"The gates to brilliance are surrounded by a cloud of sweat and tears." That is what Olympic dressage rider and coach Robert Dover's mentor, the revered Swedish equestrian Colonel Bengt Ljungquist, told him. It is a lesson that stuck-only with great passion and determination can one achieve success, and just maybe, happiness, too. In a fascinating book that reads like a potent elixir, three parts memoir and one part inspirational self-improvement guide, readers are ushered through 16 "gates to brilliance"-keys that Dover discovered as he made his way through his own life, from gawky, horse-crazy child to influential Olympic coach and entrepreneur. Sharing deeply personal stories that were fundamental to his evolution, Dover is candid about the path he took on his way to becoming one of the most successful equestrians in the world. Readers learn about abuse he suffered as a child, and his formative years as the only Jewish kid on Grand Bahama Island. He writes frankly about his father's alcoholism, his parents' divorce, and his unwavering devotion to his mother. The book delves into his fear of coming out, explores love and loss, and examines the perfectionist tendencies that have at times held Dover back, while at others, have helped him rise to all new heights. In addition, readers hear stories from the barns, arenas, and show grounds where Dover built his career, from his days as a wild Pony Clubber to his struggles in Germany under the tutelage of some of Europe's great riding masters. We meet the horses and people he partnered with along the way as he offers a glimpse behind the curtain at the pomp and politics of international equestrian competition. Throughout, Dover's dedication to self-betterment and belief in living a life with purpose stands front and centre, softened by his humour and willingness to cast a critical eye on himself. With countless moments of searing honesty bound to fundamental life lessons from which he hopes we can all learn, Dover assures us the road to success is there for the taking. The ultimate goal, though, is to emerge on the other side of whatever comes next a brighter, more compassionate, happier person-that is brilliance.

For six decades, Lynn Palm has been a mainstay of the horse training, showing, and clinicing industry. Her successes in diversity in training and the development of willingness and ability across disciplines are unparalleled. She has four Superhorse Titles-a prize awarded to a horse that demonstrates a broad skillset and proficiency in multiple sports. In these pages, Lynn shares the eight keys to her success in training and competing, and how you, too-whether you're eventing or ranch riding-can shape a horse with a good attitude, correct movement, healthy biomechanics, and top-notch conditioning. A "Superhorse" will take you farther for longer, and you'll enjoy every minute of it. Readers will learn how: - Not all knowledge is good knowledge, and which knowledge is best. - Groundwork in the form of in-hand, longeing, liberty work, long-lining, and trick training is integral to attaining training goals - To incorporate longevity training with progressive lessons that have the "long game" in mind - The rider's ability directly impacts the horse's - A competitive edge serves both the recreational rider and the one who shows - To overcome the inevitable challenges when training a horse and facing questions of persistence versus suitability - We need to do better for the horse in equestrian sport - "Giving back" to the industry provides a foundation for Superhorses for generations to come With a rich mix of stories curated from years of horse adventures, practical ideas you can put to work in your own arena, and exercises to incorporate in your daily practice, Finding Your Superhorse is the rare inspiring read that teaches. Throughout, Lynn's warmth of character and intense commitment to horses, horse people, and improving the industry that has given her a life and a livelihood shine through, guiding us all toward what's possible and the "super" in every horse.

In this sequel to Cowgirl Dreams, Nettie Brady, now Nettie Moser, is working with her husband Jake to prepare for a busy rodeo season when she's offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to London to perform with the Tex Austin Wild West Troupe. When fate once again interferes with her dreams, Nettie finds herself overcoming challenges only to set aside her passions. As Nettie and Jake work to keep their horse herd from disaster and to preserve their way of life, the realities of the Great Depression separate them. Based on the life of the author's grandmother, a real Montana Cowgirl, Follow the Dream, reveals the story of the real Montana in the mid-Twentieth Century and continues the sweeping family saga begun in Cowgirl Dreams.

Just as football evolved with the introduction of the forward pass and basketball with the development of the jump shot, so too was handicapping forever changed by the use of speed figures--and it all started with Andrew Beyer's Picking Winners. This edition features a new foreword in which the author discusses the changes that have swept the sport since the book's original publication. Picking Winners remains a classic in the field of thoroughbred racing.

Since the thoroughbred horse was first developed over three centuries ago, these magnificent creatures have given the global race-going public limitless joy, and filled our memories with wonder and respect, and Punch a Hole in the Wind focuses on the stories of 50 champion Flat racehorses since the dawn of film. Taking a far more global look than other attempts to capture the lives and victories of the greats from the past, it celebrates our heroes from the UK, France, US, Ireland, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, and each story is told with a mixture of humour, passion and solid research. Every horse that has ever raced has given its connections a thrill but very few can truly by thought of as great and this is a celebration of them, rather than an artificial competition between them, and it is an essential companion to race lovers around the world. Featuring 32 pages of stunning photographs and statistics for each horse, this is sure to appeal to any horseracing fan.

