This revised and updated version of Reiner Klimke’s classic book on cavalletti work now has an extended section on gymnastic jumping by the author’s daughter, Ingrid Klimke. First published over 30 years ago, the original information on schooling horses over cavalletti is still valid today but the book also encompasses the changing face and requirements of the modern sport horse. (6 1/2 X 9 1/2, 144 pages, color photos, illustrations, diagrams)

Riders and trainers of any discipline will find value in… practical advice but in the author’s philosophy of horsemanship. — Steven D. Price, author of The Whole Horse Catalog.

About the Author
Reiner Klimke is an Olympic Gold Medalist widely regarded as one of the best all-around riders in the world. Rider Ingrid Klimke is his daughter.

See larger image Cavalletti: Revised Edition: Schooling of Horse and Rider over Ground Poles (Hardcover) By (author) Reiner Klimke, Ingrid Klimke List Price: $29.95 USD New From: $42.01 In Stock Used from: $39.86 In Stock

About the Author
Alain Laurioux is general stage manager of the Cadre Noir equestrian troop and professional photographer. Guillaume Henry is a riding instructor trained in Saumur, a widely published author of technical and historical books and articles on equestrianism, and the founder of the Pegase Academy.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Schools of Classical Dressage, July 14, 2010
By gussy7
This review is for: The Great European Schools of Classical Dressage: Vienna, Saumur, Jerez, Lisbon (Hardcover)

This book is a lovely, well-illustrated comparison of the four great European Schools of classical dressage. Not only are the individual histories of the schools, their riding style and their horses compared, there is a detailed description of each uniform. A must have for classical dressage enthusiasts!

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See larger image The Great European Schools of Classical Dressage: Vienna, Saumur, Jerez, Lisbon (Hardcover) By (author) Guillaume Henry List Price: $54.95 USD New From: $34.62 In Stock

About the Author:
Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere was born in France in about 1688 and died in 1751. Little is known about him until 1715, when having been granted the title of Ecuyer he opened a riding academy in Paris opposite the Palais du Luxembourg. Here he taught both equitation and everything else related to horses.

Reviews:

The origin of all modern dressage riding, February 6, 2003
By Johan Hambraeus (Åsele Sweden)
Since late 70th I’ve been searching for this book. Every master in classical riding refers to de la Gueriniere as the one most important book on dressage ever written. When translating a book from 18th century french into modern english you have to choose your strategy. Should you use modern english terminology that might not mirror the meaning the original author had or should you “translate” the terminology into a somewhat frenglish but leaving to the original author to explain the meaning of the term? For me, with swedish as original language and french and english as second languages, the approach Tracy Boucher took is very good. It means that more of the original meaning in the text is preserved.

Everytime you read a good teachbook you are struck by the fact that the things you thought were very complicated and illogical gets logical when you start to understand it. That is what struck me when reading this school of horsemanship. Now there might be some progression in the world during the last 275 years but progression comes from need, and the need to master riding have diminished during this period in history. Therefore I belive the teaching on training, aids, etc can hardly be given from a better teacher than de la Gueriniere. It is expensive to buy, but look at it as an investment. It is worth it!

HORSEMANSHIP–written when the horse was king of the road, May 14, 2002
This beautiful book is of historical importance and should be of interest to all serious horsemen and women with a modicum of intellectual curiosity as to how things were when the horse was of ultimate practical value to transportation, farm, war, and industry. The directives to selecting and maintaining a valuable, healthy working animal is interspersed with appreciation of the beauty of these wonderful beasts when trained to their potential. The practical knowledge of health and training issues is expressed in the formal language of the time and is impressive in its depth and detail. However, even from almost 300 years ago, the loss of “classical” training of young horses, of the special men with special patience and skill to do the training of colts, to give them confidence, courage and vigor, before the time of riding, was lamented. This book is a real treasure.

See larger image School of Horsemanship (Hardcover) By (author) Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere List Price: $88.95 USD New From: $149.50 In Stock Used from: $90.00 In Stock

About the Author:
William Cavendish (1593-1676), Duke of Newcastle, was one of the most accomplished horsemen of his era.

Language Notes:
Text: English, French (translation)

Reviews:

The way to good riding is timeless, November 5, 2001
Once you get over the different style of font and familiarize yourself with the vocabulary this book privides for some exciting reading. This man must have been a genius. He provides detail description of how to loosen up your young horse in the shoulders and further work and exercises in a precise way which still pertains to the basics how we ride today. Its sometimes good to go back to the original sources.

