Book Review: Balance in Movement: The Seat of the Rider by Susanne von Dietze

The Short Version

5/5, strongly recommended!

The Long Version

This was the first book on riding that I read, based on USDF's recommended reading list. The book was originally written in German and was translated into English. Because of this, there are a few places in the book where the prose is a little awkward, but nothing that would impair understanding.

And what great understanding this book imparts!

The author, Susanne is a rider and a physiotherapist and uses her unique background to explain exactly how your instructor wants your body to change when he or she tells you "heels down!" or "sit up straight!". The book contains abundant illustrations about the human body and how the various bones, joints and muscles react when we act in a certain way (e.g. looking down) and how this translates in our seat and communication to the horse.

Best of all, it contains information about different body types and how they impact riding. No one size fits all approach here! Furthermore, it contains many physiotherapy exercises that the rider can do off-saddle to improve the flexibility of key muscles.

It's a fairly slim volume that focuses almost solely on the fundamentals of rider posture rather than specific how-to advice for various dressage movements, but it does this extremely well and in great detail, and as a beginner to riding, this was exactly what I needed. No doubt more advanced riders can benefit as well.

If only I could find a volume to buy! I am tempted to steal this one from the library...