15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, August 2, 2005
This review is from: Building Your Dream Horse: Charles Wilhelm's Ultimate Foundation Training (Howell Equestrian Library) (Hardcover)
I was really looking forward to reading this book. I love Charles Wilhelm, I love his shows and he has taught me a lot just by watching him. I love his manner, his way of putting things across... and the fact that his step-by-step exercises work.
However, as he would admit, he is not a writer. This book is written by the co-author, and it shows. There's nothing in the book that's 'wrong', it's just that it lacks passion - it's kind of uninspired. I get the feeling that they set out to write 'yet another horse training book' and included all the necessary sections, and all in all it reads like that.
It's also fairly thin on content. For example, if you watch CW ride, his horses have really good flexibility and shoulder control. This is what I'm working towards with my 3 yr old. I find the section in the book .... and there's at most a paragraph ... ! Just not enough to really work from. Not enough specific exercises to even get you started.
I'm not really sure who the book is aimed at. Not for a beginning trainer like me. For starting to train your horse, you're much better off with Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship. The training methods are pretty much the same, but CA's gives you a whole lot more value for money - much clearer instruction, much more specific exercises, far better illustrated (you can really see what you're trying to achieve and how from the CA photo's).
I'm sorry I didn't like the book more. I'm still a big fan of the man and the method.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compared to Downunder Horsemanship, July 13, 2005
This review is from: Building Your Dream Horse: Charles Wilhelm's Ultimate Foundation Training (Howell Equestrian Library) (Hardcover)
This is a very solid new training book that came out shortly after Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship. There are a many similarities in the two trainers' approaches, including:
* every encounter with a horse includes training
* extensive groundwork is key to success under saddle
* exercises on the lunge line emphasized more than pure round pen work
* endless flexion exercises are important to condition a horse to respond to very light rein pressure
* one-rein stop is key to safe riding; how to train for it.
Wilhelm has good advice on buying a horse, complete with a sample sales agreement. There is some very good stuff in the pages he devotes to problem solving. He deals with the usual issues of bucking, rearing, trailer loading, etc. I especially appreciated his description of how to use a tie ring to cure horses from pulling back when tied, and the exercises to overcome buddy sour behavior.
One area where I can't fairly rate Wilhelm is his clarity and thoroughness in describing his foundation techniques. I bought Anderson's book after seeing him at a horse expo, so his book made sense to me immediately. Since then I've viewed Anderson's Riding with Confidence video series -- easily the most helpful and well-produced of any training series I've seen. So I recognize I'm handicapped in comparing the books fairly, but there were a number of times I didn't feel I was quite grasping Wilhem's approach, especially in applying the techniques over an extended period of time.
Certainly Anderson's book is a better bargain by the pound. Both list for $24.99, but Downunder Horsemanship is almost twice the size, and filled with huge beautiful color photographs.
Wilhelm has a three paragraph rant about trainers "selling the benefits of their magical equipment." I've never heard a trainer do that, and I was amused when I went to Wilhem's web site to see that he has his own large inventory of products for sale, including the tie ring that is essential to his technique for curing pullback. In my experience, most of the stuff these guys sell is good quality and fairly priced, and they don't need to be so defensive about it.
The bottom line for me is that Building Your Dream Horse is a fine book, but Downunder Horsemanship is better. Either one would be more useful in combination with seeing the authors in person or viewing their videos.
Edit, 8/14/2008
Three years is a long time, and I've had a chance to use a lot of different techniques on a lot of different horses since I last read this book, so I reread it last week.
I was given a little 14 year old gelding, very quiet, friendly, calm and generally well mannered. But his reaction to pressure is to freeze and try to wait it out. One thing I really need to change is his resistance to rein pressure. Pull on a rein and he goes merrily on in the direction of his choice, not yours.
Pulling harder didn't help, and I didn't want to start jerking on his head, so I was stuck. Then I got to Wilhelm's chapter about flexing exercises. He described the most pressure resistant horse he ever trained. The first time he tried getting that horse to flex his neck he waited an hour and twenty minutes for the horse to give the first time!
I was waiting more like a minute. So, inspired by Wilhelm's example, I went out and tried again, this time maintaining steady pressure and ready to wait it out. After a few minutes, the little guy tipped his nose in toward me and I dropped the rein. On the second try he tipped in within a few seconds. The third time he responded instantly.
All of which is a long story to make a simple point, which is that Wilhelm has a lot of good examples in this book that might be just what you need to solve a problem. Building Your Dream Horse is not as complete as Downunder Horsemanship, but the information it presents is very solid.
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