Customer Reviews

Dressage by the Letter: A Guide for the Novice (Howell Equestrian Library)

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

 

 

I really liked this book, and I disagree with these other reviews. Anyone who reads the book jacket will understand that this book is not supposed to TRAIN you or your horse to do dressage--it's all about getting started in the sport. I used to ride western before I got interested in dressage, but I didn't have a teacher right away, nor did I really know where to begin. This book really served as an excellent reference tool for the things the training books DON'T say. I found a good dressage teacher as a result of the "riding instructor" chapter, and I to this day still use the show checklists in the "preparing for your first show" chapter. Look, there are plenty of books out there by the Masters of the sport for those interested in learning how to do a half-pass or shoulder-in. But how many tell you the right way to behave at a dressage show, or what a dressage clinic is really like? This book IS for the novice, just as it says on the cover. It's not intended to be for someone who has 20 years experience in the sport.

I was so dissappointed with the content of this book I decided to write this review. The book title is "Dressage by the Letter", but the book NEVER addresses Dressage technique. The chapters are:

1. Dressage--An Overview: discusses the history of Dressage.

2. Your Horse's Suitabiltiy. This is so standard I could have written it from any horse magazine.

3. Getting Started. This chapter describes conditioning and has no specific relevance.

4. Finding the right instructor. Duhh.

5. Getting the most out of lessons. I could be taking clarinet lessons for all of the specific relevance!

6. Maintaining your schedule. See comment 5.

7. Other training methods. I thought this book would have some specific information about Dressage. It does not.

8. Preparing for your first show. I have been involved in jumping and showing for over 20 years and this chapter may as well of been written for first year walk-trot-canter pony shows.

9. Success on show day. See comment #8.

10. Moving forward, Moving up. This is a chapter on horse care, not Dressage.

In conclusion, this book has little if nothing to do with the title. I expected a Dressage training guide with insight. Not a generic horse maintenance book. This Is A RipOff. Can I get my money back?

All of my beginning dressage students have this book on their shelves as part of my required reading. I chose it because it is a good basic overall for the novice rider. Moira Harris explains everything you need to know in an easy to understand manner. Many dressage books are too much for a beginner and may in fact frustrate instead of educate. DRESSAGE BY THE LETTERS is the perfect way to get your feet wet. But understand that is not intended to help you learn to train your horse, it is intended to help you start out in the sport of Dressage.

I totally agree with john.davenport's comments. I read this book cover to cover not knowing anything about dressage. At the end, I STILL didn't know anything about DRESSAGE! The contents are just general horse-sense platitudes. But if you want to really understand the point of dressage, what its goals are, and how to begin to make progress towards dressage as a sport and a skill, then this book will be of no help whatsoever.

This book is meant to introduce average everyday riders to the dressage world away from the "dressage queen" influence. The decriptions are clear and I feel Moira has demystified the basic idea of dressage from being a snooty sport to a good idea on how to get started in the dressage world as an average joe with a regular horse. The idea is that dressage training can benefit every horse and rider. The book shows how anyone from any of the riding disciplines can access dressage to either change training, cross train or enhance what they already do. I started dressage to help my horse focus in hunters, and ended up hooked. I wish the book had been around at the time, because I would of avoided some mistakes in my first shows with dress and procedures!It works- I am a bit biased, as my horse Red is on page 60- an arabian that switched from hunters to be a rather decent dressage horse. He won the class that we exited out of in the picture!Most of the people in the book are everyday people like me, on regular horses, enjoying a sport that only improves your horse's mind and training abilities. I highly recommend the book to anyone who wants to check dressage out and try a few tests!

I really liked this book, and I disagree with these other reviews. Anyone who reads the book jacket will understand that this book is not supposed to TRAIN you or your horse to do dressage--it's all about getting started in the sport. I used to ride western before I got interested in dressage, but I didn't have a teacher right away, nor did I really know where to begin. This book really served as an excellent reference tool for the things the training books DON'T say. I found a good dressage teacher as a result of the "riding instructor" chapter, and I to this day still use the show checklists in the "preparing for your first show" chapter. Look, there are plenty of books out there by the Masters of the sport for those interested in learning how to do a half-pass or shoulder-in. But how many tell you the right way to behave at a dressage show, or what a dressage clinic is really like? This book IS for the novice, just as it says on the cover. It's not intended to be for someone who has 20 years experience in the sport.

I am a beginning rider, learning dressage. I thought from the title that this book would be a good introduction. The other comments are on the mark -- this book does virtually nothing to help the reader understand dressage. I do not recommend it and plan to throw away my copy (and I am a book hoarder by nature!)