Reflections on Riding and Jumping: Winning Techniques for Serious Riders [Paperback]

 

 

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Mr. Steinkraus is an extraordinary person. An Olympic athlete. A winning hunter-jumper rider. A horse trainer (do we actually train horses, or do we just learn to get along with them?). A wonderfully gifted, natural writer. A great spokesperson for equestrianism. A gentleman scholar. If you like to ride -- for pleasure, or competition, or to learn about yourself -- this is an extraordinarily useful book. It is not about riding instruction; yet I think you will learn extraordinary things. It is not about hunter-jumper equitation, yet few people (Mr. Morris included) have looked better, or more natural, over oxers and obstacles of all kinds. It is not about horsemanship, yet Mr. Steinkraus knows horses, and feels horses, and has the ability to share this wonderful feeling-in-the-fingertips for the horse in every chapter of his book. You should not read this book to "learn", or "absorb", or "improve your skills". You should read this book for what it offers: the chance to sit with a sensitive, feeling, thoughtful, and intuitive person who is fascinated by the relationship between a rider and a horse; and who can share his thoughts and ideas in a simple, entertaining, and engaging way. As an author, Mr. Steinkraus is enormously candid and self-effacing. Few riders today can ever hope to achieve what he did, at the top of his form, in the 1950s and 60s. But those achievements really don't matter to us, in the context of his book. What matters to us are his ideas, his insights, and the ways he expresses them for those of us in search of better understanding, better connection, and a greater communion with this amazing animal, the horse, that absorbs so much of our time and attention. If you read this book as I did, I promise you will never obsess about your riding style, or set objectives in a compulsive and manipulative way. You will, however, approach your horse, and your session, and the task at hand, or the day in the field, in a fresh, clear frame of mind that lets you relax, think through the work you have planned, and go about it in a thoughtful, contemplative, and enjoyable way. If you can find the zone that Mr. Steinkraus found, you will be relaxed, in tune with your horse, and enormously receptive to the magic that comes your way. In my riding career, I played polo and rode to hounds. I was never a competitive equestrian. But thinking about myself, and my horse, and what I was there to do, in an intuitive way, thanks to Mr. Steinkraus, made me feel better, enjoy it more, and actually, be a little better at it. It certainly allowed me to have a lot more fun, which is why I highly recommend this book to you. If you read it, I know you will enjoy it, and I know you will tell your riding friends about it. (By the way, if you would like to see Mr. Steinkraus as a groom, believe it or not, look for an excellent book about horsemanship, written with great clarity, by his sister, M.A. Stoneridge. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Steinkrause posed for the pictures in her book.) In every way, Reflections on Riding and Jumping by Willian Steinkraus is a library must. I am excited that it is still in print.

I found this book both interesting and enriching. Its clear and concise and easy to apply in practice. Also it is evident that it was written by an experienced and talented rider as is William Steinkrauss. I have read this book about a year ago and find some things I've read have stayed with me ever since. It is a book to learn a lot about serious, proven techniques and conciously know which areas of your riding need improvement. It also has very helpful images to understand the text. I recommend it to show jumpers especially. Take the time to think about this reading and put it in practice, its worthwhile.

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