps from her red horse, and runs into Dirks awaiting arms. While we as horse people are screaming. . . it's a bridle and your picking up the reins. How exactly do you gallop slowly and I sure hope your horse doesn't break his leg in the meadow. Oh and when you leap off the the still galloping horse (of an completely unknown horse color) back into Dirk's arm, what happened to your horse. We have all read them and we all hate them right?

Going Gone is not like that. Knowing that Laura Crum is an actual real live equestrian made me really want to read her book. So when her publisher offered a copy of the book to any blogger who would read and review it. I jumped at the chance. I mentioned a few days ago that I finally picked it up and started to read. I took Going, Gone out to the pasture and started reading.

With my horses grazing around me, I started reading Gail McCarthy's adventure. She left on vacation with her family and horses to Gail's old flame's ranch. Moments after they get the horses settled and set up camp, Lonny and her childhood friend, now a deputy, Bret pull up. Bret is arresting Lonny for the murder of his girlfriend. From there Gail tries to figure out what happened. I really got into Gail's character because she does all those things I wish I could. For example, being nosier than she really should be. So I really loved going along for the ride to find out who the real murderer was. I was guessing until the end, and I have to admit, I didn't know. A lot of time I am able to catch on to who the killer is, but the end was a surprise.

Why I really liked this story though, is because the author actually knows about horses. So when she says that the horse was wearing a halter, I know he was. The horse doesn't just run, he gallops, trot, jogs, lopes, walks, and canters also. And the horse does them at the correct time. They munch on hay, nicker, whinny, and stomp away flies. When Gail is out on a trail, she does all those things that any equestrian would. In short, it is believable.

Not often do you find a good author that tells a compelling story and gets the facts right when it comes to our beloved equines. Laura Crum does and it was such a treat that I am going to be adding her first 10 books to my reading list!

Book Review: Ride With Confidence!

Ride with Confidence! Foreword and top tips from Kelly Marks. Chapters include: "Teaching the Nervous Rider" by Christina Barlow, "Managing Your Fear" by Julie Goodnight, "Understanding the Horse" by Abigail Hogg, " The NLP Approach to Confident Riding" by Liz Morrison, and "Hynotherapy and Hypnosis" by Sharon Shinwell.

I really like Kelly Mark's remarks and the bullet point suggestions throughout the book. There are lots of case studies that I found very encouraging. It has a lot of good information, especially a first glimpse into how to deal with fear. Some chapters I could do without, others are fairly basic, and others still offered some really good advice.

I am not really thrilled with the "Understanding the Horse" chapter. I really hate when equestrian "experts" take one aspect of horse behavior, such as horses contacting you with their lips, and over generalize it. The idea presented is that because horses lip before they bite, and biting is a sign of dominance, that means that allowing horses to take a treat you are allowing horses to be more dominate. Given her explanation, and my experience over a number of years a with a large number of horses, I am just not going to swallow that one. I am not going to say that all horses should be given treats or that all people do it properly, but just that I hate over reaching generalizations.

I almost let that part turn me off of the whole books but chapter one, "Managing Your Fear," is sound. Kelly offers a top 10 tip for handling fears is a great place to start. She suggests doing a risk analysis, finding a good instructor, and "under horse" yourself, among other thing. Her suggestions work for everyone from those that are afraid to even be near a horse to those that are nervous to jump a place to start. Two of my top favorites are to BREATH and finding "alternative" methods for managing fear.

Among those alternatives are hypnotherapy, the NLP approach, positive thinking, the importance of setting goals, and Bach flowers. The Neuro-Linguistic Programing is a sports psychology technique. It is a way to overcome a self doubt not only in your horse world but also in life as a whole. I have been thinking of getting some self- hypnosis tapes. I have not tried all the techniques in this book yet, but found the information helpful in making some decision about what would be helpful for me to try. I have found that overcoming fear is just like anything else, try new ideas, take what you like and get rid of the rest

One last chapter I want to mention is the one for trainers/ instructors. I think that this book is really great for those of you that work with people who have fear. It helps you have a sneak peak into our minds as well as offer a lot of suggestions for lesson plans and steps to take to help your client overcome their fear. This book really is a must for you.

If you are on a limited budget, this maybe one that you want to check out from the library. Instructors may find this book even more useful; it is the only one I have read so far that has information written just for you. Overall I am going to give this book a thumbs up.

Book Review: Chosen by a Horse

Anyone who is really a horse person, not just an equestrian, but a true horse lover, knows the powerful impact our horses can have in our lives. They, in that special way they have, heal us, give us freedom, and just touch us in a way that no other can. There is just something special about being able to work with, even be a friend with, a 1,000 lb animal that goes beyond words.

In this book, Susan speaks to us as horse lovers. She tells the story of Lay Me Down, an abused standardbred brood mare. Lay Me Down heals Susan in a way that only a horse could and she tells about the journey with this mare in a humorous and heartfelt way.

Not only do we learn about Lay Me Down, but the other horses Susan shares her life with and how they help her through out her life. Heart lifting and heart wrenching, this story really touched me. I was heal by a horse and I found a kindred spirit in Ms Richards.

I don't want to give the impression that this was a sugary sweet story though. It is real. Susan has real issues. She faces real problems and in the end it ends the way you think it would. Even still, it is a touching story.