Yoga practice provides people with mental and physical fitness, and it can for horses, too.

Introduction 1 Part One: Understanding the Horse's Core 7 1 The Back: Where All Movement Begins 9 The Magic Inside Every Horse 9 Mother Nature's Perfect Design 10 The Silent Language of the Herbivore 20 Riding "Feels" 22 Taming the "Snorting Beast" 24 Releasing the Natural Athlete 28 2 The Source of Force in the Horse: The Core 37 The Power of Three Will Set You Free 44 The Dark Side of the Core 54 3 Horses Are People, Too 65 The Human Touch 66 Using the Warm-Up to Condition the Core 68 Yoga: Kind to the Core 72 4 Assessing the Horse's Core and Choosing a Warm-Up Plan 81 The Core Score 82 Non-Ridden Core Indicators 100 Choosing Your Warm-Up Plan 107 Putting It All Together 110 Special Considerations 111 Part Two: The Core Conditioning Exercises 115 5 How to Ride from the Horse's Core 117 Building Blocks: What You Need to Know for the Core Exercises 119 The Three Exercise Levels: Release, Coordination, and Tone 123 Head-and-Neck Positions (HNP) 130 Yoga-Inspired Warm-Up Aids 136 6 10 Core Exercises for the Horse 151 Getting Started 151 Exercise 1: The Half-Moon Pose/The Core Release Volte 156 Exercise 2: The Yoga Half-Split/The Turn on the Forehand 169 Exercise 3: The Cat Pose/Forward,, Down, and Out (FDO) 186 Exercise 4: The Balancing Table to Tiptoe Chair Poses/Forward and Back 198 Exercise 5: The Chair Pose/The Driving Seat 211 Exercise 6: The Garland Pose/The Rounding Rein-Back 223 Exercise 7: The Revolved Triangle Pose/The Limbering Leg-Yield 238 Exercise 8: Thread the Needle Pose/The Perfect Pirouette 250 Exercise 9: The Cat to Cow Pose/Forward, Down, and Out to Competition Outline 264 Exercise 10: The Revolved Half-Moon Pose/La Giravolta Longe 274 7 Happy Bendy Horsey! Practice Makes Perfect 288 Acknowledgments 291 Index 293