A Guide to Quarantine…for Your Horse

We of course all know a bit too much about quarantine these days. In fact, I’m pretty sure we’ve had just about enough of it. But if bringing home a new horse–perhaps a rescue, an adoption, or even just a spontaneous purchase from the place just down the road–is a possibility anytime in your future, then understanding the ins and outs of proper equine quarantine procedure is a must to protect other horses on your property or in your boarding facility.

In her book THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR HORSES IN NEED, large animal veterinarian Dr. Stacie Boswell provides the basics of what we need to know to quarantine properly.

Photo by Zahaoha from Pexels.

Quarantine Basics

Quarantining a rescue horse is important for reducing the chance of contagious diseases and parasites spreading.

Depending on the circumstances, you may not know much about your newly acquired horse. He may have an uncertain vaccine status. Travel exposes him to contagious diseases, especially if he commingled with others at a livestock auction or other holding area.

A new horse should be quarantined from your other horses for at least three weeks. Quarantine distance should be a mimimum 40 feet, which is based on a horse’s ability to sneeze or cough and spray droplets up to 15 feet, and accounts for additional wind dispersal. Another way respiratory diseases are spread is carriage by fomites—objects such as buckets, brushes, or clothing that have come into contact with infected horses.

Quarantine time period and distance recommendations are designed to prevent contagious respiratory diseases such as Equine Herpes Virus (rhinopneumonitis), influenza, and strangles (Streptococcus equi ssp. equi) from infecting the established herd. During the quarantine period, you should monitor the temperature of your new horse each day because a fever sometimes occurs before obvious disease. Spread of other contagious diseases that cause diarrhea (such as Salmonella spp.) are minimized by using proper quarantine procedures.

Finally, quarantine protects your established herd from both external and internal parasites such as lice or strongyles.

During quarantine, you should implement biosecurity measures, including a sanitizing foot bath and protective barrier gear, such as gloves, disposable barrier coveralls or gown, and a hat or mask, especially if there are any signs of illness. A horse can sneeze or breathe into the caretaker’s hair, and the virus particles can then be carried to other horses.

Another technique is to care for your established horses first, and then the new horse. Washing your hands between horses or groups is an easy and effective way to reduce the spread of infectious agents. You should attend to the healthy horses first, then any horses possibly exposed to illness or disease that are not yet showing signs. Take care of sick horses last.

A horse should be fully vaccinated and medically cleared before being moved from quarantine to general housing. A very thin or sick horse may remain in quarantine for a longer period of time. Quarantine should also account for a horse’s mental well-being. Maintain previously established groups, if possible. For instance, if a group of yearlings arrive together, they should continue to live together. Spend time haltering, brushing, petting, and bonding with your new arrivals. Quarantine pens are typically small, so if you have an untrained, untouchable horse, this is a great time to befriend him and begin the halter-training process. When you consistently provide food and water to a horse who has been neglected, this is the first step to showing him that you are trustworthy.

A horse who lives alone may feel stressed out. This is not ideal as stress weakens the immune system. When you adopt a single new horse into your group, he may need a companion during the quarantine time. A fully vaccinated, mature gelding with a steady personality can be used as a quarantine companion. Remember, the “companion” horse cannot be returned to the established herd until the quarantine period is over. A mare is not ideal as she could be impregnated by a newly rescued colt that has not been gelded. A goat can also be used as a companion, without the risk of contracting an equine respiratory disease.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR HORSES IN NEED by Dr. Stacie Boswell is available now from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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More Than a “Good Eye”

Understanding and implementing stride control (being able to adjust the number of strides before and between fences) improves a horse’s rideability and allows the rider to further improve the horse’s technique over an obstacle. Renowned coach Jen Marsden Hamilton has taught countless riders and horses around the world in the striding techniques that brought her success during her own impressive competitive career, and now she has compiled her knowledge in a concise book of exercises and insightful strategies: STRIDE CONTROL. Here’s the backstory of why striding rules the course.

In the 1970s, change came to the hunter-jumper world. Related measured distances became the norm. Show Hunter courses moved from big open courses on half-polo fields to a ring enclosed by a fence. Equitation and Jumper courses became more sophisticated and challenging due to professional course designing. These challenging courses required analysis and a course strategy. Walking the course became necessary. Wonderful riders such as Rodney Jenkins, Bernie Traurig, Katie Monahan Prudent, Conrad Homfeld, and Melanie Smith Taylor became our new heroes. They didn’t rely on just god-given talent. They were educated and talented. (And now we have superheroes Beezie Madden and McLain Ward!)

