Jessica Jahiel - The Riders Problem Solver: Your Questions Answered: How to Improve Your Skills, Overcome Your Fears, and Understand Your Horse

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS, OVERCOME YOUR FEARS, AND UNDERSTAND YOUR HORSE

JESSICA JAHIEL

Illustrations by Claudia Coleman

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Deborah Burns and Lisa Hiley

Art direction and text design by Cynthia McFarland

Cover design by Kent Lew

Text production by Erin Dawson

Cover photograph by Arnd Bronkhorst Photography/www.arnd.nl

Indexed by Susan Olason

Text 2006 by Jessica Jahiel

Illustration 2006 by Claudia Coleman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

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Printed in the United States by Versa Press

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jahiel, Jessica.

The riders problem solver : your questions answered : how to improve your skills, overcome your fears, and understand your horse / Jessica Jahiel ; illustrations by Claudia Coleman.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-58017-838-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-58017-839-6 (hardcover : alk. Paper)

1. HorsemanshipMiscellanea. 2. HorsesBehaviorMiscellanea. I. Title.

SF309.J364 2006

798.2'3dc22

2005031351

To Edwin and Lenrose Jahiel two extraordinary teachers

AND

To the readers!

No book can teach you to ride, but by offering analysis, explanations, and possible solutions, a book can help you achieve additional insights and give you some ideas to discuss with your instructor, all of which helps improve your riding and your relationship with your horse.

My overall ambition, in my writing and my teaching, has always been to enable horses and riders to understand each other better and enjoy each other more. Life is too short for any one of us to make all the possible mistakes and discoveries on our own. Its essential for us to be able to learn from other peoples experiences thats what this book is all about.

No book is ever the creation of a single individual.

In the case of this book, several individuals (and one large
group of people) stand out for their special contributions:

Madelyn Larsen, agent and friend, who found the ideal
publisher for a series of Horse-Sense books.

Deb Burns and Lisa Hiley, my editors at Storey,
and Candace Akins, copyeditor.

Claudia Coleman, whose superb artistic talent continues
to be a source of amazement and delight.

Karen Fletcher, aka Web Goddess,
without whom the Horse-Sense mailing list and
Web site would never have become a reality.

Last but not least: the Horse-Sense readers who have
been asking questions and telling their stories over the last ten
years. Thank you all for wanting to improve your riding and
thus improve the relationships you have with your horses.

There are too many of you to list, but you know who you are.

THIS IS A HOW-TO BOOK for people with a deep interest in improving their riding. A firm believer in the principles of classical training, Jessica Jahiel has worked with thousands of horses and riders in her lifetime. Multitudes of riders, from occasional trail-riders to full-time professionals, have written to her Horse-Sense e-mail newsletter asking for help with an enormous variety of problems relating to horses and riding. From these questions she has built this book, which follows her successful Horse Behavior Problem Solver and has the same accessible Q&A format.

Jessica writes clearly and well, and her book is easy to read. The questions follow the logical sequence of learning to ride. One thing I particularly like about this book is that in answering each question she gives one or more wrong approaches to correcting the problem, explains why they wont work and then presents the right approach and explains why it will work. Though this book is not technically about teaching riding, you will learn a lot about good riding instruction before you are finished.

Another fine aspect of this book is Jessicas consistent and persistent emphasis on kindness to both horse and rider. Most of us already know the advantages of using kindness, but it does only good to keep that in front of us.

SALLY SWIFT
Author of Centered Riding

REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY LIVE, what sort of horses they ride, and what riding disciplines they follow, riders everywhere share the same worries and frustrations, wrestle with the same problems, and experience the same joys.

Riders of all ages, all over the world, ask similar questions about all aspects of riding. All are concerned with learning the physical skills of riding: balance, coordination, and the application of the aids. All are concerned with finding suitable tack and clothing, locating good instructors, and getting the greatest benefit from lessons and clinics. Issues of position and balance, tack and clothing, confidence and fear, comfort and discomfort, exist for all riders. Even riders who ride only once or twice a month, and can never be sure that they will be assigned the same horse for two consecutive lessons, want and need to know what they can do to improve their understanding, their skills, and their comfort and security in the saddle.

Riders want to know how to deal with all of these issues and more. They want to know how to handle fatigue, anger, frustration, and fear. They want to know how they can make progress when they are busy, less fit than they would like to be, and unable to ride on a regular schedule.

All riders want to know how to overcome the problems presented by their horses conformation, fitness level, aptitude, and attitude, and they also want to know how to overcome the problems presented by their own conformation, fitness level, aptitude, and attitude. Many of them have questions they dont feel comfortable asking their instructors (Should I let other people ride my horse?; Should I be riding a lot of different horses in my lessons, or just one?).

Riders want to know everything, and most of all they want to know the things that they havent been taught. They want to know how to mount easily and safely, especially if they are older and less flexible than they once were. They want to know how to hold their reins correctly and how to post the trot without making a huge effort and feeling unbalanced. They want to know how to get their horses to pick up a canter smoothly and they want to know how to sit the canter comfortably. They want to know whether their instructors are good, how to evaluate a clinician, and how and when and why to use whips and spurs.