Fortunate Cavendish put it in writing, July 8, 2001
By Paul Schwartzberg (Berlin, Germany)
Together with books by Gueriniere, Mueseler, and Podhasky (see these) this too is a very important book concerning classical dressage. The text gives the impression of being written with considerable thought…this contrasts somewhat with some modern dressage texts. This text together with Guerniere’s is recommendable.

See larger image A General System of Horsemanship: A Facsimile Reproduction of the Edition of 1743 (Trafalgar Square Classics) (Hardcover) By (author) William Cavendish, William Steinkraus List Price: $34.95 USD New From: $22.18 In Stock Used from: $20.00 In Stock

These numbered notes are faithfully reproduced just as he wrote them, forming a unique record of classical horsemanship.

Reviews:

A wonderful companion volume for a rider’s library!, June 30, 2007
By Dr. Nancy L. Nicholson (Oxford, OHIO USA)
This book is beautifully produced and edited, with a fascinating collection of photographs. We owe much to Harris’ nephew Robert Sherman for understanding and for preserving valuable knowledge. As one of the other reviewers points out, it is an outstanding volume for one’s own library or as a gift. But let me indicate exactly why this is the case.

1a) This volume is an important technical work in its own right. Its drawings are in the order from Harris’ notebooks and not a rider’s “curriculum,” so the savvy reader might make a custom index for items of specific interest. The Spanish School notes are wide-ranging, from exercises basic to riding a green horse to setting up a flying change (don’t try this one without a truly supple horse that can execute a flawless passade – not passage! – in canter – see Sections 23, 32 & 53). One updated answer you can take into the technical portion of the book is the reason for the importance of tempo (strides per minute), as this was one issue that Mr. Harris did not fully resolve in 1948-51. An examination of frames of equine gaits plus data from dressage gaits shows that dressage horses use only a fraction of the gaits and tempos available to horses, and these are in the slower range of strides per minute. Milton Hildebrand’s article on this is in the journal Science (1965), forming one important pillar of understanding the relation of tempo to dressage gaits. The rhythm (order and timing of leg motions within walk, trot, canter) in those slower tempos is what enables the transitions between the dressage gaits. Dressage transitions, which are the most frequently ridden movement in dressage, must be fluent, level, prompt. Hasty or quick tempos exclude them from the needed step order in a stride, precisely because the legs in the start gait must be shifted to the new pattern in the end gait: and this requires nearly two seconds – much more demanding of ground contact time (aerobic demands on big muscles!) than just scooting from one gait to the next. So dressage transitions are completely dependent on tempo. Curiously, very little has been published on dressage transitions BioMechanical Riding and Dressage: A Rider’s Atlas, and this volume has that problem. However, its discussion of passage/piaffe transitions is very clear on the aids for that High School movement.
1b) Harris’ notes are focused on correct position of the rider, the position that unifies rider and horse, enabling clear communication between partners. Look carefully at Harris’ diagrams for the aids, because they form an unambiguous set of motions for safe, balanced riding.

2) Biographical material is relevant not only to the personal and intellectual development of Riding Master Charles Harris, but offers historical windows into the general social order of the Continent and of England in the 20th century. The transfer of true knowledge (in the scientific sense of verifiable, repeatable and data-dependent) is at the mercy of personality conflicts and of institutional inflexibility. Thus Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere’s observation more than two centuries ago about the lack of truly fine riders. This multifaceted problem persists in our era and a portion of it is nicely chronicled in this book.

3) Charles Harris’ recollections are outstanding and straightforward, especially refreshing in an era of twaddle, pop-psych advice about riding and general departure from biomechanically correct classical equitation (by this I mean equitation in general, not only dressage). A couple of brief examples should whet your appetite for the whole repast of this volume. On what to eat before a longe session (Section 54): “Diet is important for earnest riders . . . avoid eating anything fatty or greasy until after you finish the lesson.” Toast/bread and jam illustrated. And from the biographical section pages (38-9) comes the reason for the Classical Seat (survival through balance). “. . . that holiday in Switzerland. They had a festival . . . a kind of pre-hunting festival where they all go crackers on horses between two points fifteen or twenty miles apart. [?Hubertusjagd] I get on the horse and the Swiss officers (on theirs) and off we start. Now the first thing I see is a bloody drop of about eight foot in front of me, a little stream. I thought ‘Bloody ____, what’s this? We’ve gone off on a bloody split _____ gallop. . . . I can do this. . . . I’m on a horse. I’m in control. I’m not doing anything.’ Some of the riders are tumbling off, some are hanging round their horses’ necks. Some horses are falling . . . I just sit there like the Duke of Rhubarb.” Harris attributes his survival of this potentially lethal four hour adventure correctly to his year on the longe at the Spanish School learning to balance without stirrups or reins. Get the book, as there are even niftier accounts on its pages! And there is enough information in his notes so, if you are a kinesthetically aware person, you just might be able to ride like the Duke (or Duchess) of Rhubarb.