Since then, course design has become an art and probably one of the most important elements of a horse show. Measured distances allow and require a more knowledgeable and sophisticated ride than the old days of “hand riding and a good eye.” The rider has or should have the knowledge of the number and quality of the strides on the course (class strategy, based on the course walk or posted distances on the posted course plan), and then that knowledge has to be put into physical action.

Stride control is about the rider creating and controlling the horse’s stride and rhythm based on the knowledge the rider possesses of the course to be ridden (course analysis). Are the distances (measurements) between the jumps normal, long, or short, and how does this relate to the horse being ridden?

Striding (the counting of strides) changed the jumping world as we knew it. Everyone knew that you couldn’t teach an eye, and “feel” was never really discussed. But now a new tool for teaching was added to the equation. The measured distances based on a 12-foot stride provided predictability.

Riders and teachers knew how many strides were to be ridden between jumps. The guesswork was being taken out of riding a course, and it was being replaced with the training of both rider and horse. Dressage always had structure, but jumping was a bit of an organized free-for-all until this change. The “jumper cowboy” was about to be tamed!

Now there really could be a method to teach the rider “feel” on course and educate the rider’s eye…through counting strides.

What is stride control all about?

• It’s about creating enough canter to get to the jump, jump the jump, and leave the jump to jump the next. The main focus is longitudinal connection (leg to hand) and control while also maintaining correct suppleness laterally, giving more control longitudinally.

• It’s about strengthening the horse and doing gymnastic exercises to improve the horse’s shape and technique over the jumps.

• It’s about the flatwork between the jumps. The hardest part about jumping a course is getting to the jumps! That’s flatwork!

 

STRIDE CONTROL by Jen Marsden Hamilton is available from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

 

 

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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The Horse Can Detect the Weight of Three Grains of Sand–Here’s How That Matters to EVERYTHING

Proprioception. It’s a big word that’s bandied about a lot in equestrian circles. And though it sounds like a massive concept, really it just means your perception or awareness of the position of and movement of your body—and of course as riders and trainers we all know what a huge role that plays when working with horses, on the ground or in the saddle.

In HORSE BRAIN, HUMAN BRAIN, the book that is taking the equestrian world by storm with its game-changing explanations of the neuroscience of horsemanship, brain scientist and horsewoman Janet Jones explains in plain language how important our proprioception is to achieving effective and fair communication with our horses.

Read on:

Photo by Markus Spiske

Why do riders have to address small discrepancies in proprioception? If your brain thinks your left shoulder has moved back 1 inch, same as your right one, but in fact it’s moved back 2 inches, so what? The answer is that we need to match our horse’s proprioceptive sensitivity if we hope to achieve brain-to-brain communication. And horses are exquisitely sensitive animals when it comes to body awareness.

Flygirl is a Holsteiner built like a tank, black with a sprinkling of socks and some grey hair on her face. After a lifetime of Grand Prix jumping in the United States and Europe, she’s now a late-twenties school horse who teaches equitation to beginning and intermediate hunt seat riders. One afternoon long ago I was working on flying changes with her and noticed how sensitive she was to my aids. To request a lead change on a straight line, all I had to do was shift my head slightly to the side corresponding to the new lead. She changed instantly. The same was true over fences. To turn left in the air, I just barely looked left.

Photo by Matthias Zomer

Nearly every trainer will tell you that when riders look left, our hands, shoulders, hips, and legs unconsciously shift left. Horses could be picking up many bodily cues aside from head position—and indeed it’s unlikely they would notice a 10-degree turn of the head. They can’t even see us up there! So I experimented with Fly, holding every part of my body true north while shifting only my head slightly to the northwest. I tried this in all directions, at various locations, over fences and on the flat, at all gaits and unexpected moments over a month or so. She turned every time. She also matched the degree of her bodily turn to the degree of my head turn.

Even if she was picking up some form of unconscious directional change in my body, that level of sensory discrimination is sick—in the very best way.

