No comments about 2009 Idaho Cowboy Calendar.

5 comments about Western Pleasure: Training and Showing to Win.

1. Covers everything from basic bloodlines to breeding, buying, and then training and showing. This is the definitive reference book on Western Pleasure.



2. Hard bound book, easy to read and to the point of how to train your horse. Nice big photos, applicable diagrams, spelled out how to compete and be successful.
   I wish it had been the FIRST book I read!
   This is a book I will NEVER loan out.....ever.
   Time to go practice what I read~!



3. This is a good book for people who want to train for show and for those who want to have a well trained horse. It explains in terms that novice horse people can understand and appreciate and still covers the finer points of training. The book keeps your interest and is easy reading.



4. This is the singular most effective tool that I have ever used in working with both young and old horses. As an equine professional, I have applied many of the techniques and methods to my own herd. Doug is truly the pleasure master. I believe that many people outside of the industry would enjoy this beautifully photographed and well written journal about pleasure horses.



5. This book covers everything from breeding a pleasure prospect to working out the kinks in an older seasoned show horse. This will certainly help my new 3 year old filly and I make it in the AQHA show ring. I recommend it for anyone who wants to win!

2 comments about Riding Across Patagonia (Equestrian Travel Classics).

1. Lady Florence is something of an enigma - in some respects, very much a woman of her time, with all the prejudices and highhandedness you might expect of a Victorian aristocrat. However, she is clearly very unusual too as she sails off to a wild and largely unexplored Patagonia, with an all male party and lives primarily off the land for several weeks. Food is acquired mainly by hunting, and clearly proficiency gained whilst foxhunting with the gentry in the English Shires stands her in good stead. Many guanacos, ostrich, puma, deer and game birds are felled with gusto and without sentiment - she's never happy unless a couple of firearms are within easy reach so she can pop off another. It was all a bit bloody for me. But there were some fantastic stories, including galloping head on into a bush fire (God only knows how the horses survived) and a hair-raising and near-catastrophic race down the side of a mountain in a horse and wagon steered by an overenthusiastic local. I was moved to read the book having just returned from trekking the Torres del Paine circuit, but Lady Florence's Patagonian experience and mine were rather different. I 'roughed' it in a down sleeping bag, (she made do with damp guanaco furs). A thermarest protected me from stony ground (Lady Florence lay directly on the earth). At the end of the day I usually enjoyed a hearty hostel meal (her ladyship had to set to work stripping down an ostrich and roasting up a gristly wing on an open fire). Patagonia is certainly far less of a wilderness now - whilst I thought I was quite courageous trekking the John Garner pass, clearly this would have been like a walk in the park to the Dixie party . It's a fascinating insight into some aspects of the Victorian age, though it is a bit repetitive, especially as far as the hunting goes. Lady Dixie doesn't give much away about herself or her party (in this sense she maintains the decorum of a Victoria lady); but if you are thinking of travelling to Patagonia, or have already been, I am sure you will appreciate your Goretex all the more having read this.



2. The Victorian era produced not only fainthearted boudoir queens with lace hankies, but also some of the most amazing and hard-bitten women travelers who ever lived. This is in many ways a companion volume to Julius Beerbohm's WANDERINGS IN PATAGONIA. Where Beerbohm was a rank amateur who had a knack for encountering bad luck, Lady Florence Dixie was like the up-to-date Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. She organized a large hunting party, threw money around for horses, supplies, and guides, and even engaged "Mr. B" to join the party.
   
   At first, Lady Florence comes across as a rich, thoughtless horsefaced boor. To more easily catch guanacos and ostriches (actually, Darwin's rheas), she and her party think nothing of starting brush fires and using beaters to drive the game into their guns' ranges. Starting at Punta Arenas, Chile (then called Sandy Point by the British), she and her party ride along the Magellan Channel and cut inland, heading ultimately towards the eastern escarpment of the Andes, probably southwest of El Calafate. (Unfortunately, there is no map in the book to indicate their progress.)
   
