Author is a Romana's Pilates Level II Instructor

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Product Description

In this beautiful new book, dressage rider and Level 2 Pilates Instructor Janice Dulak has compiled a program of Pilates exercises specifically designed to help the dressage rider enhance her ability for success in dressage. While they use different terms, both Pilates and dressage share an emphasis on to torso, or "Powerhouse" in Pilates-speak, and achieving core strength, good posture and muscle flexibility. The goals of a Pilates program are often Identical to what riders try to achcieve in the saddle in the sport of dressage.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57987 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-21
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 152 pages

About the Author
Janice Dulak is a dressage rider and a Level 2 Pilates Instructor, a certification held by only a handful of Pilates Instructors. She teaches in her studio, The Pilates Center, in Champaign, IL. She trains and competes with her two horses, India and Rubaiyat.

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Customer Reviews

It's okay.
Up front, I'm a Pilates instructor and I ride. I had different training from Ms. Dulak and have a difference of opinion of some fine points.

I don't agree with the traditional Pilates "style", if you will, in that it focuses on tightening the [...] and thighs and turning the toes and legs out. I know several horses who would not put up with a clenched [...] from the rider. And I don't think those of us who ride dressage want our toes pointed out with the backs of our thighs and backs of our calves on the horse. Horses mirror everything from us, including how we use our bodies. Do you want your horse to have a clenched [...]?

That being said, it's a good basic book. Just don't take it as the be-all end-all source.

I also take exception to the essay at the end of the book that comes across as a diatribe to me. There are many qualified and well-trained Pilates instructors who did not train with Romana. Ms. Dulak's main point of finding a well-trained and qualified Pilates instructor is a good one. But she went too far with saying that only those trained by Romana are worth going to.

Several of the photographs show the demo person attempting to do an exercise that I would have corrected before having them photographed.

Disappointed
This book was a disappointment to me, I found the formatting to be a huge distraction. The black and white photos are dark, the cartoon graphics are unappealing, and I was expecting it to be more demonstrative and less "block paragraph" and wordy. I have picked it up three times since I bought it and just cannot work my way through it. I'm a visual learner and this book is definitely not overly visual.

If I'd gotten a better "look inside", I would not have purchased this book and gone for one that more clearly illustrated what was being done.

Real help for your riding
Ms. Dulak has presented a book that will provide real help for any serious rider. But special help will be found for riders with conformational flaws. That would cover most riders but naturally endowed and gifted riders may also find ways to improve.

I have ridden for 40 plus years with instructors from all over the spectrum and this is the first realistic attempt to help get to the real root of position problems.

I am still working on the exercises and expect it will be some months to be ingrained but I already see improvement in the way my horses go after one month.

This will take committment but any serious rider has plenty of that.