Enlightened Equitation: Riding in True Harmony With Your Horse

by Heather Moffett, Heather Moffatt

With the aim of demystifying the techniques of riding, Heather Moffett offers simple, logical explanations and clear illustrations to everyday problems. Partnership, not domination, is the key to establishing a completely rewarding and successful riding experience. These non-confrontational methods allow riders to achieve total harmony with their horse. Riders will -Saddle position, balance and "feel" -Development of rhythm, tempo and expression in the paces -Techniques for adhering to the saddle -Early lateral work, leg yielding, shoulder fore, and more Heather Moffett is a well-known teacher of riding and a classical dressage trainer. She writes for many of the leading equestrian magazines in Britain and teaches and lectures worldwide.

Genres: Horses, Nonfiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1999

Reviews

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this (or partly read) this book as a teenager, and I distinctly remember the light bulb moment I had as I was reading the parts on developing 'feel' and knowing what the horse is doing underneath you. I'm pretty sure that I learnt how to do a good sitting trot, just be reading this book.

More than a few years later and it doesn't have the same impact that it did back then. I never did finish it, so some of it was a new read for me, but there wasn't quite as much that I didn't know. Things have moved on a bit since this was published and a lot of what she advocates is now widely taught (or something similar).

What stopped this getting top rating was just the way that the author digresses to attack other teachers and methods. Like when I hear a politician slandering an opponent rather than expounding their own policies, I tended to switch off and my opinion dipped. Her methods should stand on their own and there is no need to continually harp on about how she sees the current methods of teaching.

But, of all the equitation books that I have read over the years, this is one of the best and I will probably refer to it more than once in the future.

[Misbah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really useful techniques and information, however way too much ranting and side-points make this a chore to read. Many photos are not relevant in that they don't provide a useful teaching point. More illustrated diagrams would have been helpful.