   Once she kills a small ostrich: "The flesh of the young ostrich is not very palatable, so we left the bird, taking only its legs, which make very nice handles for umbrellas and whips." Of Patagonian foxes: "I resolved to make a collection of their skins, and carry them back to England to be made up into rugs and other useful articles."
   
   Amid the stark beauty of the mountains, Lady Florence suffers a change of heart. She shoots a gigantic buck which puts up such a fight for life that she relents finally killing him. Even the guanacos have an astounding amount of fight in them: "Examining him, we found the bullet had entered his side, and passing through the lungs and lights, had lodged near the spine; and yet, thus severely wounded, he had gone quite ten miles at a cracking pace!"
   
   It is a sadder and more likeable Lady Florence who turns around and heads back to Punta Arenas. At this point, they encounter their own run of bad luck. They run out of food, the pack horse that has all their remaining biscuits runs off, all their horses suddenly disappear and have to be tracked down, and finally they appear back in civilization bedraggled and somewhat chastened.
   
   A real page-turner, RIDING ACROSS PATAGONIA is one of those strange books that show the writer's change of heart for the better. At one point, she even becomes disgusted with the concept of "man the destroyer."

No comments about Tales of Teams: Heartwarming Memories of Hardworking Horses and Mules.

No comments about Secrets of the Top Equestrian Trainers.

No comments about Horse Psychology.

No comments about The Manual of Horsemanship.

2 comments about The Haflinger (Allen Breed).

1. This is a great book that goes into detail of the history of the haflinger horse. I enjoyed this book very much but was dissappointed that the photos are all in black and white. I wish there were color photos of these beautiful horses!



2. I enjoyed this book and have referred to it numerous times when explaining to family and friends the uniquiness of the Haflinger. This book by Helen Deverill, tells of the history, comformation and nature of this unique draft pony. The Haflinger is a native of Southern Austria or the South Tyrol and based on this book dates back to 1282. As a mountain work horse it was an asset to the Tyrolean farmer who used the horse for all types of farm work and consided the Haflinger as part of the family. Although is has long been used as a work horse the Haflinger's nature makes it an excellent mount for children as well as the handicapped.

   I found the chapter on Care, competition and training very informitive and provided great insight for planning the training of my own Haflinger. From driving to vaulting or dressage the Haflinger is versatile and willing to please. It has been used in many types of equestrian events but is not widely know in the USA. In order to set up a stud book and lay down standards for registration in America, the Haflinger Breeders' Organization (HBO) was establish in 1993.

   This book provides lots of insight on this little known horse with a big heart.

1 comments about Balanced Riding: A Way to Find the Correct Seat.

1. If you are a young rider you will probably do things without thinking, but if you are older and use your head to figure out what to do this book can help you a lot.

   The chapter on the pelvic bones and how they fit with the saddle can be read and reread as one progresses to understand how balance is achieved.

   The book explains the difference between a forward seat and a light seat. This will be useful to those deciding whether to learn hunter-jumper style English riding or dressage.

   The book highlights typical faults and provides off-the-horse exercises to help correct them. There a numerous ground exercises and these will strengthen the riding muscles.

   Its not the easiest book to read, but its one you can go back to again and again to improve your riding. Basically the book is about improving balance - if you have a good feel for balance then the words may not mean much - but if you find balance difficult or want to have a real understanding of what it means this is a worthy book to have for reference.

1 comments about Riding from the Inside Out.

1. The author, Lisa Champion, is a fitness professional. She is also a keen athlete, competing in triathlons and marathons. Yet even with her high level of fitness and all her knowledge she still found her riding lacked effectiveness.
   Lisa assembled a team consisting of physiotherapist Anna-Louise Bouvier and Dressage coach Larissa Chadwick.
   I like Riding from the Inside Out because it is clear, concise, well organized and informative. Helpful photographs are plentiful and a good compliment to the text. I have many books on riding and fitness, but the content in this book is unique, useful and informative.