Can a huge animal be sensitive? Well, the average horse weighs 50 million times more than the average fly, but immediately feels the pest settle on his body. A hypothetical human with that degree of sensitivity would feel the weight of five unseen dandelion seeds—something real humans can’t do. Trained horses can detect from two yards away a nod of the human head that measures only 8/1000 of an inch in displacement. That’s two-and-a-half times more susceptible to visual displacement than we are. Faced with the same nod, humans wouldn’t even know it had occurred.

If we were as sensitive as horses, we’d be able to detect the weight of five dandelion seeds.

One more statistic: at the withers, a horse can detect 3/10,000 of an ounce of pressure from one nylon filament—the weight of about three grains of sand. Poke the same filament into a human fingertip, and we have no idea it’s there.

With this level of sensitivity, horses notice the difference between 1 inch of shoulder movement and 2 inches. And they’re trying to figure out what it means. If we fail to train our brains proprioceptively, our horses suffer confusion in the face of mixed messages.

A secondary issue is at work here, too: Vision, while a tremendous boon for daily life, often interferes with proprioception. For example, asked to walk at a normal pace and stop with both feet toeing an imaginary line, most people will look at their feet to accomplish the task. Just for fun, hop up and try that, then practice a few times without looking. You might be surprised at how close you come to the line that your eyes can’t see. Our brains can direct our bodies without eyesight, if we let them. Vision cheats our proprioceptive system of the chance to do its work.

Walk and stop with your feet on an imaginary line, without looking. Your brain can do it if you let it. Photo by Amine M’Siouri.

So, equestrians hone proprioception not only because our mounts are super-sensitive, but also because we can’t watch our bodies or our horses while we ride. We have no choice but to ride by feel. Proprioceptive training teaches our brains to align our joints, maintain balance, isolate muscles for independent use, and regulate their flexibility and strength in ways that promote direct communication between horse and rider.

HORSE BRAIN, HUMAN BRAIN by Janet Jones is available from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont. 

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The 5 Best Horse-E-Books to Read This Summer

As we roll toward a summer that promises to be a bit less social than what we might be used to, having some good reading material lined up is going to be HUGE. If you love to ride or are just crazy about horses, we have 5 great equestrian eBooks to recommend.

 

1  IN THE MIDDLE ARE THE HORSEMEN by Tik Maynard

For: Any rider, horse person, or individual seeking a life’s purpose. Those interested in becoming a working student. Those who enjoy travel memoir.

What the critics say: “Funny, honest, and eloquent.” (UnTacked)

 

2  FOUR LEGS MOVE MY SOUL by Isabell Werth and Evi Simeoni

For: Dressage enthusiasts. Any competitive rider. Those who enjoy athletes’ biographies.

What the critics say: “A compelling read, with refreshingly honest commentary from Isabell.” (Horse & Hound)

 

3  BRAIN TRAINING FOR RIDERS by Andrea Monsarrat Waldo

For: Anyone struggling to surmount issues with fear, lack of confidence, insecurity, anxiety, or nerves when working with horses or competing. Those who like practical exercises for self-improvement.

What the critics say: “Life-changing, honestly.” ($900 Facebook Pony)

 

4  HORSES IN TRANSLATION by Sharon Wilsie

For: Every horse person looking to “get” what horses say to us and learn how best to respond in a language they can understand. Those who like to read true stories that impart important lessons.

What the critics say: “Wilsie is a gifted storyteller…I was enthralled.” (Horse Nation)

 

5  MANY BRAVE FOOLS by Susan E. Conley

For: Women, those who are horse-crazy (newbie or experienced). Those new to riding or horsekeeping. Those dealing with codependency, addiction, and recovery.

What the critics say: “Revealing tale of recovery…honest and humorous.” (Equine Journal)

 

So, How Can I Order?

TSB is SUPER excited to announce that you can now buy eBook editions of your favorite equestrian titles directly from our online bookstore! We have partnered with another independent company and an app called Glassboxx for a seamless eBook order, read, and storage experience. Check out the 100 titles we offer as eBooks (CLICK HERE for a complete list) or browse our store with over 400 books and videos about horses and equestrian sport from some of the top names in the world. (Note: Our New Releases are generally available in eBook format about three months after publication.)

Orders from today until June 14 get 20% off both digital and print orders by using the coupon code EBOOKS (enter the coupon code at checkout). We have FREE SHIPPING in the USA.

