DVD Review: **** J.P. Giacomini ~ Endotapping: Basics under saddle disk 1

**** ~ Endotapping: Basics under saddle #1


I have to say I was intrigued by this dvd. I am giving it 4 stars because it is very interesting stuff. Not that I can whole heartedly say I agree with it 100%, but mainly because when you come across something different and not all that contradictory to what you already know….it is useful to see new things and decide for yourself if it is a technique that you can incorporate into your repertoire. I saw him at a horse expo, gosh like 15ys ago, and I don’t remember my impression of him at the time.

One thing that I thought was cool about having studied Parelli as extensively as I have, is that I could really de-code what he was doing….as in…..friendly, porcupine, and driving. He uses a stick with a little rubber ball on the end and taps a horse with it in a rhythmic fashion. Of course that is nothing new to a parelli student….BUT…..what was new and interesting was the timing of the aids and the resulting action of the horse when timed right. As a student who has spent time trying to perfect my timing, I can see ways where I would modify his technique a bit and give a release more often to let the horse know he is on the right track. Now he claims that the technique he uses is a calming one…and it becomes a ‘calm down’ cue that can be used in any situation, both on the ground and in the saddle. The demo horse of course calmed down and quickly learned the aids and was even doing a few beginning steps of piaffe at the end of the session, but he did not take the horse into a new situation to show whether or not it works in a new venue…..but…since it was only one lesson, I would say it is not and ingrained pattern any ways so, really I guess there is no use in trying it. Who know what might be on the next dvd. Because of his understanding of the timing of the aids, when and where to tap the horse….this was a very logical progression to the Piaffe steps and also the Jambet, which will easily become the spanish walk. I also liked his stick because I can see how it would be less offensive to the horse while working on porcupine game. I have seen the Jambet taught by a few other trainers and I was not in love with their more aggressive style, so this was much more to my liking.

He is also clearly a French Classical Dressage Student, not a German one and he makes that very clear, but not in a rude or condescending way. I found that very refreshing. All in all I liked it, even though I am not sure I agree with the calm down cue thing, I definitely like the other applications of his technique. The lesson is with one horse new to Endo-tapping and it appears to be private with the owner in the back ground asking questions and him explaining things to one student.

I will definitely be getting the second dvd to see more, and possibly getting the Endo-stick too.

Click here for more info about , he apparently has loads of stuff to view if you join his club, but his dvd is reasonably priced at $35 and $45 for the stick. But I can’t tell if the the dvd he has for sale is this dvd that I watched because it has a different picture and title, so I think the one I watched is an older one.
The club price is $25 per month, and there appears to be quite a good number of videos to watch on his website if you are a member.  Lot's of video's in the 'undersaddle' section, including lateral work. 

Click here to read an article by  Dr Cindy Reynolds Ph.D regarding a scientific review of the Endotapping method


Savvy On
Michelle