Training the Young Horse: Schooling for Success

I highly respect Pippa Funnel, and this book is just wonderful. I have a young horse that I'm schooling and it helped me to understand just how important the basics are for a young horse, and how to go about introducing them to certain things. I especially found the jumping section very helpful. This book has big, glossy colour pictures throughout, and very easy to understand instructions which explain how to go about each new schooling exercise. It also shows what not to do, which is why I gave this book 4 stars and not 3. Showing what's wrong and the outcome of what could happen if approached wrong really sold this book to me, because there are many books out there which tell you what to do, but not how to recover when anything goes wrong.

How can you not be a fan of Rolex Grand Slam winner, Pippa Funnell - an inspiration to all riders. As you'll discover in this book, she's down to earth and modest about her success. She admits to being "a bit soppy with my horses"; but what that translates to is a genuine respect for the horse and a true understanding of partnership. Similar to the book by Jennie Loriston-Clarke, "The Young Horse, Breaking and Training" (see my review), this book covers a lot of material, but nonetheless provides a structured program for training the youngster and an excellent starting point for future reading into specific areas. It also gives trouble shooting advice for when things don't go as planned and is well illustrated with photographs. An enjoyable read, I highly recommend.