Horse book reviews: Longeing (lungeing,lunging) and Long Lining the English and Western Horse by Cherry Hill

Valuable addition to any equestrian library

Spice up your ground work with this educational guide and develop a better relationship with your horse in the process. There are often days when we perhaps don't have the time to ride, but instead of just longeing around on the circle we could be more constructive - this book can help you. I find this book particularly useful when starting young horses.

Great Schooling Resource

This is a very useful tool for schooling as well as for teaching students how to train their own horses from the ground. It is well rounded in that it covers both technique and exercises. The format of the book makes it an excellent reference when designing lesson plans or schooling sessions. Deborah C.

Great book!

This book has every exercise you would ever even dream of trying in it, and it tells you how to do it right. It's very easy to understand. Lauren W.

Great book

Many useful exercises, tips on adjusting equipment, positioning of the whip, free longing, long lining, and more.

WOW!!!

Never did I ever dream there was so much you could do with a horse free longing or long lining him. I have just purchased a racetrack Thoroughbred and Lesson 56 (sliding side reins) has been particularly useful because he has a tendency to carry his head up in the clouds hollowing his back and neck. It was almost as if when I put the sliding side reins on he intuitively knew what I wanted him to do. Wonderful book!!!! This is one every horseman should have in his (or her) library.

NEW JERSEY STAR-LEDGER
By Joan Lowell Smith

Concerning animals

A READER recently asked, "When you do book reviews, how come you never blast any?"

My answer is simple. When there are so many worthwhile books, why waste space raking inferior books over the coals?

Even though I rode horses at Watchung Stables in my youth and read every novel on horses that I could get my hands on, I never knew nor cared much about their care and training. Now, I realize that no self-respecting horse owner would want to be without Cherry Hill's training books.

The expert equestrian, who lives in Colorado with her husband, seven horses and assorted dogs and cats, has been a trainer for more than 30 years. Her 23 books cover dressage, show jumping, western riding, breeding, grooming and health care.

Four of the author's latest guides have told me more than I need to know about horses, since I don't plan to own one in the near future, but she managed to hold my attention with her presentation. For example, in "Longeing & Long Lining the English & Western Horse" (IDG $29.95), she writes: "As I work with a horse, my primary goal is to gain his trust and respect. With that established, we can develop a specialized system of communication that not only allows us to work together, but actually invites us to interact. We both look forward to the sessions." I wanted to rush back to Watchung Stables.

Another title, "101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises Ringside Guide" (IDG $29.95), cleverly offers diagrams of training methods in a format that can be hung on a stable wall like a calendar, which makes it easy to access.

The prolific author also provides concrete guidelines to assist owners in "Trailering Your Horse" and "Stablekeeping" (Storey Books, each $19.95), both well-illustrated.

Cherry Hill's Longeing Books Receive Acclaim from the

Colorado Authors' League

Cherry Hill received second place in the Colorado Authors' League 1999 Top Hand Award Non-Fiction Book category for her companion books 101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises and Longeing and Long Lining the English and Wester Horse, IDG Books Worldwide, 1999. Illustrations and photos are by her husband, Richard Klimesh.

Cherry Hill has been a horse trainer and equine educator since 1973. She designed these books to take horses and trainers from square 1 to square 101 in her thorough ground training program. The longeing exercises are suitable for both English and Western horses. In the 8 1/2" x 11" comb-bound ringside workbook, 101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises, each exercise is illustrated by a round pen or arena map. On facing pages, complete step-by-step instructions guide the trainer and provide tips, cautions, and variations. In the hardbound companion volume, Longeing and Long Lining the English and Western Horse, over 250 photos show tack and techniques as horses learn their lessons and the text details the training procedures including how to avoid potential problems.

The Colorado Authors' League was established in 1931 and has presented Top Hand Awards to the best published fiction and non-fiction books and articles of the year on any subject. The Top Hand Award is one of the most prestigious writing awards in the region. Previous winners represent the best of Western Writers in all fields of writing as judged by their peers. The blue-ribbon panel of judges scored both of Cherry's longeing books 50 out of 50 possible points commenting that "it was a highly competitive field with many fine examples of writing submitted." The judges went on to say that "Cherry's books are top-flight.....had exceptional clarity...accomplishes purpose with grace and style.......Cherry has a lively, clear way of writing. She's thorough, she's easy to understand, she's informative. Cherry encourages the reader as well as informing."

Cherry Hill is the author of 23 books and over 1000 articles on the care and training of horses. She is a multiple award-winning author, including awards from the American Farriers' Association, American Horse Publications, and two Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Awards in the area of Specialty Writing: in 1999 for 101 Horsemanship and Equitation Patterns and in 1995 for 101 Arena Exercises both published by Storey Books.

