Customer Reviews

BioMechanical Riding and Dressage: A Rider's Atlas

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

 

 

Understanding kinesics for the rider's interaction with the horse lead me to order this book which came today and it is so full of data and rich in detail it deserves detailed analysis and study. I am hoping to get through it by next week but in reading it already my wife and I have learned things that are making us think as riders on how to interact with a horse. We are also trying to rehab a mare that may need some stretching out to repair past damage before we encountered her and this may be of aid to us in that effort.

I purchased this book after seeing several of the illustrations used in a lecture containing riding biomechanics information. I figured the book would certainly be extremely useful considering the quality of the illustrations I had already seen.

I found this book to truly have wonderful drawings illustrating many aspects of the biomechanics of riding. The author truly understands the material and presents it with tremendous detail...too much detail at times, bogging the reader down with references to and descriptions of other sources within the body of the text (that is what foot notes and bibliographies are for).

The photographs used extensively throughout this book are mediocre at best. The quality of the photography is poor, the horses used are "average" and most do not look capable of quality execution of the movements being presented. Many of the photos are taken in what appears to be winter so the horse's coat and the rider's apparel create bulk that detracts from being able to see the riders' seat position or the horses legs adequately. Many of the photos contain dark horses with dark tack and dark rider apparel, creating an almost impossible situation for anyone trying to see the finer points of position, etc. Would have been nice to see as near perfect execution of the movements as possible in good quality, well thought out photos using top notch horses and riders....would have been more helpful.

Also, regarding the photos, when in series (such as showing the phases of a flying change), they are lined up and numbered from right to left. Very confusing to the average reader of the English language!

I can see this being a good reference regarding the effects of the riders seat on the horse's way of going. Lots of good information toward that purpose. I'm just disappointed in the photographic illustrations.

Unique view of biomechanics - illustrations helpful. But, author is verbose and egotistical. Very distracted by poor writing, confusing graphics and dangling references. Some good stuff, if you can power through all of that.

This book helps the rider relate the anatomy of the rider and how it relates to how the horse responds. It has wonderful details that can help any rider improve their riding and understand the basic biomechanics of the horse and rider as a team. I enjoy reading this book. I have learned so much already and I have improved my riding. I would recommend it to all who are serious about improving their dressage and riding skills.

I am not satisfied with the product I received.
I1 really thought I would receive a hard cover book and not a coloured copy spiral bunch of pages.

It clearly says it is an atlas and for the price I payed I was expecting too much more.