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Winning With Frank Chapot
Frank Chapot, one of the winningest riders and coaches in Olympic history, explains how it is done. Competitors at any level of the show jumping sport will be able to move up a notch or more with Frank's hlep.
- GenresHorses
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 23, 2021
This is one of two books my trainer recommended I read. Despite the fact this book is titled "Winning With Frank Chapot", I really enjoyed how informative and practical this book was. I was a bit intimidated by the title as I got a sense of overzealous competitiveness from it, but I was relieved to hear some of Chapot's beliefs when it came to riding and selecting a winning horse.
Through reading this book, you can tell Chapot is a horseman because he would discuss throughout his riding career about him needing to adjust his riding based on his different horses' needs. He also explained how he would analyze the jump courses; what questions they would ask him; and how he'd approach that with each horse to bring out the best in them. He further discusses the importance of turnout time for horses and how they should have at least one day off.
In Chapter Two, there is an interesting segment from a Dr. Daniel Marks (the United States Equestrian Team veterinarian) letter regarding the tie between horse conformation and Olympic jumpers. I found this to be very technical. At times it was overwhelming; based on all of these subtleties horse professionals are able to pick up compared to an adult amateur rider who sometimes can't tell if she's on the correct canter lead.
But what Chapot wrote about selecting a winning horse regarding not disfavoring a horse by its breed, size, gender, etc. all rang true for me. One excerpt that really stuck out to me was, "Finding the right mix of temperament is essential. What I've learned over the years is that a good jumper is what I call a mixture of bravery and chicken. The horse must be brave enough to jump and chicken enough to want to avoid hitting the jump. If you put too much bravery in the mixture, the horse won't care about hitting the jump. Or, if you put too much chicken in the mixture, the horse will stop. The key is to find the right combination, and enhance it." (42-43). I loved this as it made sense as to picking out your ideal teammate for jumping.
In addition to Chapot's beliefs, I also really enjoyed the many photographs as I am a visual learner and these helped me better understand what Chapot was referring to. I think visuals are crucial to learning more about riding and horses as it helps develop our eye as to what we should be looking for. I thoroughly enjoyed Chapot's in depth analysis and technique regarding the flatwork exercises, jump courses, and how to navigate through them. He writes very detailed, technical strategies to take when approaching the provided course and jump off. I really loved how he broke it down, and how to get from fence 4B to 5.
I recommend keeping a bookmark on the jump course pages while he breaks down the best route and strategy to take. His sections of breaking down jump courses take a couple of pages, and I sometimes had a hard time following along. I needed to visualize the course as I was following along to what he wrote. It's easy to flip back to the course design page while reading along to see at what angle you may have to approach the jump, speed, and what turn to make.
The last chapter of the book is filled with great questions and answers, and Chapot does show he not only loves competing, but cares for his horses as well. There are some questions regarding a horse's well being, and based on Chapot's answers you can tell he puts the horse first.
I recommend this book to any rider regardless if you're a beginner or intermediate rider as it does brush up on some basics regarding flatwork with some good exercises to practice. I hate to return this book back to my trainer, but I'm definitely considering purchasing my own copy for my personal library.
Through reading this book, you can tell Chapot is a horseman because he would discuss throughout his riding career about him needing to adjust his riding based on his different horses' needs. He also explained how he would analyze the jump courses; what questions they would ask him; and how he'd approach that with each horse to bring out the best in them. He further discusses the importance of turnout time for horses and how they should have at least one day off.
In Chapter Two, there is an interesting segment from a Dr. Daniel Marks (the United States Equestrian Team veterinarian) letter regarding the tie between horse conformation and Olympic jumpers. I found this to be very technical. At times it was overwhelming; based on all of these subtleties horse professionals are able to pick up compared to an adult amateur rider who sometimes can't tell if she's on the correct canter lead.
But what Chapot wrote about selecting a winning horse regarding not disfavoring a horse by its breed, size, gender, etc. all rang true for me. One excerpt that really stuck out to me was, "Finding the right mix of temperament is essential. What I've learned over the years is that a good jumper is what I call a mixture of bravery and chicken. The horse must be brave enough to jump and chicken enough to want to avoid hitting the jump. If you put too much bravery in the mixture, the horse won't care about hitting the jump. Or, if you put too much chicken in the mixture, the horse will stop. The key is to find the right combination, and enhance it." (42-43). I loved this as it made sense as to picking out your ideal teammate for jumping.
In addition to Chapot's beliefs, I also really enjoyed the many photographs as I am a visual learner and these helped me better understand what Chapot was referring to. I think visuals are crucial to learning more about riding and horses as it helps develop our eye as to what we should be looking for. I thoroughly enjoyed Chapot's in depth analysis and technique regarding the flatwork exercises, jump courses, and how to navigate through them. He writes very detailed, technical strategies to take when approaching the provided course and jump off. I really loved how he broke it down, and how to get from fence 4B to 5.
I recommend keeping a bookmark on the jump course pages while he breaks down the best route and strategy to take. His sections of breaking down jump courses take a couple of pages, and I sometimes had a hard time following along. I needed to visualize the course as I was following along to what he wrote. It's easy to flip back to the course design page while reading along to see at what angle you may have to approach the jump, speed, and what turn to make.
The last chapter of the book is filled with great questions and answers, and Chapot does show he not only loves competing, but cares for his horses as well. There are some questions regarding a horse's well being, and based on Chapot's answers you can tell he puts the horse first.
I recommend this book to any rider regardless if you're a beginner or intermediate rider as it does brush up on some basics regarding flatwork with some good exercises to practice. I hate to return this book back to my trainer, but I'm definitely considering purchasing my own copy for my personal library.
April 5, 2013
Excellent - information was great - easy to read, but not immature. Great tips for all levels of riders looking to improve in their sport as well as in their own horsemanship. Would recommend it to any of my students who were ready to digest some of the concepts on their own. A classic in our industry.
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