Sport Horse Soundness and Performance ― Training Advice for Dressage, Showjumping and Event Horses from Champion Riders, Equine Scientists and Vets

There are many books and DVDs devoted to the technical training of horse and rider—how to perform movements correctly, clear obstacles, communicate efficiently, and in other ways attain the idealized image of an athletic partnership that results in competitive success. But this book is different: its focus is how the rider and trainer can make it easier for the horse to perform optimally. This includes understanding reasonable expectations for a particular horse at a certain level of schooling and fitness (including strength and conditioning), as well as how injuries develop due to the interaction between internal and external factors, such as genetics, conformation, management, and training.Relying on her veterinary background, in-depth research, and dozens of interviews with top riders and trainers from around the world—including Beezie Madden, Kyra Kirklund, Carl Hester, and Pippa Funnell, to name just a few—L önnell provides guidelines for nurturing a happy, healthy equine athlete. With special focus on conscientious pacing when building the horse’s physical capability over time, diversification of schooling practices, detail-oriented management and care, and putting the horse’s needs above competitive ambition, readers are given a solid grasp of what it takes to truly reach the pinnacle of equestrian sport—and remain there—on a consistent basis. Throughout, gorgeous color photographs of world-class horses and the people who work with them visually demonstrate the success of these methods.

Cecilia Lonnell is a veterinarian who presented her PhD at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Uppsala, Sweden. The PhD was funded by World Horse Welfare. In 1998-2001 she was a research assistant at the Royal Veterinary College in London, conducting a field study of training and skeletal adaptation in Thoroughbred racehorses. She is co-author and translator of the popular science ”FEI Equestrian Surfaces – A Guide,” originally published in Swedish by the Swedish Equestrian Federation and receiving 615,000 hits on its website. Cecilia is also a veteran equestrian journalist who has covered six equestrian Olympics.