No comments about Pioneer tenderfoot.

No comments about Make Your Own Horse Equipment.

No comments about Shipped Semen 101: A Lab Manual for Horse Breeder and Stallion Stations.

1 comments about Dressage: A Guideline for Riders and Judges.

1. A great book for participants in the L-Program! Theory can be a bit drawn-out, but great on "how to give a score"--what makes a 7 or an 8...
   My FAVORITE part of the book is the Grand Prix tests from the Olympic Games, '20's to 2000!

5 comments about The Horse's Choice.

1. I think this book would be great for 4-H and Pony Club. Its suitable for kids, but great for adults with riding experience, too. This book is one of the few I've read that really does have something for everyone. Great advice, with a personal touch.



2. The Horse's Choice covers horse training from both a horse's perspective and a human's perspective, explaining what motivates your horse's behavior, and how to get him to respond to you using brains and compassion instead of brute strength. With compelling, easily understood examples, The Horse's Choice covers everything from the first-time horse purchase to caring for your horse, establishing training routines, and correcting problem behaviors. Written in an engaging, knowledgeable manner, horse expert Staci Layne Wilson has produced an excellent guide to the compassionate care and training of your horse that you'll want to study from cover to cover. Highly recommended!



3. Here's a trainer who talks to you, not down to you. I felt like she could be a riding buddy! I could really relate to alot of the stories and I learned alot too. The pictures are really fun and I had to chuckle at some of them, and the anecdotes too! I give this book two hooves up.



4. He would just laugh and tell you that he was right all along.... Did you know that your problem horse's problem is YOU? Or if not you, then a previous owner or handler. Your horse knows and he is trying to tell you. Staci Layne Wilson also knows, and this is the approach she takes when she explains why a horse has a problem. The good thing with this book is that it not only tells you how to cure a problem - it also explains why the problem arose in the first place and how to avoid that it re-occurs. So, even if you don't have a problem horse at home, this book is a definite must! The book takes its starting point in the natural horsemanship methods. Staci Wilson has studied these methods for years and has found her own method to incorporate them into her training in a way that they are adjusted to fit the kind of horse she's working with. She does this in her book by describing how different kinds of horses need different approaches. All the time throughout the book Staci Wilson considers what will be the most natural thing for the horse to do in a given situation, and she adjusts her training advises accordingly. The book is a must for beginners and intermediate riders, but even if you are experienced like myself, there is something you can use in this book. Things you maybe just hadn't thought of in the first place. The training methods are easy to understand, and more important: Easy to follow as well. Staci Wilson puts a lot of significance into the aspect of safety, which I think is very important. The book also emphasizes that being a good horseman requires a lot of time and work, which is true. Nothing comes from nothing, and as the book says, it's you and your horse who must walk the walk - no trainer can do it for you. But when you read this book the walk won't feel as long and it will be a lot easier because you get to know the basics and how to work your way up from there. A simple thing like the horse's flight instinct is the root of most kinds of problems and Staci tells you why that it is and how to avoid getting yourself or your horse into trouble. And the methods described in this book makes it both fun and interesting to work with your horse! Results show quickly and both of you get something out of the deal and will end up a lot happier. The book is illustrated with great photos and it is very humourously written! I was laughing a lot while I read it - Staci Wilson hits home every time she describes a situation. I read it in one sitting too - you simply cannot put it down! Needless to say I find this book absolutely great.

   And for you who also enjoyed the excerpt from Staci Layne Wilson's next novel, The Dance: You can look forward to reading the rest! I've read the whole script (in one sitting as well..) and it continues in the same fun and enthralling style - just even more so!




