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Chapter Titles
Other books by Cherry Hill
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Cherry Hill writes easy-to-understand books with sound advice about
riding and caring for horses. 101 Arena Exercises: A Ringside
Guide for Horse & Rider is no exception.
The book is designed to be taken to the arena. Coil binding makes the
book open flat. Each two-page spread deals with one topic or exercise
and is laid out like a poster. There's a hole at the top so you can hang
it up and refer to it during your riding session.
Illustrated with drawings of English and western riders, the book
addresses both styles of riding. Hill uses classical terminology that
will be more familiar to English riders who take lessons, but she
explains the terms clearly for everyone.
I would recommend this book highly as a between-lessons guide for riders
and an ideas book for instructors.
However, for the sake of the horse, I'd be a little hesitant about
someone with no lessons using it. The book includes both simple and very
advanced exercises with no real indication of the training level
required or the physical demands on the horse. The numbering of topics
as Exercises 1 through 101 is misleading. You can't pick exercises at
random, but neither do they build on each other. In fact,
Exercises 1 to 14 are not exercises at all.
In the first section, Hill explains the gaits from halt through canter
-- working, collected and extended. Each gait has its own two pages with
drawings and explanations of how the horse should move in that pace and
how to ride the gait correctly. Each gait is very well presented, but
again, they're numbered as if sequential exercises. So the collected
walk, which is the last gait to school, turns up as Exercise 4.
The rest of the book is divided into sections on transitions, circles,
lateral work and mini-patterns. Each exercise is explained with
diagrams, instructions, benefits and cautions. For a rider who's clear
on training sequence but looking for ideas, this book fits the bill. For
someone who wants to review and consolidate what she's learned in
lessons, this book is wonderful.
It may sound as if I don't like the book, but I do. Cherry Hill gives
some of the clearest explanations I've seen. It would be an excellent
accompaniment to a book that does explain the order of training, such as
Hill's own Making Not Breaking -- and a terrific back-up
to a good instructor.
Read it from cover to cover at home. Choose exercises suitable to your
horse's level of training. And then take the book to the arena, hang it
on hook so you can refer to it from horseback, and school the
appropriate exercises. But forget about Exercise 80 for a few years!
If you show in equitation classes, you'll also want 101
Horsemanship & Equitation Patterns. It follows the same
format except there really are 101 patterns. In this newer book, only
the patterns are numbered. The chapters of explanation and background
information are not.
Chapter Titles
Introduction
Section 1: Gaits
At the Halt
Working Walk
Extended Walk
Collected Walk
Free Walk
Working Trot
Jog (Sitting Trot)
Extended Trot
Collected Trot
Working Canter and Lope
Extended Canter
Collected Canter
Back
Section 2: Transitions
Half Halt or Check
Halt - Walk - Halt
Walk - Posting Trot - Walk
Walk - Sitting Trot - Walk
Trot - Canter - Trot
Trot - Halt - Trot
Canter - Walk - Canter
Trot - Halt - Back - Walk
Trot - Halt - Back - Trot
Lengthen Trot
Extended Canter
Collected Canter
Change of Lead Through Trot
Long and Low
Quality Control Check (Self-Carriage Check)
Section 3: Circles
Straight
Corners
Change of Rein on Long Diagonal
Change of Rein on Short Diagonal
How to get started
Extra Large Circle
Large (20 Meter) Circle
Medium (10 Meter) Circle
Small (6 Meter) Circle: Volte
Figure 8
Large Circle - Small Circle
Canter Springs
Spiral
Loosen Up
Half Turn
Change of Bend - Single Loop
Change of Bend - Shallow Loop
Change of Rein out of a Circle
Change of Rein in a Circle
Five-Loop Serpentine
Long Serpentine
Quarter Turn
Counter-Flex
Counter-Canter - Shallow Loop
Counter-Canter across Diagonal
Counter-Canter Serpentine
Section 4: Lateral Work
Turn on the Forehand
Western Two-Step
Leg Yield
Leg Yield Refresher
Leg Yield on a Circle
Zigzag Two-Step
In Position and Shoulder Fore
Shoulder In
Shoulder In and Circle
Shoulder In on a Circle
Travers (Haunches In)
Shoulder In and Travers on a Long Serpentine
Walk - Volte - Travers
Renvers (Haunches Out)
Walk Pirouette
Counter-Flexed Spiral In
Hindquarter Pivot
Rollback
Sidepass
Half Pass
Half Pass Refresher
Zigzag Half Pass
Working Pirouette (Pre-Pirouette)
Half-Canter Pirouette
Three-Quarter Pirouette
Full Canter Pirouette
Section 5: Mini-Patterns
Guess What
Serpentine at Trot with Leg Yield
Circle and Leg Yield
Simple Change Serpentine
Square Serpentine
Two Squares
Lope Large Circle with Sidepass
Shoulder In and Lengthen
Sidepass and Lope the Diagonal
Walk - 360 - Walk
Lope - Halt - 180 - Lope
Lope - Halt - 360 - Lope
Canter - Counter Canter
Canter - Half Pass - Counter Canter
Flying Change
Flying Change after Short Diagonal
Flying Change Straight at Wall
Flying Change with Sharp Corner
Circle, Simple Change, Flying Change
Canter half Pass - Lead Change
Suggested Reading
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Horse Books Reviewed
