The Dressage Horse Manifesto ― Training Secrets, Insight, and Revelations from 10 Dressage Horses

Those who work with and train horses on a regular basis are likely constantly searching for new ways to make inroads and find answers when faced with tough training or behavior problems. Grand Prix dressage rider and performer Yvonne Barteau has trained her share of horses over the yearsfrom off-track racing Thoroughbreds, to Arabians, to Friesians, to Warmbloodsand she asserts that everything that needs to be known about effectively training a horse is already knownby any horse.

Each horse,” says Barteau, will know and respect the person who figures out how to train him, if that person is fair. The best trainers are not only horse whisperers,’ they are listeners. And readers. They listen to what the horse has to say. They can read horse body language and behavior patterns. They are calm and they stay calm under pressure. How did they learn that? By studying horses. Over time the horses told them how to be a horse trainer and they listened.”

Barteau believes that every dressage rider can learn to listen and read, and so experience greater success and partnership with his or her horse. In this book Barteau has used her knowledge and decades of experience and success in and out of the dressage ring to help put to paper what 10 different dressage horses would say to you about horse training if they could. Through the dressage horse’s mouth, from his point of view, readers learn: how simple things really are and how complicated we make them; the value of routine, consequence, and peace; the importance of leadership, fairness, and trust; the need for your sense of responsibility to match your ambition; plus, what kinds of rewards really work and what frightens, annoys, or causes horses to disregard us altogether.

If you listen properly, horses will tell you how to train them. This book is a published declaration of their needs as our athletic partners, fellow competitors, and friends.

"I have been in the horse business all my life and have trained and competed horses in everything from team penning and barrels, to Standardbred racing. From 100-mile endurance rides, to equine theatre to Grand Prix Dressage."

Yvonne Barteau is a lifetime horsewoman. She has dedicated her life to understanding horses and preparing them for their careers whatever that might be. Yvonne has ridden many horses and coached many students to a variety of year-end awards and Regional Championships, including multiple U.S. Dressage Federation All Breed Horse of the Year. Her primary interest is competition dressage and her training program is geared toward horses and riders who can work to high competition standards.

Yvonne has trained over ten horses to the Grand Prix Level and has won numerous USDF Horse of the Year titles. She is a sought after instructor and clinician as well as a public speaker on equine personalities and temperaments and strategies involved with identifying and training the different personality types.

Yvonne and husband Kim have also worked in the equine entertainment world for over twenty years with everything from liberty work to bridleless Grand Prix exhibitions. They have appeared on the TODAY show, at Madison Square Gardens, Equine Affaire and Equitana as well as training and performing with the horses at the Arabian Nights Dinner Theater in Orlando, Florida. Yvonne and Kim own and operate KYB Dressage out of Grand Prix Equestrian in Maple Park Illinois.