About the Book
Collection is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Western and English riding. Everyone wants it, but few people know how to get it. World-class rider, trainer, and clinician Lynn Palm now offers the one and only book that explains away the mysteries of collection while telling you exactly how to attain it. With 30 years experience riding and training champion all-around performance horses, and a background in dressage, Lynn has perfected an easy-to-use system of exercises that gradually collect any type of horse, regardless of his build, and that are of particular value to stock horse breeds such as Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas. Lynn assures us that every horse can achieve and move in a collected frame with time and patience, and learning how to bring him into true collection helps you improve his performance; create a more willing equine partner; extend his physical and mental longevity; and enjoy riding him even more than you already do. Real collection proves elusive because--until now--the instructions for achieving it have been complex, incomplete, or even incorrect. The result (false collection) is often based on a forced headset and little else.
This is uncomfortable and unhealthy for the horse, and can lead to behavioral problems and physical breakdown. Real collection is actually a complete tail-to-nose package of supple muscle and hind-end-generated impulsion: the hind legs step further under the body, the horse's back rounds, he flexes at the poll, and the rider's seat, legs, and hands connect it all. It is with this "frame," as it has come to be called, that the horse becomes more athletic--his forehand lightens, enabling him to maneuver his front end more quickly, his steps become cadenced, and his movement free-flowing. To achieve this desirable "fluidity," Lynn begins on the ground with in-hand exercises--free lungeing, ground-driving, and lungeing-and-bitting--to gain the horse's trust and improve his responses to cues and commands.
She then explains how you start in the saddle with simple transitions--such as halt-walk-halt--and gradually progress through stages that include more difficult transitions between gaits and markers; lengthening and shortening of stride; yielding on diagonal, straight, and curving lines; turns on the forehand and haunches; shoulder-in and shoulder-fore; haunches-in and haunches-out; half-pass; and simple and flying lead changes. As the horse gains conditioning and increases his strength over time, long-and-low work and stretching down encourage him to "give" to the bit and flex at the poll. This, in coordination with Lynn's progressive exercises and training figures such as loops, figure eights, and serpentines, eventually leads to the beautiful, balanced frame of the responsive, collected horse that every rider dreams of: happy, healthy, willing, and ready to be competitive in the show pen or just simply a great pleasure to ride.
About the Author :
For more than 50 years, Lynn Palm has championed the partnership of horse and rider. An international clinician and competitor, she travels extensively teaching the fundamentals of Palm Equestrian Academy throughout the country and abroad. Lynn is an American Quarter Horse Association judge and holds her USEF R Western Dressage Judge's License. She continues to compete in both the United States Dressage Federation and the Western Dressage Association of America. Palm's competition record is second to none, having earned four AQHA Superhorse titles, over 30 AQHA World and Reserve Championships, several AQHA European Championships, more than a dozen WDAA World Championships, 15 USDF All Breed Awards Champions, and most recently the Dressage and Western Dressage Championships at the AQHA World Show. Lynn was a special guest performer at the 1996 Olympics and was named 2000 AQHA Female Equestrian of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation. In 2003 she was the recipient of Equine Affaire's Exceptional Equestrian Educator Award, and she was titled Horsewoman of the year in 2007 by the American Quarter Horse Association. In 2010, she presented at the World Equestrian Games as a clinician and entertainer and did the same at the 2017 FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha. Lynn and her husband, Cyril Pittion-Rossillon, lead annual European Journeys, and she presents Winning Ways with Western Dressage alongside Marie-Frances Davis. Lynn is also an author who frequently contributes articles to leading equine publications along with an active online community. Her extensive educational library of videos and books can be found online (lynnpalm.com).
Review :
"Lynn is truly the consummate horsewoman. She never ceases to amaze me with her knowledge, experience, and insights into the minds of both horses and of riders. The book is chock full of informative, easy-to-digest riding theory, and practical exercises. So pull on your boots, and enjoy the ride!" --Jane Savoie, three-time Olympic coach and author, That Winning Feeling! and Cross-Train Your Horse "Readers will be kept busy with 26 training exercises covering everything from simple transitions to yielding to flying changes. Photos and diagrams can be found on nearly every page, helping to bring the exercises to life." -- Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar "This is a good book for beginner or novice riders who need to understand how to create balance and energy in their horses. Palm clearly and thoroughly explains the basics of training and various equipment." -- Horse Journal
