Customer Reviews

101 Arena Exercises: A Ringside Guide for Horse & Rider

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a really first class book that any reader should be able to put to good use. There are many books that claim to teach you how to ride better or make your horse go better but few that deliver on their promises. This is a book that delivers.

The real strength of this book lies in its blend of Western and dressage exercises. My horse and I are most familiar with dressage movements, so the Western based exercises had some novelty value for me - and provided a change for my horse. Cherry Hill explains a number of complicated movements in very simple terms and offers excellent advice as to how to get results. Her recipes for teaching the collected walk and achieving flying changes are the best I have read anywhere. Her instructions are simple, direct and work.

I really like this book, and so does my trainer (in fact, I'm giving it to her for her birthday!) Strictly speaking, it's almost more of a manual than a book. As the title indicates, it contains 101 exercises for you to use in an arena with your horse. All the exercises shown are maneuvers to be done while mounted, none are in-hand work. Most work with either English or Western styles of riding, although some are slanted more one way than another. Dressage enthusiasts will recognize much of the work here, as will some of the Western specialists.

There are five main sections in the book: Gaits; Transitions; Circles; Lateral Work; and Mini-Patterns. Each exercise covers two pages, with an overhead diagram showing the pattern created in the arena, as well as a drawing showing the desired effect in the horse. Each page has a step-by-step description of how to ride the exercise, a list of benefits, cautions to consider while doing it, and occasionally, extra notes. All the illustrations are pen and ink drawings; there are no photographs.

Some of the exercises are a little the same, I will agree with a previous reviewer on that point. But all are worth working on and getting right. The format of the book encourages you to take it to the arena with you, with a spiral binding that allows the pages to lay flat. The only thing I'd like to see is to have the pages all laminated, but that surely would have increased the cost, so I'll live with it the way it is. All in all this book is well worth owning, whether you're an Dressage rider, barrel racer, or simply a riding enthusiast who wants to increase the skill set of themselves and their horse. Don't hesitate to buy it, it's well worth the price.

I got this book and with in 10 exercises and about a week Te was more supple and moving better. He is even listening better. Get this book! It is well worth it!

I have been showing horse for a number of years and I wish I had this book earlier. It's a very thorough book that provides you with exercises for either western or english riding. It gives you very detailed patterns and step-by-step instructions. A must have!

The number of excellent reviews for this book reflect the application to riders of all levels and disciplines. The most valuable aspect of this book is that it encourages the rider to formulate a plan for their schooling sessions and make a conscious decision not to do the same thing day in day out - something we are all guilty of on occasion. Make your schooling sessions more fun for you and your horse with this informative guide.

This book is great for riders who can easily walk trot and lope/canter and depart on a correct lead.

This is somewhat of a "crossover" book--dressage and western with exercises that are great for horse and rider, but which my not be popular with di-hard dressage or western only trainers. The exercises would be difficult in many cases for the rider using a true forward seat hunt saddle unless the stirrups were legthened A LOT.

Very handy for a rider working at home without regular lessons.

We love this book! Cherry Hill is such a good author, she explains things in such a way that they are understandable and useful, not just a concept that you might not be able to use. This book will give you and your horse a chance to practice different exercises and break out of the old walk-trot-canter-one-way-around the ring rut. I think this has helped myself and our two horses greatly in our training process.

This book is easy to understand. I ride many types of riding and i felt that it helped me understand my horse better in all areas of riding. This is a book I will use with all my horses I have.

An example of the poorly written mess I encountered in this "book":

Exercise 14: Half Halt
How to ride: trot(exercise 6), corner (exercise 31), halt (exercise 19), trot (exercise 19), halt, trot, half halt, trot, half halt, trot.
How to apply half halt: Think. Apply seat, leg, and hand aids. Yield. Keep upper body straight, maintain deep still contact, keep both legs on horses side, use appropriate intensity with both hands.

Now can you tell me what exactly a half halt is and how to do it? All I know is that while doing it should be keeping my upper body straight.

Another proplem I have is as you can see by the above example is that you can't just pick up the book and do a lesson because each lesson incorporates a lesson that you haven't even gone over yet. In the above lesson we were in lesson 14, but it refers to lessons 31 and 19. So you have to continually flip through the book to figure out how to do just one lesson


Also in one area it says to initiate a right lead canter with your right foot and in another it says to initiate the right lead canter with the left foot. I really don't think this book is good for a beginner unless they have a trainer to decode this mess for them.

I gave 3 stars because while the info is garbled it can be used.

I recommend "Western Practice Lessons" by: Charlene Strickland for well detailed and understandable arena exercises

this is an excellent reference book for riders & instructors. It is not a program per se, although the exercises tend toward simpler to more difficult. Each is done individually and its purpose & goal is explained well. It is a really nice book for both disciplines & even though each exercise is shown for one horse or the other, they could/should be applicable for both. It is a wonderful resource particularly for the rider at home to work on things they learned during a lesson when the trainer is not available to remind them what to do, or give them a apecific exercise to work through a difficult issue or even just to relieve boredom.