55 Corrective Exercises for Horses: Resolving Postural Problems, Improving Movement Patterns, and Preventing Injury

by Jec Aristotle Ballou

A highly illustrated guide to simple yet effective methods for keeping horses sound, healthy, and performing their best. Over time, horses (like people) acquire postural habits, compensate for soreness and injury, and develop poor movement patterns. This limits performance ability, causes unsoundness and health issues, and ultimately undermines the horse's overall well–being. Jec Aristotle Ballou has made a name for herself advocating for the horse and providing sensible instruction in his schooling, conditioning, and care. Her bestselling books and popular clinics are designed to enable any horse person to correctly apply proven principles that bring measurable progress while avoiding boredom and confusion. In her latest collection of mounted and unmounted corrective exercises, Ballou demonstrates how we can actively work to improve the horse's posture and movement, whether he Ballou's positive cross–training techniques are free of shortcuts, and her guidelines for analyzing the horse's posture and way of going help readers gain a new awareness of the equine body. Applicable for all disciplines and full of quality color photographs to explain the exercises, this is an integral collection that optimizes how the horse uses his body and helps ensure he stays sounder and healthier for more years of his life.

Genres: Horses

184 pages, Hardcover

Published June 5, 2018

About the author

Jec A. Ballou’s distinct love of developing equine athletes is fueled by her eclectic background. Raised in a horse training family, she has devoted herself to the most thorough, correct, and straightforward approach to improving performance for horses and riders alike. In addition to being a nationally recognized educator about equine conditioning and gymnastic development, she is a committed rider, author, philosopher, published poet, and athlete.

Widely appreciated as the author of best-selling 101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider, Jec’s aim is to meet what she sees as an enormous need within the industry for simple, clear, and practical information. 101 Dressage remains one of the top sellers of all equine instruction books and has been translated into three foreign languages. It is now available as a smartphone App and was endorsed by the United States Dressage Federation as being one of the most essential books for dressage enthusiasts to own.

Reviews

[Kacie Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative!

I had a lot of fun trying out some of these exercises on my older gelding. We struggle with any kind of lateral movement, and I had some good wins after experimenting with a few of guiding exercises.

A lot of the book is basic information, so if you have a good amount of experience with bodywork/therapeutic exercise, this may be too easy for you.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The step-by-step instructions and different routines are a perfect way to add variety to my training. my horse stays engaged with more variety. I appreciate that many of these take less than an hour, which is perfect for my 4-year old OTTB.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Groundwork is such a powerful tool and I always need more ideas. You may think 55 new exercises is alot but let me tell you its not.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

good reference with good exercises in it. not really for light reading.