Right from the Start - Create a Sane, Soft, Well-Balanced Horse

**Originally published in 2001 as a hardcover, this book has become a modern day classic.** When you see a horse under saddle that looks light, elegant, and graceful—as though he’s having the best time of his life, that horse is moving in true balance. Going in true balance makes carrying a rider easier and more enjoyable, so he does it with ease, grace, and a pleasant attitude.

There have always been a few horses that could carry riders this way, and there have always been certain riders that had just the right touch or feel to get almost any horse to go like this.

Unfortunately, many horses do not. The problem is that many a horse has learned that he should allow himself to be ridden— have you sit on his back and tell him where to go—but he hasn’t been shown how to be ridden, how to carry your weight in a balanced way that is physically comfortable for him. This horse is missing an important part of his training that you, the rider, must explain to him.

Mike Schaffer’s Right from the Start shares his knowledge of the fundamentals, as well as his unique way of starting horses, whether they are young and untrained, or older, and needing a new reschooling regimen. With work from the ground, as well as lessons on the horse, he reveals his training process.

Using understandable aids, he teaches the horse to soften and move into the rider’s hand. And, by controlling the horse’s direction and angle, he teaches him to bend, control his speed, and balance his movement. Eventually, the end becomes the means, and what the horse has learned blends seamlessly into specific riding disciplines such as dressage, jumping, eventing, endurance, trail, and just plain riding for fun.