Customer Reviews

The Way to Perfect Horsemanship (Trafalgar Square Classic)

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This book was recommended to me by a dressage judge. He lent me the original German version which I read 4 times in a row before returning it. I then ordered the English translation and read it another 3 times. Every time I did, I learnt hundreds of new things about riding. It is the most amazing riding book I have ever read. The only other one that comes to close to it is Museler's Riding Logic. The author ends the book by saying that he hopes, by writing this book and getting riders to understand them better, he is repaying his horses for serving him faithfully all those years. He has succeeded!

The author combines his veterinary knowledge, his skill as a horseman and his unabashed love of horses to create the richest equine treatise I have ever read. Udo Burger emphasizes that as riders we must constantly strive to refine our sensitivity and therefore be capable of precise and subtle use our aids. It is only then that our horses may be gently and beautifully ridden. Dr. Burger's explanation of equine biomechanics is crucial to a rider's understanding of proper horsemanship. Anything less is unfair to our horses. Burger emphasizes that we must continue to study for the sake of our wonderful and generous equine companions. As the originator and teacher of the S.E.N.S.E. Method (bodywork and movement exercises for horse and rider), I can only applaud. Loudly. This is a book no horseperson should be without.

This book is exciting. It explains the the anatomical development of horses as we ride them. You get an insight how riding your horse correctly contributes to particular muscle development of the horse and how your horses motor physiology would not respond and find limitations when incorrectly ridden. Not easy reading but certainly a must for those who want to develop their horses into athletes.

Sadly out of print (2006), this book in either its German or English edition contains important images and text. Coeval with the recent popularity of riding in hyperflexion, as the Federation Equestre Internationale calls "round and deep," the classical development of the horse's mind and body have become "a little lost." Horses ridden in the exaggerated profile of hyperflexion during training are thought to be like "bows" with the spine the bow and the belly muscles the "string," as proposed by prominent advocates of this schooling method. A bow is much too simple an analogy to understand biomechanics of the horse's elastic system, as an examination of the last chapter in Burger's book indicates. That elastic system is diagrammed by Burger: it is shown with its diverse connective tissues of ligament, tendon, cartilage in relation to bones and important muscles. In the present dressage arena, many horses exhibit locked necks (teapot neck), flawed on the forehand trots, hang on the bit with the molar of the lower jaw (boring on the bit), even in Olympic competition. While not all the problems of modern competition may be laid at the doorstep of misunderstood biomechanics, the correlation (note I do not use the word "cause") with extreme flexions in many training agendas is hard to ignore. Burger, as a veterinarian, is very clear about the relation between training methods, the characteristics of Baroque, Thoroughbred and warmblood breeds and the heathy gymnastic progress of horses.

If all you do is compare Burger's correct images of horses jumping, riding cross country and in the dressage arena with photos in today's glossy publications, you will see what I mean. You will, even as a novice, understand what correct gaits mean in terms of a horse's performance and well-being. As a dressage judge, author and rider, I know that people in the audience as well as competitors can influence the elegance and harmony that unify sport and art. People ride how they are judged: a knowing audience provides important feedback to organizations that showcase their athletes in public. If you had only a few books in your library on horses, this one should be there.

I hope J. A. Allen (the publisher of my copy) reads the reviews on this page and reissues the book!