Customer Reviews

The Ethics and Passions of Dressage

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

 

 

This book perfectly combats the "modern" theories on how dressage should be ridden by bringing to memory the time when the horse was trained out of necessity, yet the author does not extensively dwell on that time frame. The memory created is enough for all who are well-versed in the sport to recall the truths that were formed by masters of the past (and then often subsequently buried by later "riders"), but it doesn't get bogged down in historic details. He calls for a perfected technique of riding, born not out of technology or but out of a dance, which results in an exalted "partnership born of spirtied love, a love which is only heightened by understanding through discipline." I highly, highly suggest this book to anyone, whether they are just beginning in the art (or sport, take your pick), or whether they have been involved in the horse industry for decades.

I totally enjoy the way Charles DeKunffy writes. He draws from the historical use of horses, and compares that to dressage in this century. His thought-provoking comments are written in a somewhat "lofty" manner, but make him seem even more the baroque personality he claims to be. I loved his illustrations, both pictorial and verbal. This was a wonderful book!

This is quite a thought-provoking little book. De Kunffy packs a lot into this slim volume. Dressage is definitely his passion and he defends it to the hilt. One oddity, though, is his preference for using statues to defend his treatise. And he imbues these statues with a lot of emotion and virtues and reasons for being that are somewhat surprising if actually true. It's still worth the read.

This is not a book for die-hard theorists. It is a nice little book on horse psychology (as the author sees it) and a plea to be kind to the horse (can't argue with that). However, it does not get at the foundation of dressage in any meaningful way, so something more concrete (Mairinger, Podhajsky, Steinbrecht) would be more worthwhile.