5. This book is chock full of very usable/hands-on advice/information on horse and pony training. Even though I have had my horse at several riding clinics, nobody ever pointed out that my horse was overbitted. By just following the advice on bitting, my horse is now much more responsive and has not balked even once when out trail riding. I have also learned to hold the reins with a much gentler hand. All in all, I feel I have not only helped myself, but I have also helped my horse as well. As another reviewer mentioned, I think every horse should come equipped with this book. Instead of teaching you to train your horse, this book teaches you to understand your horse so that the training becomes a learning/understanding process for both you and your horse.

3 comments about Mental Equitation: A Guide to Interedisciplinary Horsemanship.

1. I really like how James emphasizes that both rider and horse must work as one to accomplish whatever style of riding that they are training to compete. In chapter 6 Arrigon states "Mental equitation provides a clear understanding of what each building block means to the training of horse and rider"; this is really a great way to describe what he is trying to get across. A rider needs to communicate with the horse using their body and other natural aids to accomplish whatever event or training that is being done at the moment. The drawings and pictures demonstrated quite clearly what the reader should get out of the different methods of training. The uses of natural aids are strongly pointed out that they are the best way to go in training.
   This book has challenged my ways of thinking how I can speak to my horse and how I can read my horse's clues.



2. I liked this book a lot. It helped me to understand how to use the aids and how to communicate better with my horse.



3. I was misled by the title and thought that this book would be about the psychological and philosophical aspects of riding and horsemanship, and the common threads between the various disciplines. But nope, it is just another "how-to" book aimed at novice riders - how to hold the reins, how to mount etc. And it does not even succeed at this task! Mr Arrigon's definitions of behind the bit and above the bit are the opposite to the generally accepted definitions in the rest of the equestrian world. Several of the photographs are repeated throughout the book. The photos showing the "right" way to execute various movements (including jumping)leave a lot to be desired in both the horse and rider's positions. The pics of the dressage horse show that he is trying to open his mouth in most of the photos. There is tension in his back and no stretching over the topline. There is a pic of a rider in the landing phase of a jump and showing a good position - "finally!" I thought to myself. But no, the caption below the photo decried the rider's position. The pic of another rider in the flight phase of a jump is praised as showing good style -it would have to be one of the worst examples of jumping position I have ever seen. On the whole, very, very disappointing.

4 comments about And the Wolves Howled , Fragments of Two Lifetimes.

1. It is interesting to me to see the way one person's account of an intensely felt memory has been accepted as evidence of renincarnation. I refer here in particular to the research work done by Walter Semkiw. What about the many unpublished accounts and experiences of others who identify closely with the life experiences of Anne Frank, indeed, feeling such an affinity that they too believe that they may have been Anne Frank in a past life? For one such account that approaches the connection from a Vedantic point of view (Indian philosophy), please read Letter to Anne by Frances Todd, which you can also locate on Amazons.com Read it, compare notes with this account, and review. Yes, I am the author of that book. It is not so much that I have written that book, as, I have compiled an account of an inner journey that required identification with personality and dreams of Anne Frank, to effect self-healing. Personal healing is a conduit for cosmic healing. The purpose of any reincarnation story is ulitmately, linked with the concept: the one is many. If you are a person who is sensitively living with the planet's energies, then you will understand how the personality expression is simply, a composite of streams of energies called archetypes. No one person has a copyright to them.



2. I read and re-read Ms. Karlen's book and found it to be a heartfelt commentary on the persistence and tenacity of the human spirit. I believe this book and Lance Armstrong's book both illustrate how one person can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and emerge a winner.