Paint Horse Journal

LONGEING & LONG LINING THE ENGLISH & WESTERN HORSE Author: Cherry Hill
Format: Hardcover, 228 pages; $29.95
Publisher: Macmillan/IDG Books
ISBN #: 087605-080-1

If you think of longeing and long fining as warm-up exercises in which your horse just runs around in circles, this book will make you think again. Veteran horse trainer Cherry Hill explains how the maneuvers are a total ground-training program for a yearling all the way to an aged, seasoned horse.

With the help of more than 250 photos, Hill shows how the techniques can be used to teach your horse how to listen to you, stop and be patient, become adept at gait transitions, and improve its form. She explains typical equine reactions, and how to prevent and correct problems.

Hill personalizes the information by using specific horses in the long line lessons. This gives readers the sense that they are actually in the ring. Good descriptions of what tack to use and why is also helpful, making this book one of the definitive reads on its subject.

101 LONGEING & LONG LINING EXERCISES
Author: Cherry Hill
Format: Large comb-bound; 240 pages; $29.95
Publisher: Macmillan/IDG Books
ISBN #: 087605-046-1

This workbook is a good companion to Cherry Hill's Longeing & Long Lining the English & Western Horse. In the workbook, Hill underscores the principles found in the hardback book, and shows how to achieve them in specific exercises.

Each exercise is drawn on a round pen or arena map, showing the trainer's actions and the horse's desired reaction. Step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and exercise benefits, tack tips and warnings are clearly explained.

The exercises include Fancy Footwork, Pitching a Wave, Stop, Look and Listen, Spirals, Wagon Wheels and Yin Yang. With names like those, how can you resist trying them?

Organized by groups, the exercises are presented in their approximate order of difficulty. With its notebook format and large illustrations, the book is a handy volume to take into the ring.

Western Horseman
September 1999

Longeing & Long Lining the, English & Western Horse: A Total Program

101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises: English & Western

If you want solid how-to information, Cherry Hill delivers the goods in more ways than one. In this instance, the prolific author has written companion books about longeing and long-lining horses. On a standalone basis, either book is a great reference for any horseman. Together, the two volumes show anyone how to use longe lines and long lines as tools in a horsemanship program.

Longeing & Long Lining the English & Western Horse: A Total Program is the hardcover text in which Hill explains safe guidelines for such ground work. Ample black and white photos and closeups (numbered and referenced in the text) clearly illustrate howto procedures in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step manner.

Hill addresses the importance of setting equestrian goals, training psychology and the use of aids, basics for handling a horse when you're afoot, and longeing equipmentfor example, cavessons, side reins, and surcingles. She also describes the progression of a longeing program and how long line techniques can be used for ground driving a horse.

The spiral-bound paperback, 101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises. English & Western is a take-it-to-the-barn companion workbook, and Hill excels at designing such manuals. She reiterates the ground rules of ground work in the introductions to the five sections addressing inhand work, free longeing, line longeing, siderein longeing, and long lining. The cross-referenced exercises, each described step by step and illustrated with an appropriate black and white diagram, flow from the simple to the more complex.

Hardcover text, 7 ¾ by 5 3/8 inches, 228 pages, $29.95. Softcover workbook, 81/2 by 11 inches, 237 pages, $29.95. Macmillan/IDG Books.
--FS

Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar
May 2000

Book Reviews
by Hallie McEvoy

Longeing & Long Lining the English & Western Horse (hardcover)
and
101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises (soft-cover, comb binding)

by Cherry Hill, Macmillan/IDG Books, both $29.95.

     I've grouped these two Cherry Hill books together for this review because I believe they should be utilized simultaneously. Now at $29.95 apiece, I know you're thinking 'whoa, Hallie, that's $60 - which is more than my longe whip and longe line cost'. Well, just consider these two companion books to be the ultimate tools to longeing and long lining success. If you look at it that way, $60 is a bargain for a lifetime of knowledge.

     As in her other books, author Hill guides the reader carefully every step of the way. Whether discussing surcingles or holding and using long lines, Hill is thorough in her research and descriptions. There are very few equestrian authors who are as articulate and easy to read as Hill.

     The clear and simple-to-follow accompanying photographs by Richard Klimesh add immeasurably to the usefulness of Longeing & Long Lining. His illustrations in 101 Longeing & Long Lining Exercises are large, bold, and simplify each process being described. I highly recommend adding both these books to your tack room library.