Advance your dressage education with USDF Connection editor Jennifer Bryant’s top picks
By Jennifer O. Bryant
In the genre of equestrian publishing, dressage is a bestselling topic. Beginning with Greek historian and soldier Xenophon’s On Horsemanship (circa 355-ish BCE), the subject of training and riding horses in dressage and related pursuits has been evergreen.
Although I’ve been a voracious reader of dressage texts ever since I fell in love with the sport as a teen, I confess that not all have been helpful. In particular, I struggled to comprehend the high-minded theory and arcane language found in such classical works as L’École de Cavalerie (School of Horsemanship) by the 18th-century French master François Robichon de la Guérinière (although I think I finally understand how to ride his greatest contribution to dressage training, the shoulder-in).
My brain needed books that were a bit more down to earth—advice that I could apply to the various imperfect horses I’ve ridden and owned over the years. And in some cases, the greatest takeaways weren’t from dressage “textbooks” at all. Here is my own personal, completely subjective list of the 11 books that have helped me the most in my dressage journey. I hope that one or more resonate with you.
11. A Festival of Dressage
My very first dressage instructor gave me Jane Kidd’s A Festival of Dressage as my very first dressage book, so naturally it made a big impact.
Kidd, a former Horse & Hound columnist, used the 1980 “alternate Olympics” dressage competition at Goodwood, England, as the basis for her book. It begins with an overview of dressage history and a recounting of how the Goodwood competition came about before moving on to the meat and potatoes: a movement-by-movement analysis of Grand Prix-level dressage, using photos of the competitors to illustrate the good and the not-so-good.
There’s a frankness to the images and descriptions that might not be seen today, and for that reason alone A Festival of Dressage is quite educational. It’s also fun to see such luminaries as Dr. Reiner Klimke, Uwe Schulten-Baumer, Christine Stuckelberger, Lendon Gray, and Stephen Clarke being discussed.
10. Practical Dressage Manual
The late Swedish Col. Bengt Ljungquist was a seminal early “imported” dressage instructor/trainer who helped to advance the careers of many US dressage professionals in the 1980s, and who played an instrumental role in helping to shape US Dressage Federation (USDF) instructor/trainer certification. His book Practical Dressage Manual, with its many illustrations and photos, manages to be both comprehensive and understandable. It’s a modern classic and with good reason.
9. Centered Riding
The late Sally Swift’s innovative educational blend of the theoretical, the visual, and the kinesthetic has influenced equestrian sport so profoundly that some may not be aware that Swift was a dressage enthusiast (she was a New England Dressage Association member who taught at early USDF instructor seminars). I read her masterpiece, Centered Riding, as a kid and was fascinated by the descriptions of the rider’s arms and hands being like garden hoses and many other images of that ilk.
Swift’s imagery began to make more sense to me when I advanced enough in my riding to begin feeling the sensations she described—which is why I’ve returned to Centered Riding several times over my dressage career.
8. That Winning Feeling!
This book, by the late FEI-level instructor/trainer/competitor Jane Savoie, was another groundbreaker—the first equestrian text I’m aware of that delved into the mental side of riding.
Savoie uses what we now call sport-psychology principles and positive self-talk to show riders how attitude can create reality, both in our training at home and in the show ring. She explains the all-important connection between our brains and our horses’, helping riders and trainers to understand how horses think and why we must learn to perceive situations from their perspective. That Winning Feeling! is also a must-read for anyone who suffers from competition anxiety, aka “show nerves.”
7. Anatomy of Dressage
Not being gifted with innate “feel” or an understanding of rider biomechanics, I for years was baffled by such common dressage-isms as “brace your back” and “use your seat.” That’s why Anatomy of Dressage (which I read under its original English-language title, An Anatomy of Riding) was a godsend.
