Read, Ride, Reflect is a book club in Northern Virginia. It is also this website. The brain-child of Callie Fulmer, Read, Ride, Reflect is dedicated to the promotion of the scholarly pursuit of riding. What in the heck does that mean?

To put it more simply, I believe that riding (and horsemanship) is more than a sport. Though the physical aspects cannot be denied, it is the intellectual pursuits of both the horse and the rider that bring us truly together. I believe the best approach to the education of the horseman is one that emphasizes "the big picture". It is here, exploring the theories and big ideas of the topic that truths are exposed. In the standard lesson or clinic, the discussion is centered on what is happening with that specific horse, and that specific rider, in that moment in time. While this is helpful and necessary, it frequently leaves the budding horseman at a loss on how to proceed.

But to truly experience the big picture, you must not only read books about riding in the discipline you practice but also other disciplines. Anatomy, biomechanics, veterinary science, driving, circus training, and racing would also be on the list. Add to that philosophy, science, music, mathematics, and engineering. I would encourage you to read this article from St. John's College "The Last Don Rag". For it is not by surrounding ourselves with like-minded ideas that we grow as humans, but by exploring the strange and unusual; this is how Truth is revealed.

In the age of the internet, books have become even more important. As the long form of recording the ideas and teachings of people, it is only through books- not titles, video snips, and other short-form discussions, that we can really hope to begin to understand how the trainer chooses the steps to bring the horse together.

I think of it like a puzzle- even if two trainers had exactly the same ideal horse picture in their mind, the shape of the pieces could be very different between two trainers, and while there can be much to learn from both, you may not realize that by working with short forms of information, there are gaps in your education where the pieces you took from trainer A don't overlap with the pieces from trainer B. Outside of extensive apprenticeship, books are the only way to try and see how all of the pieces fit together in one person's mind.