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George H. Morris Teaches Beginners How to Ride: A Clinic for Instructors, Parents, and Students
A former Olympic rider describes the basic principles of horsemanship, suggests practice techniques, and explains the proper approach to jumping
- GenresNonfiction
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
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March 27, 2021
Huh. Well apparently I forgot to put this book in when I started reading it. Oh well.
This one was courtesy of my boss, she was cleaning out some of her books and gave me a bunch of horse care, training, and riding books. Yay!
So I read this one first.
Impressions: Mr. Morris is quite opinionated and has absolutely no problem telling everyone it's his way or the highway. It made me decide to reconsider the way I write about books so that hopefully I don't come off as snooty as he does. Granted, he was also a master of his craft, so I guess he had a bit of a right to be snooty, but I found it a bit annoying.
I discovered that my riding teachers as a child definitely adored Mr. Morris as half of the things I had to do as a kid are things he tells teachers to do to their students. On the one hand, I learned vocabulary for all of these things! That was kind of fun. I had no idea that the little logs you ride your horse over are called cavaletti. I learned something new. I also learned why my teachers made me touch my toes, the horse's ears, the horse's butt, stand up in the saddle, hold on to the main at certain points, etc. etc. It was all to isolate certain parts of the body while keeping the rest of the body on target in the proper position, basically to develop your seat and comfort on the horse. Makes sense. On the other hand, the guy explains almost nothing. What on earth is a lead? I still don't know. What is an aid? I'm assuming that means a leg/rein/whip/weight/spur signal that tells the horse what to do, as that makes sense, but he never explains what the aids are! How is that helpful? I want to know. I don't know if I'm having problems because I learned how to ride in Spanish and now I'm trying to figure out what this English lady is talking about, or if it's just that I haven't ridden in 20 years and that's why I am utterly lost. Apparently riding a horse is not the same as riding a bicycle...it's not something you can just do after long periods of time away.
The book says it's for instructors, parents and students, but it's really not. It's for instructors, because he keeps using vocabulary without explaining it. What does impulsion mean? What does bending mean? The only thing he explains is inside and outside, which I was very glad he did, now I know what my boss is trying to communicate. But I wish it had been written more for students. Morris insists that to be a good teacher you need to break things down and I agree absolutely, it's an excellent way to teach something, but he didn't break things down enough for me in this book.
This one was courtesy of my boss, she was cleaning out some of her books and gave me a bunch of horse care, training, and riding books. Yay!
So I read this one first.
Impressions: Mr. Morris is quite opinionated and has absolutely no problem telling everyone it's his way or the highway. It made me decide to reconsider the way I write about books so that hopefully I don't come off as snooty as he does. Granted, he was also a master of his craft, so I guess he had a bit of a right to be snooty, but I found it a bit annoying.
I discovered that my riding teachers as a child definitely adored Mr. Morris as half of the things I had to do as a kid are things he tells teachers to do to their students. On the one hand, I learned vocabulary for all of these things! That was kind of fun. I had no idea that the little logs you ride your horse over are called cavaletti. I learned something new. I also learned why my teachers made me touch my toes, the horse's ears, the horse's butt, stand up in the saddle, hold on to the main at certain points, etc. etc. It was all to isolate certain parts of the body while keeping the rest of the body on target in the proper position, basically to develop your seat and comfort on the horse. Makes sense. On the other hand, the guy explains almost nothing. What on earth is a lead? I still don't know. What is an aid? I'm assuming that means a leg/rein/whip/weight/spur signal that tells the horse what to do, as that makes sense, but he never explains what the aids are! How is that helpful? I want to know. I don't know if I'm having problems because I learned how to ride in Spanish and now I'm trying to figure out what this English lady is talking about, or if it's just that I haven't ridden in 20 years and that's why I am utterly lost. Apparently riding a horse is not the same as riding a bicycle...it's not something you can just do after long periods of time away.
The book says it's for instructors, parents and students, but it's really not. It's for instructors, because he keeps using vocabulary without explaining it. What does impulsion mean? What does bending mean? The only thing he explains is inside and outside, which I was very glad he did, now I know what my boss is trying to communicate. But I wish it had been written more for students. Morris insists that to be a good teacher you need to break things down and I agree absolutely, it's an excellent way to teach something, but he didn't break things down enough for me in this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review