As riders, we often spend many hours training independently without regular access to high quality coaches, sport psychologists, biomechanic specialists or exercise physiologists. This can be the difference between performing well and performing to the best of your ability consistently and reliably over the long term. By bringing together the science of training, coaching and psychology, Be Your Own Equine Sports Coach explores the horse and rider as individual athletes and how, as a combination, you can meet the demands of competition by building highly personalized strategies and techniques that enable you to reach your potential in whatever discipline you choose and whatever your ambition. Key areas covered include: making sports psychology work for you; understanding human peak performance; the physiological and biomechanical demands of horse sport; developing sport specific training programmes; analysing your performance, and finally, strategic development and authentic leadership.

The juvenile, or two-year-old, racing careers of Colin, Man o' War, Ruffian and Landaluce provide the foundation and focus for discussing the question of thoroughbred greatness and its measure. These four thoroughbreds were arguably the best juvenile runners of the twentieth century. Close on their hooves, pun intended, however, were the colts Sysonby and Secretariat and the fillies First Flight, La Prevoyante and Personal Ensign. The latter five runners are honorably mentioned and also compared in the book. As in The Greatest Horse of All: A Controversy Examined, basic statistics are used informally to provide readers a basis for their own studies in thoroughbred data comparison and evaluation. The author realizes that many people avoid mathematical ideas like the plague. Therefore, he has minimized statistical usage to its most common elements, and he explains these thoroughly for the uninitiated as the book progresses. Only two of the ten chapters use statistics to any degree. The text also includes seven figures and two tables to aid in understanding the statistical concepts. If one feels remotely comfortable with eight-grade mathematics concepts, one will have no problem with this material. Relative to the statistical comparisons, two novel concepts are discussed. These pertain to addressing the so-called era effect. Many racing fans continue to argue that horses from different eras cannot justly be compared. A strong case against this argument is presented from at least two standpoints. First, a device is described and suggested to scientifically test and compare the true relative speeds of two racing surfaces. Second, an inverse use of the well-known 't test' for comparing the differences between two or more data sets is presented. The text demonstrates how using this inverse test can equitably adjust earlier era data so that it may be fairly compared with later era data.

In the 1890s, feisty Tod Sloan (1874-1933) abandoned the centuries-old jockey tradition of riding in a straight sitting position and instead crouched low on the neck of his horse. The result was not only a string of victories for young Sloan but also a revolution in horse racing. In this entertaining book, award-winning author John Dizikes recounts the remarkable story of the Indiana boy who rose from obscurity to become the most famous jockey in the United States and Great Britain at the turn of the century. Dizikes evokes the turbulent, colorful world of horse racing and gambling in which Tod Sloan rocketed to celebrity -- and from which he was just as dramatically ejected.

Sloan's innovative riding style helped to transform horse racing into the first nationally popular spectator sport, drawing in huge crowds and vast amounts of betting money. But Sloan's career was crushingly ended by those who resented and envied him. A dandy, a big spender, a man whose company women loved, Sloan related to horses in an almost magical way, yet foundered in his dealings with people. This book is the biography of a diminutive man who lived in large style, and lives on in George M. Cohan's musical Little Johnny Jones and Ernest Hemingway's short story "My Old Man". The book is also much more -- a fascinating cultural history that illuminates the history of horse racing and betting, the democratization of sport, changing conceptions of masculinity, the hypocrisy of Victorian morality, the lionizing and demonizing of celebrities, and a variety of other inviting topics.

After a 40-year career taking the bets that no one else would take for William Hill after expanding the company's offerings to its customers beyond purely sporting contests, in Strange Stuff Graham Sharpe chronicles the weirdest, oddest, strangest, craziest antics and events to happen on racecourses to horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, bookies and racegoers over the years. His previous titles include biographies of arch-eccentric racehorse owner Dorothy Paget, whose horses won the Grand National, Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Derby; and William Hill, who founded his eponymous company in 1934, when he was betting on-course and transforming the bookmaking scene. His Magnificent Seven chronicled the story of Frankie Dettori's greatest day, when he almost single-handedly bankrupted the country's biggest bookies. In his latest book you'll find hundreds of stories and unusual racing facts to dip in and out of, making this the perfect gift for any horse racing fan, and it is sure to appeal to young and old alike.