4) It is a companion volume to these other outstanding works:
Because Charles Harris roomed with Spanish School Director Aloys Podhajsky in exchange for giving lessons in English, Podhajsky’s plus his will provide additional pleasant years of reading. The Spanish School is, in its turn, is historically inspired by the masterwork by Francois Robichon De La Gueriniere translated by Tracy Boucher (you can also find this in the original French). Finally, centuries of safe riding are aptly founded on Dom Duarte’s 15th century masterpiece the or “How to ride well in any saddle” (the answer: a calm, alert mental state needed for any rider to be safe). This jewel of horsemanship has been issued in English under the title by Antonio Franco Preto and Steven Muhlberger. These books will give you a hint of a unique art passed forward through centuries in the companionship and touch between two species.

OK, you may be spending serious money on these volumes (all available on Amazon), but they are classics in the formal sense of durable knowledge. Eat your toast and jam and ride with joy.

For The Serious Classical Dressage Trainer, December 8, 2006
By Patricia M. Ross “Foxwin Morgans” (Elmira, NY USA)
This book is not an easy read, especially the biography chapters, but contains a wealth of information when used as intended, as a daily workbook. Open to any page in the “workbook” chapters, and you will find something of value.

A Book Every Rider Should have!!!, October 26, 2005
By Cecilia Gutierrez
It is an excellent reference book, the drawings show the movements very well, all riders should have it and use it. It is a delight to read!
I have already bought six of them and given them away as presents, to colleagues, students and friends.
You will not be dissapointed, I am sure of that!

About the Author:
Charles Harris was a student of the Spanish Riding School.

See larger image Workbooks from the Spanish School 1948-1951 (Hardcover) By (author) Charles Harris List Price: $110.00 USD New From: $68.46 In Stock Used from: $84.80 In Stock

This is an excellent illustrated handbook on training the dressage horse on the lunge line and long reins in the classical Iberian and Viennese styles. A good basic knowledge of lunge line methods is a recommended prerequisite to this book.

From the Back Cover:
In this handbook you will find fascinating information on the development of the horse, using all methods of work in hand:

• Lungeing
• Long reining
• Training in hand according to the Iberian school
• Training in hand according to the Viennese school
• Schooling between the pillars
• Working with shortened long reins and free long reins

The art of riding lies in being able to understand the cause and effect of everything you do. If you abide by these rules when you work with your friend the horse, he will in return be a joyful companion who will be eager to do anything for you.

Nothing written in this book is “my method.” There are experiences that are thousands of years old, which I have been allowed to discover in my own life and have become richer for doing so. Everything you read here is therefore “clinically tested” through the skill and knowledge of the old masters and myself, and only written in modern words. So I wish you a tremendous amount of fun as you read and apply this old wisdom.
- from the Introduction

About the Author:
ALFONS J. DIETZ trained for eight years at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. In Spain and Portugal, he studied the classical Iberian riding styles of Alta Escuela, Doma Vaquera, and Rejoneo. Today, he is one of the most respected trainers of Baroque horses in Vienna.

See larger image Training the Horse in Hand: The Classical Iberian Principles (Hardcover) By (author) Alfons J. Dietz List Price: $29.95 USD New From: $16.83 In Stock Used from: $16.83 In Stock

About the Author:
Kyra Kyrklund has trained more than a dozen horses in international Grand Prix standard and is a five-time Olympian. Jytte Lemkow is an international dressage judge and an experienced, rider, journalist, and photographer.

See larger image Dressage with Kyra: The Kyra Kyrklund Training Method (Hardcover) By (author) Kyra Kyrklund, Jytte Lemkow List Price: $35.00 USD New From: $20.87 In Stock Used from: $17.40 In Stock

About the Author
Britta Schöffmann is a journalist, the recipient of a gold German riding badge, a Grand Prix rider, a competition judge, and an instructor. She is the author of Klaus Balkenhol: The Man and His Training Methods as well as several German-language books that focus on the value of a strong mutual bond of trust between rider and horse.

