Customer Reviews

Building Your Dream Horse: Charles Wilhelm's Ultimate Foundation Training (Howell Equestrian Library)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

Have seen Wilhelm at the Horse Expo a couple of times now and really enjoyed the demonstrations. Got the book somewhat reluctantly, most of these are SO dry and hard to follow, but this one really works. Easy to understand and written with nice stories and examples. Really enjoyed the pictures too - so many books are just pictures of the trainer - nice to see the focus be on the people who own horses rather than someone's ego. Anyway - great book - just straightforward approach to foundation training that should work for pretty much anyway. I was happy to have been wrong about what I was expecting. Nice job guy!

I was looking for a step-by-step method for training a young horse, and this isn't it. Mr. Wilhelm describes his round pen or leadline methods for starting and stopping the horse's feet, and then suddenly we are in the saddle teaching the horse to give to the bit, with no explanation of how we got up there!
My dream horse might automatically understand about carrying a saddle and having a rider on board without being systematically taught about those things, but I sure don't want to count on it.
There's a lot of useful information in this book, I'm not going to toss it out, but I'll need to look elsewhere for a system of foundation training.

Thank you so much for writing such a great book! I found it to be very easy to read and easy to follow when applying your techniques from the book to my everyday handling of my horses. Mr. Wilhelm really knows how to convey his training methods through his words and make it easy to understand. Thank you so much Mr. Wilhelm for your book. I hope to someday make it to one of the horse expositions you go to!

I work with clients getting into horses as adults or back into horses as adults and have been struggling to find a book that works for them. Finally - here it is! This is the perfect introduction into understanding horses and horsemanship. And frankly - I've been a trainer for 35 years, think I am very good at it, and I really liked it too. Great no-nonsense stuff, exercises that people can understand - no fancy language, and a jolly good read. Nice not to be bored to tears reading a training book for a change. I've never seen Charles Wilhelm in person, but I will take a group of my clients next time he's in Maryland! Tally-ho and hats off for a job well done Mr. Wilhelm - so refreshing to have a book written that makes it clear that people CAN train their own horses, and frankly - MUST!

I love this book! The pictures are great and it's written in a lovely, easy to follow style. Charles Wilhelm is a very knowledgable horseman and Allison Houston is a whiz at saying it like it is. I highly recommend the book for anyone at any level of horse experience!

Allison Houston did a remarkable job of taking the concepts of Charles Wilhelm's foundation training and making it clear, concise, and easily understandable for a wide range of equine enthusiasts. Riders from any discipline can benefit from the training concepts/methods presented in this book. I hope to hear more from Ms. Houston in the future!

I got this book as a gift for my mom, and she loves it. It really fits the "going back to horses" frame of mind, as Charles Wilhelm stated in the introduction. She has had horses her whole life, but hasn't been very involved the past 10-15 years, and Charles Wilhelm seems to understand that, and is helping her to work her way back in comfortably. Great easy read that teaches you a lot!

Over the years, I have bought several different horse training books. But none of these books was as easy to read and undertand as Charles Wilhelm's book. More importantly, the techniques described in "Building Your Dream Horse" are easy to implement! I can definitely see the results in my horse and myself.

There are no "games" or gadgets, just straight-forward descriptions of his philosophy and the exercises. In addition, the stories and examples he provides make this "how-to" book a very entertaining read. Unlike the other horse training books I have, this one won't be gathering dust on the bookshelf.