Recently updated and extended, Trail Riding joins the experience and enthusiasm of equestrian Micaela Myers with the wisdom of Horse Illustrated to bring this definitive guide to beginning trail riders. The book covers the fundamentals of America’s #1 equestrian pasttime—from picking out the right gear and training your horse for the trail to planning your jaunt and learning proper trail manners. Complete with step-by-step instructions, countless tips, full-color photos, and an easy-to-use glossary, this guide takes the guesswork out of trail riding.
Newly updated and extended, Advanced Western Riding joins the experience and enthusiasm of equestrienne Kara L. Stewart with the wisdom of Horse Illustrated to bring this definitive guide to advanced western riders. The book goes beyond the fundamentals to teach readers how to refine their riding skills–from the right mental attitude to the proper seat and hands to advanced schooling techniques and competitions. Complete with step-by-step instructions, countless tips, full-color photos, and an easy-to-use glossary, this guide takes the guesswork out of advanced western riding.
Recently updated and extended, The Horse Illustrated Guide to English Riding covers the fundamentals—from loping and galloping to troubleshooting and showing. Complete with step-by-step instructions, countless tips, full-color photos, and an easy-to-use glossary, this book takes the guesswork out of English riding.
Traditionally shrouded in mystery and taught only to the closest students, the secrets of Taijiquan push-hands and fighting technique from the Chen style are revealed in this book.Master Wang Fengming, an eleventh generation practitioner of Chen-style Taijiquan, provides detailed information about the famous internal fighting techniques and reveals inside knowledge essential to the remarkable results achieved by the Chinese masters. The book features:– effective ways of cultivating Taiji internal power- variety of joint-locking techniques and counter techniques- 13 postures of Taiji explained- leg work, including stances and kicking techniques- unique silk-reeling exercises- rarely revealed vital point striking- 7 styles of push-hands training- 20 kinds of Taiji energy explained and demonstrated.This comprehensive book is a major contribution to the literature on push-hands techniques in the West.
A young woman, Lindsey Wei, graduates from high school in America and sets out to find her roots in China, questing for who she is and where her life path belongs. She discovers in herself a skill for martial arts and seeks the hidden knowledge of meditation. After three years of study in various martial styles and unveiling false teachers, she is finally led to the ancient Wudang Mountains. Here she meets a Daoist recluse, Li Shi Fu, who has renounced the world of the 'red dust' and long since retired into an isolated temple to cast oracles and read the stars. The coming together of these two extraordinary characters, master and disciple, begins a spiritual relationship taking the young adept on an unforgettable journey through the light and dark sides of modern China and deep into herself. Battling between earthly desires and heavenly knowledge, she makes the transformation into a dynamic and complete woman. A coming-of-age, personal account, the book describes the lived experiences of a profoundly sincere, bitter yet ultimately liberating female quest. It is written for anyone who ponders the true meaning of Chinese wisdom and the way of the Dao in the hope of discovering a deeper strength within themselves.
With detailed photographs and clear instruction for practice, this is the first book comprehensively to cover the history, development and training methods of this rarely taught esoteric internal martial art. The deceptively simple postures and movements of Yiquan are highly effective for achieving results for both health and combat, making it very appealing to martial artists, and Master Tang here reveals the secrets of a martial art still surrounded in mystery. He also provides a history of the origins and lineage of the Yiquan tradition, as well as detailed information on the stances and movements, weapons, and programs, grading and teaching. This complete guide to Yiquan will be essential for anyone interested in Yiquan or oriental martial and internal arts more generally.
The ancient Chinese martial art of Xingyi Quan is known for its explosive internal power. Closely related to both Taiji Quan and Bagua Quan, Xingyi is regarded as the most esoteric, and the most dangerous of the fighting arts, though the purposes of consistent practice include health and spiritual development. This in-depth guide is the first to cover the history and traditions of the art in such a comprehensive way, describing the essential Xingyi Quan movements, and their effects, in fully illustrated form, and including the author's research with the Song Xingyi Quan clan in China. The book contains a comprehensive teaching guide to the practice of Santi Shr and the Five Element Fists, the core exercises of this potent fighting system, as well as explanations of the underlying principles which give Xingyi Masters their great depth of skill and refined understanding of combat strategy. The reader will also find clearly illustrated teachings of all the Twelve Animal Forms, linking forms, two person sets, basic skills, and the weapons training. This authoritative book will be an illuminating and complete guide for anyone interested in the internal martial arts, especially those practicing or teaching Xingyi Quan or wanting to learn more about it.
Known best for his writings on the history of his own times, Xenophon (435-354 B.C.) was a philosopher, soldier, and mercenary who wrote several essays dealing with military practices of the ancient world. «On Horsemanship», one of his earliest known works, concentrates on the various aspects of selecting, training, and caring for a horse, and is still an extraordinary guide to equestrian study even 2,300 years after it was originally written. In «The Duties of a Hipparch», Xenophon employs his personal experience and vast military knowledge in a treatise discussing the responsibilities and strengths of a successful cavalry general. «On Hunting» discusses the mythology, process and practicality of hunting—in particular the details of hunting with hounds. The works in this collection, written on those «arts» which Xenophon considered especially important, are accessible, thorough, and enlightened treatises that continue to educate readers over two millennia after their conception.
Written in 1884 under the pen name “Nessmuk”, “Woodcraft and Camping” is the classic and timeless guide on roughing it by expert woodsman George Washington Sears. Born the eldest of ten children in Massachusetts in 1821, Sears took the pen name “Nessmuk” from a Native American who befriended him as a child. This connection and an early exposure to books on Native American culture left Sears with a life-long love and appreciation for survival skills in the forest and adventure-seeking in the natural world. Sears made a living as a sportswriter for “Field and Stream” magazine and was an early conservationist and proponent of the ultra-light backpacking and canoeing movement, which remains popular to this day. Having remained in print ever since its original publication, “Woodcraft and Camping” remains as full of practical advice and instruction as it did when it was first published. This informative guide is a must-have for any outdoors enthusiast and provides priceless advice on building fires, cooking outside, building shelters, hunting, fishing, and the tools that are needed to survive in the wilderness.
First published in 1914, Daniel Carter Beard’s “Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties” is the definitive guide to building survival shelters in the outdoors. Beard was the founding member of the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which merged with the Boy Scouts of America upon its founding in 1910. Beard began his career as an engineer and surveyor, as well as a trained artist, and he illustrated many works, including some for Mark Twain. He was also an avid outdoorsman, youth leader, social reformer, and prolific author of articles and books for the Boy Scouts, as well as wilderness and survival guides. In his "Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties” Beard provides detailed and easy to understand instruction on how to build everything including a teepee, a log cabin, a tree house, and a beaver hut. This invaluable guide helps the reader to build any manner of essential shelter in numerous difficult environments without requiring any more special training than the ability to use an axe. As useful as it was when first written over 100 years ago, this brilliant guide belongs in the library of every outdoor adventurer.