Customer Reviews

The Elements of Dressage: A Guide to Training the Young Horse

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Col. v. Ziegner is so personally modest that few may appreciate the role he played in developing the classic German Scales of Training following WWII. The Elements of Dressage shows an uncommon perspective and wisdom that can only spring from a lifetime of advocating for the horse. After riding 1000 horses, v. Ziegner has given us a clear plan of training for the young horse that updates traditional principles and makes them more accessible. The scales of training are expanded and slightly reordered to help riders achieve a more reliable result and to preserve the charm and health of the horse. Each element or characteristic that needs to be developed has its own section, with useful "how-to" exercises and diagrams. This book will help you, whether you are starting a young horse or perfecting an FEI horse, whether you are a dressage "newbie", a jumper rider, or an experienced trainer.

This is without a doubt the best dressagebook I have ever read. It is very well written pedagic and the total design of the book is fantastic. This book is not as pricy as a lot of others containing lots of beautiful photo, but it will give you so much more. Everything comes clear, my trainer was a bit surprised to see my ridning change so drastic after reading this book. I have a lot of dressage books but none makes sense as this one.

Although this book is entitled "The Elements of Dressage" Col. von Ziegner really presents the elements of basic training of any horse! His version of the training scale is much easier to understand and follow than the German approved version (even though he helped develop the German version, he told me that many years of training has made him develop this newer scale). As a result of reading this book I went and rode with him in Germany ... an amazing experience seeing what I had read in his book being put into practice. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to ride dressage or to school a horse calmly and logically. In comparison to other dressage books I found this one a bit easier to understand and to apply to my riding.

I thought this was an excellent book. I bought it to help provide some guidance while training my young horse, and it not only gave me a nice guideline of what-to-train-when, but also made dressage much more understandable.

This book focuses on the German dressage training scale. The author explains the steps in training the horse, dividing it into stages (i.e. stage one you focus on A, B, and C elements, stage two you begin developing D and E). He gives some guidelines as to what your horse should be able to do before you push him for more. He then devotes a chapter to each element needed in dressage, in the order it should be developed in the horse (relaxation, regularity, freedom, contact, on the aids...). He finishes with a few miscellaneous chapters on the flying change, transitions, the inclined arena (great for eventers), Prix St. James test, and lateral movements.

This book mainly aims to discuss the development of the young horse, providing a correct foundation for all further work, including eventing and show jumping. It provides more detail about the early years of training, rather than say, development of the piaffe, passage, extensions, etc.

I would recommend this to all dressage riders (especially those just starting out or at the lower levels), to those people interested in putting a good foundation on a young horse (this applies to ALL disciplines!), or to those that just want a better understanding of how to ride a horse correctly. This book has great clarity, is an easy read, I even recommended it to my youngest sister (she's 12).

Don't get me wrong, this is not a book for novices just learning to post. You do need a basic understanding of riding. He's not going to explain how to ask your horse to shoulder-in or get on the bit. I read this with a good working knowledge of dressage. This just put everything into a clear format and made dressage, for once, seem simple to understand (even if its very difficult to perform!)

I am very enthusiastic about "The Elements of Dressage: A Guide to Training the Young Horse" and will be recommending it to my friends and students.

The author's instructions are written clearly and are plentifully illustrated with diagrams and photos.

As well as dressage riders, Western Pleasure and Western Horsemanship riders will find this book to be amazingly applicable to their favorite events. All riders will find that this book is both a wholistic and a specific guide to good horsemanship.

This is a book that should be in every Dressage enthusiast's library! A clearly written, valuable book for any rider, especially at the lower levels of dressage, with a horse of any age.

Very helpful, great ideas on horsemanship and training. A must read for anyone serious about correct, empathetic horsemanship.

Enjoyed the book. Not really for a beginner. I liked the way he covered the process with out going into overload on techniques you should already know about, like lunging your horse.
Worth reading.

This is a book that should be mandatory reading for all aspiring Dressage riders, as well as those who train and start youngsters! This book provides detailed descriptions as well as a thoughtfully laid out format. Kurd follows the German training tree - with one exception that makes sense and gets results quicker! Read the book to find out what it is!

This is the single best book on the training of the young horse. A must read for everyone looking for sound advice. Very oppinionated. Excellent!