"The Course Companion" covers the horse care and knowledge elements of the BHS Stage Two examination along with some subject matter which leads on to BHS Stage Three. Within each chapter are suggestions for practical follow-up work and helpful hints on examination technique. The book is an invaluable study and revision aid, which no examination candidate will want to be without. The subject matter will be equally helpful to anyone involved with the care and management of horses whether in a private or professional capacity.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Every horse, no matter in what discipline it is ridden, will benefit from working with cavalletti. For Olympic champion Ingrid Klimke, riding over cavalletti is key to success. Cavalletti training improves the horse's basic gaits, develops rhythm, suppleness and cadence and increases fitness and agility. This handbook describes how to work with cavalletti on the lunge, provides valuable new schooling ideas and inspiration for dressage work, as well as numerous layouts for gymnastic jumping. Since its first publication in 1969, Cavalletti has become a standard reference book. This fourth editon has been further revised with new photographs.

PONIES PAST AND PRESENT - THE BREEDS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Originally published in 1900, this rare early work on Native British Ponies is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. READ COUNTRY BOOKS has republished it using the original text and illustrations. The author was a respected authority on all equestrian matters and published several important books on the subject as well as contributing numerous articles to the sporting and farming press of that era. This title was the first comprehensive work on British Ponies ever written, and the first to draw attention to their important contribution to polo pony breeding. The book consists of one hundred and thirty six pages, including eight full page plates. A lengthy introduction takes the reader through some of the early history, origins, and laws relating to the pony breeds. This is followed by eight Detailed chapters: The New Forest Pony. The Welsh Pony. The Exmoor and Dartmoor Ponies. The Cumberland and Westmoreland Ponies. Ireland The Connemara Pony. The Ponies of Scotland and the Shetland Islands. Uses and Characteristics of the Pony. Breeding Polo Ponies. This is a fascinating read for any pony enthusiast or historian of the breeds, and also contains much information that is still useful and practical today. Many of the earliest equestrian books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

When Citation (1945-1970) retired in mid-1951, he was horseracing's first and, to that point, only millionaire racehorse. Following his 1948 triumphs at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont in 1948, it would be twenty-five years before another horse (Secreteriat) would again wear the coveted Triple Crown. Citation, by legendary announcer and longtime horseracing insider Phil Georgeff, reveals all about the thoroughbred, his remarkable career, and those in his inner circle. Georgeff delves into Citation's unusual bloodline; the death of his original rider, Al Snider, swept out to sea while fishing off the Florida keys; Citation's stunning 1948 Triple Crown victory; and the ultimate effects of the horse's excessive, aggressive schedule (racing on little rest after traveling cross-country in sweltering vans and railroad boxcars). Based on interviews from those who knew the thoroughbred, including famed jockey Eddie Arcaro and renowned son-and-father trainers Ben A. and Jimmy Jones; Citation is more than merely the biography of a gifted horse. It the full story of the greatest sports figure in the history of horseracing, a champion who won or placed in thirty different contests in his career and whose spirit continue to captivate the American public.

Former international event rider Eric Smiley has brought along his own top-level horses for decades. Now he taps his immense knowledge to help riders whose horses may not have had "the right start." Every horse comes with his own "baggage"-behavior or training issues, minor or significant, that may be difficult to pinpoint or resolve. In these pages, Smiley addresses the most common problems he has seen over the years in dressage, eventing, and show jumping, including: - Problems with head and neck position. - Connection issues. - Failure to follow the rules of forward, straight, and regular. - Difficulty with collection. - Lack of consistency. Smiley teaches readers how to identify what isn't working by looking at how things should work. Then he walks us through dismantling and reassembling the issues, providing an easy-to-follow system for determining what's potentially wrong with a horse and choosing sensible exercises for fixing it. He introduces a troubleshooting five-point system: - Ask yourself, "What is the problem?" - Ask, "How, when, and why did it arise?" - Ask, "Why does it need solving?" - Formulate a plan. - Analyze the results in the context of "now" and what they may mean for the future. Layers and shifts of understanding in horses combined with the physical and psychological challenges of riding can often make solving problems that arise seem complicated, and sometimes it is difficult to know where to even begin. Smiley's system helps readers find that "start point" and map out a sensible plan for future training. He shows how to determine when something may have become an issue for your horse or your performance, ways to try and avoid it happening in the first place, and of course, offers highly practical solutions to employ when you find you do have a problem. Smiley's goal is to "always leave people and horses with a positive journey to go on, with the prospect of 'better to come.'" With its usefulness, cross-disciplinary approach, and optimism, The Sport Horse Problem Solver is all you need to achieve success in partnership with your horse, wherever you are in your journey together.