Maria Ana Beja da Costa's Playing with My Youngsters is a detailed guide on her effective and caring approach for breaking young horses, developed from many years of experience and training, and demonstrating how proper grooming and horsemanship are the ideal foundation for teaching horses to welcome riding.
Maria Ana Beja da Costa's new book, Playing with my Youngsters, quickly draws the reader into the fascinating world of horse breeding, riding, dressage, and showing. Yet it focuses on the most critical preliminary aspect of all human-horse interaction, and that is the process of breaking a horse to the will of the rider, without breaking the horse's spirit.
Discussing famous people and horses from the past, as well as revealing breaking insight from her own wide-raging horse work, the author clearly explains her own innovative approach for breaking young horses, termed the “grass game”, which has proven a level of effectiveness and safety that should be studied by anyone who works with these magnificent creatures.
From the Author
This book helped me organizing my ideas on Classical horsemanship, through the gifted experience I had with young horses. It was part of my life and an incredible adventure, but a true story. I wanted to pass the message to someone, who closest shared it and is very special for me; My daughter.
About the Author
About the Author Maria Ana Beja da Costa was born in Lisbon, Portugal, to a family of horse breeders. Taught by students of the great Portuguese riding master Nuno de Oliveira, she became immersed in horsemanship. A recipient of a Kress Foundation Grant for graduate students of archaeology and an American Numismatic Society Fellowship, she was accepted as an Oxford Probationer Research Student in the history department of Oxford University. She and her daughter live in Lisbon, Portugal.