Customer Reviews

How Your Horse Wants You to Ride: Starting Out, Starting Over

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have ridden horses since I was a young child. I thought I was a good rider. Bless the horses who have continually forgiven me all of my riding blunders. Now it is my turn to return their kindness by becoming a better rider.

I am currently taking riding lessons with an excellent instructor. I find it helpful to refer to parts in this book that coincide with my lessons so that I can better understand what is going on between me and my horse. Gincy's 7-Steps help me to mentally and physically prepare for the lessons.

My instructor and I have discussed some of Gincy's techniques and have found that my horse responds beautifully and my riding skills are improving.

This book offers clear,concise instructions with explanations of how, why and when along with tons of encouragement. The author has a way of presenting the material without the reader feeling like a buffoon (and you won't even need a dictionary or thesaurus to get through it!) She shares her riding bloopers and many of her ups and downs while she was learning. Gincy is a real person writing in a down-to-earth, no-nonsense fashion. There is no waste in this book!

This is one book you might prefer not to pass around to friends. For one thing, you might not get it back. For another, it is handy for quick reference when needed. I ended up buying 3 more(for Christmas gifts) so I could selfishly keep mine yet let my friends in on a great reading discovery.

Gincy's Book How Your Horse Wants You to Ride: Starting Out, Starting Over, is a true gem! So many books seem to assume you know a lot already, where as this book really starts with the basics and allows you to progress very quickly with confidence.

Throughout the book Gincy gives exercises that you can do by yourself or with a partner. These exercises allow you to feel what the horse feels when ridden incorrectly versus correctly. This is a real eye opener, suddenly it all starts to make sense. I thought sitting tall was for my appearance and posture, now I understand how my position affects the horses ability to do his job and more importantly I understand WHY.

I have found that the Seven steps which Gincy teaches can be used for more than just riding.

Although I have been riding for six years, I never really felt safe and secure with my abilities. Since starting over with this book, I am very confident in what I have accomplished and I am confident enough to take it slow, and at my own pace. Both my horse and myself are so grateful to Gincy for writing her books and I highly recommend this one for all riders, there is something in it for everyone.

This book will work for riders at any level. The author presents essential, practical information in clear, understandable language. Some of this material is found in other books, but written in vague terms, or reserved for the advanced rider. The author compiles many ideas in one place, and gives the information concisely to the reader at all levels, so that incorrect habits can be corrected or prevented. The ideas are presented with case studies, visuals, and hands-on learning tools, not just as abstract theories. The book will be invaluable to the riding instructor as well, as it offers alternative ways to explain basic concepts to students with different learning styles. Whether you wish to add to an extensive library, or on a budget that restricts you to only a few books, this is one to have in your hands.

Returning to riding after many years away from horses, I was injured just when I was starting to get my confidence back. This added an element of fear that I hadn't ever had to deal with before.
I haven't even finished reading it yet, but have been working on the program outlined in the book and it has been the most wonderful help for building confidence. When I'm following the instructions in How Your Horse Wants You to Ride I always feel safe. I've never met the author, but it seems as if the book was written just for me. I'm very glad I found it, and will definitely be buying Gincy Bucklin's other books.