See larger image Dressage School: A Sourcebook of Movements and Tips Demonstrated by Olympian Isabell Werth (Hardcover) By (author) Britta Schoffmann List Price: $29.95 USD New From: $18.68 In Stock Used from: $18.77 In Stock

Review
I LOVED it! I read it in record time and immediately gave it to a friend of mine to read (he gets my heavily highlighted copy, which I will go over again when he gives it back) and have told many of my students to pick it up. Funny story my friend who has my book actually had heard of Walter b/c someone had left a copy of Dressage in Harmony at the car repair place, amidst the magazines. He picked it up and read for an hour waiting for his car, was so pleased with the book, immediately bought his own copy and was thrilled I had Walter’s newest book for him to borrow. The books and dvds have been a stimulus for my improved riding as of late, the lightness and “reins towards the mouth” that I have been focused on have made my horses much happier and easier to ride. –Makendra Burns

In succession to his well-known book Dressage in Harmony, Walter Zettl now is presenting us with another comprehensive handbook, covering all aspects for the successful development of our horses. This book deals with the challenges of a successful upbringing of the equine partner, from breeding to caretaking to training and schooling to guarantee a healthy partner. The author, who has dedicated his whole life to the well being of the horses, is in his unique way very effective not only in demonstrating and teaching his life long experience in a practical way, but also in his ability to convey his experience convincingly in his written publications. Each paragraph reflects a profound love for the horses, whose well being is very close to his heart. Walter Zettl, one of the few Riding Masters of our times, never gets tired in passionately fighting for the preservation of the true teaching of Classical Riding. He has earned the right to address and criticize any deviation from the principles of horsemanship, ethics and fairness. For this new publication, I wish him the best of success for the well being of our horses. –Col. Kurd Albrecht v. Ziegner

This book accurately describes the fascinating character and nature of the horse, including its requirements for artful handling. While Herr Zettl’s first book Dressage in Harmony brought the reader nearer to the riding and training of the horse, The Circle of Trust teaches that riding alone is not enough. Each of those involved with the horse has different goals and wishes, but all are intertwined with each other. For example, the breeder would like to breed healthy horses with lots of potential, but without systematic training and proper handling such a talented horse will not be successful. Breeder, trainer, rider and owner will find in this book individual, interesting and worthwhile sections. Experienced horse people as well as the newcomer to the sport alike will find profound knowledge from proper handling techniques to everyday training to the first horse show. I congratulate the author and hope that all horse people take his knowledge to heart. –Christoph Hess, Head of Training and Schooling, The German National Equestrian Federation

About the Author
Walter Zettl is considered to be one of the world’s most accomplished masters of classical dressage training and a true advocate for the welfare of his beloved horses. He is also a much sought-after teacher and clinician, who is known for his warm and sympathetic approach to teaching.

See larger image The Circle of Trust: Reflections on the Essence of Horses and Horsemanship (Hardcover) By (author) Walter Zettl List Price: $29.95 USD New From: $20.31 In Stock Used from: $18.99 In Stock

The Howell Equestrian Library is a distinguished collection of books on all aspects of horsemanship and horsemastership. The nearly fifty books in print offer readers in all disciplines and at all levels of competition sound instruction and guidance by some of the most celebrated riders, trainers, judges and veterinarians in the horse world today. Whether your interest is dressage, show jumping or Western riding, or whether it’s breeding, grooming or health care, Howell has a book to answer your needs. Get to know all the books in the Howell Equestrian Library: many are modern-day classics and have achieved the status of authoritative references in the estimation of those who ride, train and care for horses.The Howell Equestrian Library

From the Inside Flap
The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse is the first book devoted entirely to classical manege exercises that are ridden to supple, strengthen and, when necessary, correct. Internationally known instructor, coach and judge Charles de Kunffy details a program of exercises that will enable horses at all levels of dressage and combined training to improve their performance as equine athletes. Unlike other dressage books that explain how to exercise a horse in order to ride a standardized test, this book explains how such exercises can and should be used to increase performance ability, suspension, collection and changes of gaits through true patterns and counter patterns that are accompanied by diagrams and demonstration photographs. Those who have attended Charles de Kunffy’s clinics know that horses inevitably and rapidly improve under his guidance and that riders themselves improve as well. And those encountering him for the first time will experience in this, his third dressage book, what others already know: Here is a horseman of uncommon intelligence and wit who expresses himself clearly, simply and elegantly.

See larger image The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse: Manege Patterns (Kindle Edition) By (author) de Kunffy, Charles List Price: $29.95 USD Release date August 15, 1992.