3. Never have I been as perplexed about a book as with this selection.Aside from the back that the writing style/ language is droning, montone and without texture of any kind, I don't know what the book was aiming to explain. The story is Boring-
   I had to search high and low for details about the re-incarnation aspects.This subject, which claims to be the main one of this book actually takes a back seat to the authors mundane tales of dressage, and I supposes tales of persecution.
   I am usually delighted by a nice photo section, but here again I was mystified by the selection: a photo of the author at age 2, age 2 1/2, age 7, age 12, another age 12, different headshot pose, one of the author in 1981 next to a horse, another in 1989 with two horses and "a colleague"- no identification , another photo of the author on a horse, late 1980's, another horse photo with the author, 1989, another of the author (surprise!) with a horse, 1991, and then a headshot of the author 1997, and then a different pose 1998.No other photos of persons, objects, buildings, streets, family members documents- basically nothing besides that author in her dresssage get-up ,or a studio portrait of her face.This is so eerie.
   I have read hundreds and hundreds of biographies, memoirs, including dozens of narratives of people's experiences with past life regressions and the like.This one is a doozie, this lady is just plain flaky and a poor storyteller as well.Sorry- add me to the extensive list of people who the author claims to be persecuted by.



4. This is the long--awaited English translation of "Und die Woelfe heulten," the controversial bio-novel in which Swedish writer Barbro Karlen claims to be the reincarnation of Anne Frank -- yes, THE Anne Frank who wrote famous diary. The book created quite a stir in the German-speaking world when it first came out in 1997. There were angry protests, as well as attempts to stop its publication, on the part of a small segment of the Jewish population who believed in neither reincarnation nor freedom of speech -- all of which I reported in "Life and Soul" magazine (London) in 1998.

   Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and the book was published. I'm giving it five stars -- not because I really believe she was Anne Frank (I'm skeptical) but as a vote of free speech for a very brave author. The book raises some real questions about how issues from one life might be carried over into another, and how they might be resolved. Regardless of whether you decide the story is fact or fiction, "And the Wolves howled" is a very thought-provoking read!

No comments about The Manual of Horsemanship.

1 comments about Practical Western Training.

1. It has been a while since I read this book, but remember that I found it very informative on a broad variety of western training questions, and can recommend it for anyone who wants to add to their western training library.
   
   The main reason I'm writing this review is to see if there is someone out there who might be able to recommend a book to me... I have been searching for a good book that focuses mainly on training and using the Bosal Hackamore. So far, I've had no luck. Perhaps someone out there knows of such a book and could post it here for me! I'd be tickled to come back here and see such a recommendation! Thanks for your kind attention!

2 comments about A Horseman's Notes.

1. The older I get, the more I appreciate the vast generosity of horses - and the more I value the rare trainers and riders who are willing to live up to that generosity by truly putting the horse's welfare first. Mr. Herbermann is one of these, and A Horseman's Notes is a wonderful meditation on the lessons learned through a lifetime of riding.
   
   There are sentences here that have the power to change your riding ... if you're ready to read them.
   
   Whenever I see a rider kicking, pushing and fiddling to "make the horse round" or " get him on the bit," I think of Mr. Herbermann's injunction that everything in front of the withers is a "billboard" on which the horse posts his minute-by-minute evaluation of the rider's seat ... and on which the rider writes only at the risk of losing the horse's trust and partnership!
   
   Whenever I hear riders talking about horses as if they were lazy children who have to be forced to work "for their own good," I remember Mr. Herbermann's warnings about the need for riders to put their ambition aside and LISTEN to their horses instead of constantly dictating and demanding. And so on and so forth...
   
   Equally valuable are the illustrations, which show great classical masters riding proud, confident, relaxed horses: a picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words antidote to the stressed out, overbent, tail-wringing performances that give dressage a bad name.
   
   This book goes on the shelf next to Wajten, Podhajsky, Oliveira and the other classics. If you're looking for quick fixes, go elsewhere. But if you're ready to venture into a way of riding that acknowledges the horse as a full and valued partner, then this is a book to read and read again.



2. Mr. Herbermann has shown us the way to enter the sanctuary of the horse. This book, A Horseman's Notes, makes the path crystal clear. I've seen Erik ride; he practices what he preaches. Even difficult horses soon come under his tea cozy. If you've been searching for the truth about riding and training horses, this book will shed some much needed light on the subject. Thank you, Erik...and my horses thank you! You are a true Master of Horsemanship.