Authors Heinrich and Volker Schusdziarra, both German medical doctors, unpack these and other biomechanical mysteries, including what the rider’s seat actually does during a half-halt. Anatomy of Dressage didn’t transform me overnight into a model of dressage equitation, but it cleared up some misconceptions and set me on a path toward realizing that getting the horse to do what I want starts with getting my body to do what I want.
6. The Natural Rider
Mary Wanless’s The Natural Rider: A Right-Brain Approach to Riding helped me to bridge the gap between Centered Riding and Anatomy of Dressage. Wanless, a British riding instructor with extensive knowledge of psychology, movement, body work, and human and equine biomechanics, explains in detail how to develop the “feel” that’s essential in riding and training. She herself struggled to master her body in the saddle, and I found her hard-won insights both useful and inspirational as I faced similar challenges.
5. A Gymnastic Riding System Using Mind, Body & Spirit
I was privileged to have the opportunity to collaborate with top dressage trainer Betsy Steiner on this book, in which she shares her innovative methods that combine the classical dressage pyramid of training with parallel pyramids describing the mental and physical training progression of both horse and rider. Not only did I learn a ton—Betsy has a gift for using imagery and concepts to explain dressage intricacies—but she also introduced me to Pilates, which has done more for my riding than any other form of exercise (besides riding, of course).
4. The Dressage Horse
Once I gained a modicum of control over my body parts in the saddle, legendary German trainer Harry Boldt’s monograph became a road map of the aids.
Published in booklet form, The Dressage Horse is the English-language translation of Chapter 3 of Boldt’s book, Das Dressurpferd (The Dressage Horse). It outlines the training progression and contains Boldt’s thoughts on training plans, competition schedules, and others; but it’s best known for its detailed descriptions and accompanying diagrams of the precise combinations and timing of aids for the gaits, transitions, and movements of dressage. Boldt spells out the mechanics like nobody else.
3. The USDF Guide to Dressage
Nothing forces you to learn about a topic more than being asked to write or talk about it. I was deeply honored by the USDF’s willingness to put its name and reputation on my dressage book, but the responsibility was awesome.
In creating a book that would be useful to anyone who wants to try dressage for the first time with the horse they have, I had to really learn our dressage federation’s teaching, training, and riding structure and principles, from instructor/trainer certification and judge training to the rubric of judging dressage tests. In other words, I had to check, confirm, and sometimes relearn everything I thought I knew about dressage. Because I also had to mentally turn back the clock to remember what it was like to be a dressage newbie, I effectively reembarked on the journey of learning.
I’m pleased to say that I think The USDF Guide to Dressage has held up well—but I’m astounded at the amount I’ve learned since I wrote the book. In dressage, the learning never stops.
2. White Stallion of Lipizza
A children’s story in my list of top dressage books? That’s right—because celebrated author Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague) captures the magic of dressage in a way that the textbooks and manuals can’t.
Like many horse-crazy kids, I devoured all of Henry’s works. I loved them all, but White Stallion of Lipizza, which describes the learning journey of a fictional apprentice rider at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, in particular stuck with me, even though I didn’t yet understand that what Henry was describing was dressage and had never seen a dressage performance in person.
It was only later that I recognized Henry’s genius in encapsulating in a few sentences the ideal of dressage. As “Hans,” now a full-fledged rider at the Spanish Riding School, studies a photo of himself riding in a performance, he notices that “The face [of the rider] did not show. It might have been himself, or anyone he knew, or no one. The rider had somehow extinguished himself in order to glorify the horse, to make him look as if he had performed of his own will—joyously, gaily.”
1. Dressage with Kyra
This one is my Holy Grail—the book I return to when I need advice, clarification, or simply reinforcement that even the best riders have bad days.
Finnish Olympian Kyra Kyrklund is a modern master. I’ve seen her in person at a dressage symposium, and she taught the demonstration riders the same way that she presents her methods in her book: straightforward, exacting, yet with a sense of humor that she’s equally willing to turn on herself. I never tire of Dressage with Kyra.
