Practical Eventing

I am a dressage rider, thinking of trying eventing this summer. This book is quite helpful for giving the insight into making a start at eventing, the time required and the scope of fitness your horse needs. I put my horse, a thoroughbred, on the author's plan for a week and noticed a marked improvement in the horse's obedience and he even advanced in his dressage! Perhaps it was the sheer amount of time the author recommends that you work your horse: 1.5 to 2 hours per day six days per week. One is sure to make progress following this routine, if only for the amount of time you spend working your horse. My thoroughbred loved it: galloping up hills, lots of hacking cross country, and jumping small obstacles. I only wish I had the courage of my off-track thoroughbred and the stamina! This book will guide you to success through its thoroughness. I must say it was hard to keep up with the program due to time restraints but if one has only one horse (or lots of grooms), it is a recipe for success. Make sure your horse is adequately legged up or fit enough to start this regime. Being a runner myself, I did not appreciate the comment that you as the rider should not do too much running as you will not fit into your riding boots. You need all the fitness you can garner. Rather if you follow this regime, you won't have time to run. This is a very disciplined approach which works well with many horses. Even if you don't decide to event, as a dressage rider I may not, this book offers very good cross training advice. My horses loved it.