Customer Reviews

Major Anders Lindgren's Teaching Exercises: A Manual for Instructors and Riders (The Masters of Horsemanship Series, Bk. 3)

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I found Lindgren's book to be a concisely written work that clarifies many difficult concepts in the earlier levels of dressage schooling. The book is divided into levels (training through 5th) with up to eight different patterns/exercises for each level. The exercises are clearly presented with a "Purpose" (what one is trying to achieve by utilizing the specific execise), an "Explaination" of how to do the exercise, what to "Observe" when doing the exercise and "Suggestions and Advice" for proper execution of the exercise.

As a rider who does not have access to regular instruction, I found this book particularly helpful. The exercises give me a goal for each ride and they follow a logical progression so that I know I am on track in my schooling. I like the use of cones...they really help me focus on the patterns.

The introduction presents the best explaination of the use of the aids, the half-halt, and being "on the bit" that I have ever read...very clear definitions of these sometimes elusive concepts.

I reccommend this book for any lower level dressage rider. It is a wonderful tool for schooling alone or for structuring a lesson.

This book is called 'A Manual for Instructors and Riders'. And yes, it is a manual, but it is not a book that will help you to become a better rider. The book gives you an overview of different patterns to ride when you are training and it is fairly useful as such. Before you buy it, however, be aware that this book tells you WHAT to do - but by no means HOW. As he says himself, this book is a collection of lesson plans.

The short introduction only serves to create confusion for any reader/rider who does not already have a fairly good idea of what to aim for and how to accomplish it. Anders Lindgren gives some advice that can easily be disastrous if not used with a lot of discretion. His 'philosophy of pattern use' is only one example: 'To produce a gymnastic effect in the horse without requiring that the rider also be well-schooled. A correctly executed pattern schools the horse'. My question would be how a rider who is not well-schooled should correctly execute any pattern? Highly unlikely.

His description of the half-halt gives some nice background thoughts but unfortunately no description of the aids actually used to perform it. Part of his advice: 'To be succesful, combine the aids for the half halt with the aids for a lateral movement such as leg-yielding, shoulder-fore or shoulder-in'. This might be useful in specific situations for riders who already know how to perform a correct half halt and who want to work their horse through a specific problem, with the awareness that they have to go back to the 'normal' aids eventually. A less sophisticated rider might easily translate this into permission to ride one-sided or crooked half-halts continuously, thereby creating a huge problem for herself in the future. The same problem applies to the section on rein contact. 'The rider must, through the rein contact, learn that a strong contact, usually on the left rein (the left hind leg - the left engine) works well.' Ouch! I think (hope!) I understand what he means, but it would take me a lot of time to explain this to a pupil and I don't think I'd be comfortable using this particular description.
One more 'gem' with the potential to be a bomb is the explanation of 'shuttling the bit' on a tense and nervous horse to create relaxation in the joints at the poll. Don't even think of trying this at home!!

I have been riding and teaching in Scandinavia and found that the 'rider's disease' of wanting to place their horse's head with however much force it takes is even more rampant there. I also saw trainers using similar patterns, e.g. in shoulder - without any regard as to how the rider was giving the aids or as to how the horse was working.
After coming to the USA I see even more riders who are extremely focused on riding movements and totally forget about the first and main aim of dressage: namely, the athletic development of the horse. Riding these patterns without knowing how to give the correct aids and with a horse that is not 'through' is not only totally useless - it can be actually detrimental to the horses health (just think about the wear on the joints if the horse would continuously be going in the wrong bend) and his well-being. Repeating and repeating a pattern while you are doing something wrong is not going to make your horse go any better - my guess is that he will be going worse and worse, and you both will get more and more frustrated.
An unskilled rider trying these exercises without good instruction can easily end up with one of the 'mechanical horses' we unfortunately see so often. The ones that sourly do all the movements, but are stiff as a board and usually robbed of any elasticity and spring in their steps. If that is your goal, fine, and probably you'll now and then find a judge who shares your view. Dressage, however, it is not.

To end with a very practical 'flaw': please also be aware of the fact that the patterns given here are exclusively for a LARGE dressage arena (20 x 60 meters), and not for the more common regular size (20 x 40 meters). It would have added a lot of value to this book to at least have some patterns adapted for smaller arena's. Now you will have to do the math for yourself.

Of course I realize that there are many valuable thoughts to be found in this book. A number of subtleties easily might have been lost in the translation of Lindgren's words. And for sure it will be totally different if you are actually riding in one of his clinics. But not all of his readers will have the chance to experience him 'live'.
Most of the ideas in this book go along accepted classical lines - as long as you know what these are beforehand, you should be OK. The only persons I'd feel safe recommending this book to are experienced instructors/trainers looking for some inspiration for their lessons, or already well-trained riders who would like some new ideas for their schooling sessions and who hopefully have somebody on the ground to assist them with the correct execution of these patterns.

Having had the wonderful opportunity of riding under Major Lindgren in clinics back in CA, I can honestly say that this book distills much of his techniques into a user-friendly archive. The patterns not only put the horse in the position of discovering for himself how best to balance, but they also teach the rider how to truly RIDE. It becomes apparent to rider and instructor where gaps exist in rider and horse development when the exercises are used stringently. An indispensible tool for anyone who knows the secret of riding a good dressage test: the movements you ride in a show are only the tip of the iceberg!

This book title says it all. It is a list of progressive exercises by level. It will be quite helpful for the reader to know how to do the various exercises as this book gives the "what" not the "how". Good reference book.

Years ago when Major Lindgren gave a clinic in VA I was lucky enough to go. He uses a system of small red cones (like traffic cones) set up in various places around the ring to encourage the rider to look where they are going and to enable various patterns to be ridden. Having the cones as guides one can do serpentines, various size circles, leg yielding, etc., all exercises that supple the horse and keep horse and rider from being bored. The book contains many many patterns that can be used with the same set up of the cones.

Try it, you will like it. I ordered the book recently to use with my new young horse, we both enjoy " riding the cones".