Lessons in Lightness: The Art of Educating the Horse - Hardcover

"This book is terrific. It is respectful of both horse and rider, written clearly and thoughtfully with an easy to use layout and beautiful illustrations that support Mr. Russell's ideas."-- "Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar"

Drawing on the theories of the old dressage masters-Riding in Lightness shows how a rider at any level can greatly benefit from traditional dressage techniques and exercises. Written by a thirty-year veteran horse trainer, this is the only book that takes the core elements of classical dressage and applies them as the basis for good general horsemanship today. The reader learns to: Relax the horse and release tension from the horse's body; Open energy blocks, allowing access to direct all parts of the horse's body; Direct the horse in an academic way, building the strength necessary for the horse to balance in self-carriage; With this step-by-step program, both horse and rider learn from each other. The rider is trained to focus on subtle nuances of communication, while the horse develops gymnastically so he can respond correctly to the aids. Once the horse masters the basic exercises, the rider not only has a very ridable horse but one that can perform and advance in almost any discipline for which it is suited-from western pleasure and performance riding to show jumping and dressage.