Customer Reviews

Lessons with Lendon: 25 Progressive Dressage Lessons Take You from Basic Whoa and Go to Your First Competition (Popular Training Series from Practical Horseman)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a reprint of a series Lendon Grey did for Practical Horseman Magazine some years ago. Excellent book, well done with very clear concepts and goals. The lessons are set up in a very logical order with lots of pointers on how to make the exercises work for you and your horse and what to do if you are not getting the right response. Each chapter ends with a riding challenge. This book is well worth the money, a great resource for student and teacher alike. You will return to it over and over again.

I found this book helpful. It is easy to understand and also has pictures for those who are more visual in their learning process. It covers a lot of the basics, which some need to go back to to help them in the more advanced movements of dressage. Dressage can be very initimidating with the language that is used, but this book explains terminology and concepts. This book also has "Lendons Challenges" which cover the more common errors riders tend to make when doing the different movements. The only fault I found was the majority of horses are wearing flash nosebands. To me this is a fashion of the times and curbs the horses potential.

Let me start by saying, I really think this is a good book to have in one's library. Why? In succinct, but not short or even overly brief statements, Lendon Gray provides chunks of information that neither overwhelm nor talk down to the reader.
Having ridden twice in the Olympics, she knows obviously a lot more about dressage than most of us. What makes this book a pleasure is the presentation. She does it on a straight-forward approach as if talking to someone who is on the same level as her. There is a sense of equality between writer and reader's level of knowledge. In other words, she does not come across as a "I know it all and you know nothing."

All the information throughout the 25 lessons are chunked into small pieces, each comes with a succinct heading that gives the reader a clue as to what she will talk about in the next third or so column. What made this book very useful to me are the images of "right / correctly" and "wrong / incorrectly" applied principles. She details what can be done to correct wrong workings in very good depth, which makes this very useful for either between lessons or for those who do not have the opportunity of working with a dressage trainer on a regular basis.

I can recommend this book for most levels of riding, but believe that as with many books, it will be most useful to those who work in Training through lower Level 2 stages. Advanced Level 2 through Grand Prix riders will be far to knowledgeable to get a great deal of use out of this. But for the majority of riders, I think this book is great and it delivers what it set out to do: teach from start of riding to the first competition. It also provides a great place to go back and figure out "what went wrong" to help correct problems that creep up in riding.

The book is well written so the average person who is either starting out or is early in a riding carrer will benefit. I particularly liked the fact that she believes all basic dressage will help in what ever riding carrer you may wish to take. She spells out the riders total responsiblity verses the horse which I found to be very refreshing. I gave it 4 stars only because it was pitched below where I thought the book was based on the reviews.

It is the best book to learn with!!! It tells you how to do things that my trainer couldn't get to stick in my mind. The pictures are a huge help, and how he says things is the best! If your thinking about buying, its worth every penny!

I just love this book. Gray points out the key steps to progress from zero up for green horses or marue horses that have to start over. Her directions are very specific and practical. Although she explains why each step is required she does so after she says what to do. This is unlike a number of theory books that don't say what to do. She jumps right to work on the first lesson and does not waste pages on fluffy husbandry stuff. I really love this book and have started my horse on the program already. If Gray lived closer, I would definately take lessons from. This book allows me to learn the basics from a master. It will be well used in my training program.

I have been taking a "lesson with Lendon" using this book for several weeks and have been very happy with the book and my progress. The lessons are simple to follow with clear instructions and goals. Through these lessons, I have come to realize that I was over-communicating and not consistently using the aids with my horse. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to "start over" and follow a simplified approach to dressage from an Olympic level rider. It has been an excellent book so far. I just wish I could take real lessons with Lendon :-)

I have been training for decades, and have a bookshelf full of books, but this is the one I keep on my side table. I don't think there is anything that can't be cured with this "back to the basics" and then onward approach. So glad I found this book, and I'm sure my horses are also. Plus, Ms. Gray writes in such a friendly manner, I just know she would be my new BFF if only I didn't live across the country! Cheers!!

Lendon is a great teacher and this is a very organized, well thought out series of lessons for anyone who wants to be a better horseman and rider.

This book is well worth buying. The author writes in a very easy to follow manner and it is full of exercises that really work for horses and riders. She gives plenty of examples and the photos are wonderful. I would buy anything that she writes.