This is not another "how to ride" book, its purpose is to help parents and riders who are new to the world of equestrian sports or those changing from one type of competition to another. The major disciplines are covered in four separate chapters: hacking/showing, dressage, showjumping and eventing. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction to the discipline showing how it originated and its current status. A detailed description of the discipline follows including types and classes of horses, types and levels of competition, who runs the competitions, which rules apply and how the competition is judged. At the end of each chapter is a section on the "ground rules" which is really a distillation of the author's own experience which takes the mystery and worry out of the whole experience. It covers topics such as how to find out what competitions are taking place and how to enter, which dressage tests apply, what to wear, what to do when you arrive, where best to park, where you can and cannot warm up, checking your gear and reporting to the judge. The appendices at the end of the book contain illustrations of arenas and the different types of bits and saddles, website links and examples of competition programs.

The Science of Equestrian Sports is a comprehensive study of the theory and practice of the rider in equine sport. While most scholarship to date has focused on the horse in competition, this is the first book to collate current data relating specifically to riders. It provides valuable insight into improving sporting performance and maintaining the safety of both the horse and the rider. Drawing on the latest scientific research, and covering a wide range of equestrian disciplines from horseracing to eventing, the book systematically explores core subjects such as: physiology of the rider sport psychology in equestrian sport preventing injury biomechanics and kinematics coaching equestrian sport the nature of horse-rider relationships This holistic and scientific examination of the role of the horse rider is essential reading for sport science students with an interest in equestrian sport and equitation. Furthermore, it will be an invaluable resource for instructors, coaches, sport psychologists, or physiologists working with equestrian athletes.

This volume brings together studies from various disciplines of the social sciences and humanities ( anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, history and literary theory) that shed light on the equestrian world as a historically gendered and highly dynamic field of contemporary sport and culture. From high level international dressage and jumping, polo and the turf, to the rodeo world of the Americas and popular forms of equestrian sport and culture, we are introduced to a range of issues that are played out at local and global, national and international levels. Students and scholars of gender, culture and sport will find much of interest in this original look at contemporary issues such as “engendered” (women’s and men’s) identities/subjectivities as equestrians, representations of girls, horses and the world of adventure in juvenile fiction; the current “feminization” of particular equestrian activities (and where boys and men stand in relation to this); how broad forms of social inequality and stratification play themselves out within gendered equestrian contexts; men and women and their relation to horses within the framework of current discussions on the relation of animals to humans (which may include not only love and care, but also exploitation and violence), among others. Singular contributions show how equestrian activities contribute to historical and current constructions of embodied “femininities” and “masculinities”, reflecting a world that has been moving “beyond the binaries” while continuing to be enmeshed in their persistent and contradictory legacy. ​

The director of the riding program at Sweet Briar College for more than 30 years, Cronin is a well-known and highly respected trainer and riding instructor. Here he presents a clear and practical guide to getting the most out of a horse in a humane and sensitive way.

This edited volume demonstrates the broader socio-cultural context for individual human-horse relations and equestrian practices by documenting the international value of equines; socially, culturally, as subjects of academic study and as drivers of public policy. It broadens our understanding of the importance of horses to humans by providing case studies from an unprecedented diversity of cultures. The volume is grounded in the contention that the changing status of equines reveals - and moves us to reflect on - important material and symbolic societal transformations ushered in by (post)modernity which affect local and global contexts alike. Through a detailed consideration of the social relations and cultural dimensions of equestrian practices across several continents, this volume provides readers with an understanding of the ways in which interactions with horses provide global connectivity with localized identities, and vice versa. It further discusses new frontiers in the research on and practice of equestrianism, framed against global megatrends and local micro-trends.

When women decided that they wanted to compete in horse sports as equals with men, it took courage and perseverance. The women on both sides of the Atlantic who fought to compete in the male-dominated sports of show jumping, dressage, eventing, and racing are the subject of "Equal to the Challenge." Jackie Burke interviewed many of these extraordinary women, and the book is richer for their simple, moving accounts of how they achieved their goals. Many had to endure rejection, humiliation, physical danger, and privation in order to take part in the horse sports they loved. Some women struggled doubly, since they had to overcome physical and financial handicaps. Young women and not just riders will find in this book worthy role models for our time. Jackie C. Burke is a journalist who has been involved in horse sports all her life and knows just about.

The Horse in Sport celebrates all the ways people use the power of the horse in games and in play, and through narrative, interview and anecdote, they explain the development of the major equestrian sports. 220 full-color photographs and 30 vintage black-and-white photographs.