[.ca] Fitness, Performance, and the Female Equestrian (ISBN 0876059450)

A great book for female riders!:
A series of tips signaling key points on health, fitness, nutrition, safety, and comfort. Discusses: * Biomechanic and anatomical considerations for women. ( I would have bought the book just because of these words!) * Stretching and Strengthening exercises to enhance riding performance. * Techniques to gain more performance with less effort. * Saddle balancing and fitting tips. * Safety tools. * Riding and its relationship to aging, pregnancy, and lifestyles... ( would have bought the book just for that 1st "A" word in this phrase....) * Nutrition and dietary factors in daily riding and competitions. "The author takes us through the changing dynamics of women on horseback, arriving at a new approach to riding effectiveness. Women now represent over 80% of today's horse enthusiasts and riders. The techniques, equipment and teaching methods used with horses, however, have not moved in step with the growing involvement and influence of adult and young women... until now." That's just the stuff on the cover! Here's another reason why I bought the book... calorie expenditures: 120 lb female grooming a horse for 30 minutes =207 calories! galloping for 20 minutes =148 " trotting for 30 minutes =177 " walking for 10 minutes = 22 " Hey! this mythical creature expends 554 calories/hour!!! amazing! In comparison to to other high activity sports like real swimming, cross-country running, galloping is next. Then tennis, then HORSE-GROOMING. then trotting is down 2 more categories including medium to low impact aerobics and snow skiing! Walking is pretty low down on the list... just a bit lower, though than sweeping the floor! Shock! We are in a high calorie burning, high energy activity! Ok, that's all the sneak preview you get! There are many more surprises and new thoughts in here for you to stumble into and exclaim.. AHA! or Wow in a reverent tone!

Good book on improving riding skills and physical condition:
This book is somewhat esoteric but does have some very good exercises for the equestrian. The author discusses how the rider's physical condition can improve riding ability and position. Also how other factors, such as poor balance and bad saddle fit can cause pain for both the rider and the horse. She explains how common training myths and rider interpretation contribute to physical discomfort and what the correct response should be in order to maximize rider/horse communication. She also covers common injuries and their causes, proper saddle fit, diet, pregnancy, and aging.

Extremely Dissapointed:
I really found this book to be a big BORE!! I was looking more towards a fitness program of some sort but instead found myself reading through jibber jabber that never really got to the point...FITNESS AND PERFORMANCE.

'Wellness 101 for Female Equestrians':
As a personal fitness trainer with EquiFITT, a practice specialising in equestrian fitness, I bought this book looking for off-horse fitness and sport-performance recommendations. The book does not offer a fitness program, or riding program. However, I found that it covered alot of material which is very rare to find in equestrian books, and is also very useful to any woman who wants to get serious about her riding and fitness for riding. Fitness, Performance and the Female Equestrian is a wonderful overview of female physiology which affects riding, general safety and fitness considerations for riders and barn care work, and several examples of useful exercises and stretches. The author states that "Everyone who rides should incorporate a cross-training program and proper nutrition in their regimen to stay fit and healthy and prevent injury." I couldn't agree more. This book is a much needed introduction to concepts of fitness for riders, and has many useful tips for avoiding common strain injuries. It is a good starting point if you are thinking about cross-training, however, you will need to work with a fitness trainer to develop an actual program. The book is clear enough that a good non-equestrian fitness trainer experienced with sport-specific training would be able to understand the points, and help you develop an exercise program that meets some of your sport specific needs as a rider.