DK Complete Horse Riding Manual

Excellent book for all level of riders BUT it is more suited to the advanced rider. It covers a lot of subjects from getting started as a beginner rider (the first 105 pages) to competition level in Dressage, Showjumping and Cross-country. I would view this as a book for a life-time of reading, a resource that you can keep going back to over the years. I particularly like how it covers the fitness & feeding of horses, rider fitness is covered really well in diagram format as well as written and the mental preparation for a rider. Excellent glossary of information too. As a beginner rider myself, lots of this book is way over my skill level but it is written so well that it is a pleasure to read even if I can't actually do what they are talking about. So if you are looking for a step by step guide to the basics, this book won't help you enough but if you are looking for a book that will be used over and over again as you advance then it's worth having especially if you are an information nerd.

After recently returning to horse riding after an 18 year break, I was struggling to take all the information in during my lessons. This is a great book to help refresh your memory on the basics. Most of the book is taken up by tips for more advanced riders (dressage, show jumping, cross country, training horses...) but I have found that some of these sections are also helpful for novices too (such as riding circles, straight lines...)There is also a large section on rider fitness at the back of the book which covers gentle exercises to improve your position, balance, strength, suppleness and core fitness. As an adult returning to the saddle I was surprised at how out of shape I was! I tried the exercises and my instructor can see, and maybe more importantly, I can feel improvement.Would recommend.

This book is everything it is advertised to be. As a novice rider, I find it really useful after I've had a lesson just to read up on what I've done to sort of reinforce the things I've learned. The book is beautifully put together and the illustrations are gorgeous. I think it's suitable for any age and would make a lovely gift for anyone with an interest in horses. Oh, and it goes into information on competing so it's not just for novice riders like me.

I love this book & dip in & out of it regularly; loads of info from start to finish on training & horse care; fittening for competiton, trouble shooting & more. Very much written with the horse's best interests at heart rather than the human's; which I like. William Micklem sure knows his stuff!

I bought this book for my younger granddaughter as a present. She is starting riding lessons this year and I wanted her have a reference book that she could refer to as and when she needed to. She is pleased with it and I got some brownie points for buying it!