I read this book while I was taking lessons over a period of months. I was returning to riding after a 30-year hiatus and was in effect starting over. This made me an ideal candidate for the author, except I wasn't fearful. I found very little in this book that was helpful to me, although I think it may be useful to the fearful beginner who has the necessary resources available.
1. I found the style tedious, boring, self-congratulatory, and patronizing.
2. The author's way is the only "right" way and any other way is not just wrong but detrimental. Never mind that many of these "wrong" ways are standard riding and horse handling by many highly regarded systems and first-class riders.
3. Anybody who has seriously pursued a physical skill, such as a sport or playing a musical instrument, will have developed a technique for focusing and relaxing under stress. To such as person, the author's "Seven Steps" are unnecessary and even silly. They may be helpful to someone who has never developed this technique.
4. I could do few of the exercises in the book because I lacked a suitable horse and helpers, and I suspect this will be true of many readers. Maybe readers should form a reading club to help each others do the exercises if they want to get the benefit of the book.
5. The author encourages the emergency dismount whenever the rider feels insecure in trying a new exercise. What about working through difficulties? You can't learn to balance at the canter if you won't stay on as you canter - you have to tolerate the gait to learn to balance to it.
6. Per the above, bailing out at any difficulty may be helpful to building confidence in the fearful rider, but it, like many techniques in this book, lends itself to slower progress in riding. For me, the first year of learning the basics was not much fun, and to extend this process would have been both unnecessary, tedious, and discouraging.
7. The author implies that if you don't have mastery of the basics, you can't ride well. This is true. However, you don't need to master the basics to progress. You need to have adequate control to go on, and then you should continue to work on the basics as you also work on more advanced skills. This is what top riders do. Yet the author condemns anyone who moves on before mastery - her method, and therefore the only right way to do things.

A fabulous, practical book that addresses a common but "secret" problem of so many horse lovers...fear and anxiety. This is especially distressing to adult riders who used to be able to just jump on and GO! Gincy gives concrete and helpful exercises for us to do on and off the horse. She uses great visualization techniques like Sally Swift. It's great to have a book that addresses riding instead of ground training. Thank you Gincy!

Rarely do "how to" books come along that not only tell a person what to do but also why it works to do it that way. How Your Horse Wants You To Ride is one of those rare books.

Bucklin not only provides step-by-step methods for developing and enhancing riding and horsemanship skills, but clearly and engagingly explains why those steps work. Her explanations and instructions are easy to read and understand, and photos and illustrations provide detail. All that's needed for success is a willingness to learn. If a rider cares to become more than just a passenger on a horse's back, this is the book to have.

With over 400 illustrated pages, small font and pithy writing, this text quality book is the gold standard for the student of horse/human relationships. Recommended additional reading: Bucklin's companion book, What Your Horse Wants You to Know.

I found this book to have quite a different approach to teaching the beginner to ride. The author focus on balance and safety, and not moving the rider forward until a they are proficent in basic skills.

I found her discussions of how to handle the horse on the ground very informative and practical. Her discussions of the rein aids, reins of oppostition for instance, were the best I've ever read and I now understand what "opposition" refers to for the first time.

Her off the horse work, and slow deliberate work to teach the rider balance and feel are very good. This is an important book and one I feel that needs to be read.

This book is the reason I even tried to ride a horse again. It is well-written with lots of photos and illustrations and is well-organized. Mrs. Bucklin writes clearly about how ride safely and be some one your horse wants to ride him or her. Unlike a lot of other books, this is not an ego book or a "system" book saying you need to buy other products to get the most out of it. It is a reference book. You'll go back and re-read for the rest of your riding days.

So if you've had a bad experience trying to learn to ride but still want to try, this book can help get you back on a horse.

This book is one of the best "buys" I have made in that the information is so minutely expressed in detail and the value page for page is incredible. This is a reference book; not all are, some you read and say "Oh, OK, got that" and put it on the shelf or pass it on..this book you know you will keep to refer back to for that niggling little point about that annoying thing you just can't figure out about the ride/ lesson. Not the best title, though I am a big advocate of riding in harmony ( and I GET that this all leads to that ), it misleads slightly in that what you are really getting is much, much more than just what the horse wants; you are getting almost overload information on yourself (not a one sit read). Just a few dated personal references strewn about, could have more photos, but not a real fault because if you can read ( ! ), and want a lot for the investment, this book is loaded with text and all of it valuable info. I have slightly better, lighter reads,easier to digest, but again, the info is so vast here, details so good, it is just worth every penny if that is really what you want. LOVE that it is hardbound as it WILL be around on my shelf a LONG time. Not the only book you should get, but worth it for sure.