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101 Arena Exercises by Cherry Hill: A Book Review

Are you stuck in the same arena riding routine?  Do you have trouble remembering what exercises your trainer gave you to practice?  Are you working without a trainer and have no idea how to progress in your riding?  Then perhaps a copy of “101 Arena Exercises” by Cherry Hill needs to find space in your equestrian library.

“Arena exercises are a cross between gymnastics, meditation and geometry.  They are essential keys for discovering many important principles about training and riding.”

Author Cherry Hill has written a ringside companion designed to give the rider a visual workout guide focusing on gaits, transitions, circles, lateral work and mini-patterns.  The book itself is a spiral bound book designed to hang open on a nail or hook in your arena, with clear diagrams and illustrations to visually accompany the written description of the exercises.  It works equally well for the western or english rider, as both disciplines can benefit from the information presented in this book.  For the trainer or aspiring trainer, it provides a systematic program to follow, making lesson planning easy.

Ms. Hill states that “Arena exercises are a cross between gymnastics, meditation and geometry.  They are essential keys for discovering many important principles about training and riding.”  To this end, she has organized the exercises presented into groups, and within those groups ordered by degree of difficulty, allowing for a progressive training program the rider can embark upon when working alone.  She emphasizes again and again that the rider should focus on the quality of each exercise, rather than “just getting through it” in order to get the most out of your ride.  By focusing on the quality of the simple things, the quality of your overall riding will improve.  Each exercise lists the benefits of performing the movement correctly, and many list variations and “cautions”, or tidbits of information about how the exercise might not go as planned.

With so much information packed into a book designed to be at ringside with you, and a price perhaps less than the cost of a lesson or two, it is hard not to recommend 101 Arena Exercises.  

Available on Amazon.com.

 

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