Book Review: Great Riding Schools of the World

I am an historian by training and by profession, which means that whenever I get the chance to buy an historic horse book I snap it up. Older editions of fictional favorites, old vet manuals, you name it.

When I spied this book on the shelf at a library book sale recently for the bargain price of $1 it was a no-brainer, and I snapped it right up.

It even had someone's horsey bookplate still in it! <3

The introduction starts by saying that at a certain FEI meeting in the 1970s, it was decided that equestrian sport was on the rise, and some bright soul had the idea to bring more public awareness to the "official" schools of countries around the world as an attempt to highlight where people could receive professional training.

It ends up being a picture-heavy, information-heavy romp through some really terrific horsemanship, some gorgeous facilities, and the inevitable conclusion that most of these schools are not really for the general public - they're more like finishing schools for pre-selected riders. Which I think everyone knew at the outset, but I am not complaining - this is a gorgeous book!

There are a LOT more riding schools than I had ever heard of, too. For instance, despite living with one of the proudest Swedish-Americans in the lower 48, I had no idea that Sweden had a national riding school!

All the Swedes! Each school is introduced by a two-page spread with their facilities and often their horses and riders. Then that's followed by as many as 20 pages of picture-heavy text about the facilities, the program of instruction, and what each school specializes in.

Switzerland (I know, right?) apparently specializes in insane cross-country jumps. Eeeeek.

The Cadre Noir in France, they would like you to know, are able to do all their haute ecole movements in unison. Click on that picture and zoom in if you will. It's kind of insane.

SPEAKING OF INSANE CROSS COUNTRY WHAT THE HELL.

England still drags its rings with a draft horse team!

This photo demonstrates something I wish would happen more often these days. It's a team of RSPCA inspectors getting a workshop and demonstration on carriage horses: proper handling, proper care, and how to evaluate what a healthy horse looks like generally. Isn't that a great idea?

Aaaand we're back to the nutso cross-country riding. England again. Please note the utter lack of helmet.

On close examination of this photograph, I believe that Michael Page and Grasshopper are jumping concrete drainage pipes. Lengthwise. I am not kidding.

George Morris, of course.

There are many, many other similar, gorgeous photos, and fascinating accompanying text. Some of it is very dated, but overall it's a great window into its time. I'm thrilled to have found it to ad to my collection.

Soapbox Moment: Dressage Salutes

Okay. I need to come clean about this.

The way the vast majority of people do their dressage salutes drives me absolutely crazy.

You may argue that since I am very distinctly in the minority here, I'm in the wrong. You may even be right.

I don't care. Seeing a quick, careless, sloppy salute gets under my skin immediately and fills me with irrational anger.

Please note that I did say "irrational."

What do I mean? Here are a few examples. Please note: the riders here are more or less a random sampling, and many of them are really lovely riders. I'm only using them to talk about their salutes, not their general tests.



Do you see what I mean?

That quick, hurried flip on an antsy horse, before it's even settled. The "get this over with" attitude toward the whole thing.

I see it in almost every single test I scribe for, and I do a fair amount of scribing - probably more than your average rider. (I have problems saying no.)

Here's how I was taught to salute:

Ride your centerline.

Halt. Wait a beat for your horse to settle and square, and while doing so, seek out the judge's face and make - if not eye contact - then at least a moment of connection.

Lower your head. Wait a beat.

Lower your right hand. Wait a beat.

Return your had to the reins. Wait a beat.

Raise your head, and in the moment that follows, re-find the judge's face and get your horse ready.

Strike off.

Does that sound really long? It's not. By "beat" I don't mean even a full second, but I do mean a pause. Take a breath. Let yourself settle and have a moment of space. The whole thing takes perhaps twice as long as one of those flippy salutes, but by that I mean it takes perhaps 2-3 seconds, total, rather than a fraction of one second.

To me, a quick flip salute like the majority of riders do presents two major disadvantages.

First, it's disrespectful. The point of a salute in the dressage test is to acknowledge the judge, and his/her role in what's about to occur. It always makes me think of the (mostly apocryphal) gladiator salute. ("We who are about to die salute you!" though maybe that's not very cheerful?) It's a sort of mutual gesture of partnership. You present yourself to be judged, and acknowledge that the judge will be evaluating you. Giving it the space it deserves is only right. (Though, judging by how many people blast through it and the pretty good scores they're still getting, most or all dressage judges don't care too much!)

Second, it's a built-in deep breath. Dressage is stressful. Riders are often nervous, frightened, worried - you name it. Going down the centerline is one of the biggest pressure moments in all of equestrian sport. Why blow through the one moment in the whole test where you can relax for a split second? Take that moment of zen. Appreciate it. Then get on with the business of riding the test. Don't waste it!

So there. My soapbox moment. I realize this is a really small thing to go crazy over, but it really fills me with an all out of proportion amount of frustration.

Agree? Disagree?

Blanket Repair

I mentioned just before Christmas that Tristan had shredded a corner of his one and only turnout blanket. It's a midweight that he wears when it's below zero - which happens more often than it should up here. He borrowed a barn blanket for a week while it was repaired.

I was looking through photos last night and found that I had taken some good pictures of the repair but never shared them! This was a local sewing shop; when I took the blanket in the owner immediately knew what she was looking at - apparently her in-laws have horses!

Here's what it looked like post-rip, pre-repair:

And here's the repair:

They did a really, really nice job. It was a fairly complicated fix in a number of different ways. Total cost: $47, far less than a new turnout would've been!

Wordless Wednesday

(February 2006)

STABILicers Ice Cleat: My New Favorite Winter Gear

Vermont is currently covered in a thick sheet of ice, as I whined about and as Lila Gendal showed on Eventing Nation. Sections of interstate highway were closed down as multiple plow trucks went off the road trying to get sand down. I had to be out and about for about an hour and a half as I re-arranged work details between our two buildings to accommodate the hazardous travel conditions.

This is a very long way of saying that Saturday, for the first time, I tried out a Christmas gift from my parents: STABILicers Ice Cleats. They are like studding your winter boots up for XC. I have been thinking about something like them for a while, since I walk to work on the average day, and of course spend a fair bit of time outside at the barn.

I could not possibly be more impressed with them. They were straightforward and quick to get on - required a bit of muscle to stretch the rubber, but not too much. It added perhaps 2-3 minutes to my morning routine. Then I walked outside...and didn't slip. Not once. I want to stress that our driveway is a solid sheet, several inches thick, of ice. I stood while chipping ice off my car and was completely stable. I walked down sidewalks, up fairly steep hills, and across roads that were similarly thick sheets of ice without the slightest hint of slipping. In fact, I walked up a sidewalk perfectly normally and a few minutes later watched two men take tiny minute slipping steps down that sidewalk and still fall a few times.

I could instantly feel the grip of the cleats in the ice, and the added traction was amazing. I almost forgot about the ice entirely, and just walked normally. The rubber didn't threaten to slip off my boots at all. I did take them off on coming back inside - I'm fairly sure that they were sturdy and sharp enough that they would have dug into our hardwood floors!

So two thumbs way, way up - these were a relatively inexpensive and absolutely clutch addition to my winter gear.