Tell me about your best (and worst) reference books

[ZuzusPetals]

Edit: How-to also welcome. Also, rider biographies and autobiographies with practical insight.

Twenty-five years ago, when I was very actively riding, I had money for the basics and little else. On returning, I’m confident that I know the practice of what we do – using aids, etc. – but now I’d like to know the theory behind it all. Please chime in with your favorites and definitely include guides that you consider not useful at all.

Some books have been updated several times, and I’m wondering whether the latest versions are significantly better than their predecessors. On another note, some books have been translated from their original language and I’m curious whether the text is clear in English. (There must be some GREAT German horsey terms that we don’t have in English. Foamy mouth during dressage test probably has its own word. Ditto, improperly rolled polo wraps (I couldn’t get the velcro direction straight in my head two decades ago when rolling laundered polos and I doubt it’s going to come together now.) Ditto, tail strands that don’t behave and join the others.

[2DogsFarm]

For Dressage:
Alois Podhajsky: The Complete Training of Horse and Rider
Dry as dust, but totally correct

What did not help me:
George Morris: Hunt Seat Equitation

[dressagetraks]

One of my favorites is by Podhajsky: My Horses, My Teachers. Wonderful example of appreciating the different types and personalities of horses and approaching each as they needed. It’s also more readable than Complete Training of Horse and Rider, although I agree that one is totally correct (and dry as dust).

[Spudsmyguy]

I think I have that book “The complete training of horse and rider” and yes, dry as dust. I don’t think I got past the first chapter.

[Bonnie2]

Charles de Kunffy “The athletic development of the dressage horse “. Great exercises and diagrams and exacting explanations in the text. A bit verbose and opinionated but a valuable resource to check back to with a new horse or issue.

[Mersidoats]

“The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse” - Charles de Kunffy

“Dressage for the 21st Century” - Paul Belasik (mainly selections from here, not the whole in its entirety. Very good for basics of straightness and bend, and a more modern take on the progression to haute ecole.)

Anything on horse care that was published before 1990 is probably dated and useful only as a coaster. I have a couple old ones from my youth that talk about feeding corn, the necessities of bran mashes, and saddle fit is relegated to a sentence about having 2 fingers clearance in the pommel . So much has changed in the last 30 years regarding feed and management.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Basic theory of riding, especially for horses who jump, “Common Sense Horsemanship” by Vladimir Littauer.

An extremely useful book in my horse library, for all those times when absolutely nothing I can think of works, is “Give Your Horse a Chance” by Lt.-Col. A. L. d’Endrody. On one hand I may not open this book for years, on the other hand I still use his solutions to problems that I first read in this book some 40 years later.

For people also going to dressage “The Way to Perfect Horsemanship” by Udo Burger. The title of this book is not a lie, he DOES show the way to Perfect Horsemanship. I got this book over 30 years ago, and I still use what I learned in it on every single horse I ride. He has another book too, “The Rider Forms the Horse–Function and Development of the Muscles of the Riding Horse” by Udo Burger and Otto Zietzchmann.

[outerbanks77]

When Two Spines Align
Balance in Movement (there is a companion DVD)
Centered Riding
Posture and Performance

[ZuzusPetals]

@Mersidoats, when I was a kid I had several VERY old horsemanship books and they all blathered about bran mashes. In my eagerness I bought a box of raisin bran, mixed it with hot water, stirred like crazy and offered it to one of the schoolies, whose reaction best could be described as: “What the EFF is this?!” And so I went down the line of stalls, rejection after rejection. Gosh, I was a horsey mess.

[islgrl]

Centered Riding - Sally Swift
Riding Through Winter - (I think Beth Jenkins wrote this)
Divide and Conquer - Francoise Lemaire de Ruffieu
Its Not Just About the Ribons - Jane Savaoie

[chestnutmarebeware]

@islgrl

Centered Riding - Sally Swift

I was coming to mention this one, as well.

[BrownDerby]

I’ll add Littauer’s Schooling Your Horse, and its modern counterpart, Schooling and Riding the Sport Horse by Paul Cronin (foreword by Joe Fargis).

[Jackie_Cochran]

I remember, about the time that George Morris’s “Hunter Seat Equitation” came out, Vladimir Littauer’s “Schooling Your Horse” in a new edition got into the local bookstores finally (though it had been published a few decades earlier.)

Everybody was salivating over George Morris’s book. I took a look inside, saw the pictures, read a paragraph or two, and then I spent my money on “Schooling Your Horse” by Littauer, a book that I could actually USE to improve my horse.

We were SO LUCKY to have Littauer’s books, in English, available in this country. Using his method I did not ruin my first horse (5 yr. old, just gelded, just “broke” Anglo-Arab, and me a very elementary rider with a few years of uneducated trail riding experience years earlier.)

When in doubt I go to Littauer’s books first. I consider him one of the great equestrian authors, clear, concise, a well thought out system based on accurate theories of how horses operate and move, written in good English that I have no problems understanding.

Because of Littauer I did not ruin my horses. Since I could not afford to buy a trained horse or find really decent lessons I found his books to be a true blessing in my life.

[NaturallyHappy]

^^^^ Yes, I treasure this books. So few people seem to read today.

[Salty]

Littauer was great!

My bible was Give Your Horse a a Chance by A. L. d’Endrody. I was so green that I didn’t even realize how difficult the exercises were. It helped me immensely with my first, and subsequent, horses.

[blue_heron]

Dressage for the Not So Perfect Horse. Lots of good exercises.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Jane Savoie’s “The Half-Halt Demystified” and “That Winning Feeling”

“Cavaletti” by Reiner Klimke

“Dressage with Kyra” - Kyra Kyrklund

[Displaced_Yankee]

@blue_heron

Dressage for the Not So Perfect Horse

Yes…this is very good.

I also love “Grooming To Win”. My copy isn’t dusty at all…I had it out in November.

[sophie]

Podhajsky: My Horses, My Teachers.
Wofford: Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider
Mary Wanless: Riding with your mind
Ballou/Wilcox: 101 Dressage exercises
The 7 Fédération Équestre Française booklets I needed to study to pass my “Galops”, exams you needed to pass to progress in your riding / horsemanship and be able to compete.

I also have an ancient Veterinary reference book / dictionary.

[rockymouse]

True Horsemanship through Feel - Bill Dorrance, as told to Leslie Desmond