For centuries, the riders from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, have been revered around the world for their exemplary seats and impeccable equitation. Lungeing the rider is the School's tried and true method of teaching students to attain an independent seat, and they are lunged for at least six months before being allowed to take up the reins.
Why is this method so consistently successful? Being lunged temporarily relieves the rider of complex and often confusing tasks, such as managing the horse's speed, direction, balance, and alignment. It reduces the very long list of riding responsibilities, enabling the rider to become organized, learn to juggle an increasing number of mounted tasks, and concentrate on his or her own balance and self-control.
Now, for the first time in book form, this step-by-step guide to both lungeing others and being lunged unveils the secrets behind the most beautiful - and functional - riding in the world. By combining traditional mounted exercises with yoga, conscious breath work, and hands-on bodywork, Linda Benedik's unique rider-lungeing programme. Riding Without Reins, helps the rider create a personal balance that leads to a deeper connection with the horse while at the same time developing a stable, correct, elegant and independent seat - every rider's goal.
Riders, instructors, and lungeurs will learn the nuts-and-bolts of rider lungeing: how to choose a lunge horse, outfit him correctly, cue him with stance and lunge whip, and be sage about it; how to best structure a rider-lungeing session at various stages of seat development; and how to maximize learning and rider recall while avoiding common pitfalls like physical exhaustion and over-facing.
The book includes an impressive program of 46 mounted suppling exercises for the midsection, and upper and lower body, complete with how-to steps and series photos, easily modified and applied to riders of all levels of experience and styles of riding. Then, readers progress to working ont he horse, behinning with following the horse's movement, then leading him actively with seat, leg, and weight, and ultimately riding in rhythm with an independent seat at all three gaits.
In addition, the author introduces the benefits of equestrian vaulting in a special chapter, demonstrating how this kind of training - again, on a lunge line without reins - offers riders of all ages and disciplines a means to increase security and confidence on horseback while successfully developing the seat over a short period of time.
Riding on the lunge line offers a safe, controlled learning environment that enables beginners to relax and develop a feel for the gaits and provides the ideal venue for experienced riders to perfect their position, fine-tune their aids, and identify gaps in their riding education. Simply put, on the lunge line, all riders can achieve their riding goals - whatever they may be - in far less time, while conscientiously preserving the wellbeing of the horse.
Paperback.