CLICK HERE to shop now.

Thank you for supporting small businesses!

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small company based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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Kids’ Crafts: Make Your Own Pony Pencil Holder

If you are looking for an easy craft to entertain your kids, here’s a fun, free idea! Plus, you probably have all the materials you need already at your fingertips (and if not, simple substitutes can be found around the house).

Don’t forget to remind your young crafters that their finished ponies can be customized with spots, brands, or braids in their manes and tails!

See below for a quick visual guide of materials and instructions, or CLICK HERE to download the Pony Pencil Holder page from our book HORSE FUN: FACTS AND ACTIVITIES FOR HORSE-CRAZY KIDS by Gudrun Braun and Anne Scheller, with art by Anike Hage.

HOW TO MAKE A PONY PENCIL HOLDER

HORSE FUN is available from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

HORSE FUN is full of real, fact-based knowledge about horses, as well as crafts and games!

Every order publisher-direct from TSB supports a
small, independently owned business!

 

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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We Love Horses! So Here’s a Valentine’s Day Sale That Spreads the Love

We love horses and we love what we do, so we want to share our horse books with all of you! In celebration of Valentine’s Day, you’ll get 20% off plus FREE SHIPPING when you order books or videos from our online bookstore http://www.horseandriderbooks.com.

Not sure this is the Valentine’s gift you want? Well, check out these staff recommendations:

WHAT’S NEW

MUSTANG: FROM WILD HORSE TO RIDING HORSE

Follow along as one trainer and a young Mustang mare discover partnership and trust while they prepare for the Mustang Makeover in Germany. For 90 days, biologist and horsewoman Vivian Gabor recorded her experiences with Mona, the wild horse that had crossed a continent and an ocean to find a new home. Through words and wonderful color photographs, Vivian shares the ups and downs as she progresses with Mona’s training, discovering new insights about horses and their true nature along the way. Informational sidebars on the science behind the process of horse training help explain Vivian’s reasoning for the methods she chooses to follow when working with a Mustang. Steps for patiently and naturally introducing groundwork, liberty work, and first rides are vividly illustrated. But it is the resulting friendship between woman and horse that most resonates, providing all readers an opportunity to imagine what it might be like to train a Mustang of their own. 

 

WHAT’S INSPIRING

RIDING FOR THE TEAM

From playing with plastic ponies and taking their first riding lessons, to finding success in the arena, thousands of horse lovers hope they can one day represent the United States in international competition. Riding for the Team chronicles the lives of those who dreamed about competing for their country and “made it,” sharing inspirational stories from the international governing organization’s eight equestrian disciplines: show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, vaulting, reining, endurance, and para-dressage. Readers are immersed in the fascinating histories of the medal-winning riders, drivers, and vaulters who have dominated American equestrian sport over the past 28 years, such as McLain Ward, Karen O’Connor, Debbie McDonald, and Tim McQuay. Get the inside scoop on legendary horses who have become household names, including Flexible, Biko, Verdades, and Gunners Special Nite. Offering exclusive insights, this book gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of top-level equestrian sport. Athletes tell their stories and those of their horses during the years they honed their talent and dedicated their lives to representing their country in the Olympics, World Equestrian Games, World Championships, and Pan American Games. Beautifully illustrated with breathtaking photographs from prestigious competitions held around the world, Riding for the Team not only provides a dazzling record of American equestrian accomplishment, it promises to inspire the next generation of champions.

 

WHAT’S FOR FUN

THELWELL’S PONY PANORAMA

Following the 1953 publication of British artist Norman Thelwell’s first pony cartoon, his name became synonymous worldwide with images of little girls and fat hairy ponies. In 2017 Thelwell’s Pony Cavalcade, featuring many of the earliest Thelwell cartoons, was re-released in North America, reviving the artist’s fervent fandom and initiating calls for more. Now, in this second hilarious collection, readers are treated to three additional Thelwell classics: Thelwell Goes West, and Penelope. Those new to Thelwell will fall in love with his uniquely irreverent-yet-informative view of the equestrian world, while long-time enthusiasts can indulge in a delightful dose of equine-friendly nostalgia. Sure to please anyone with a pony-littered past or a horse-crazy present.

 

CLICK HERE to shop our Valentine’s Day Sale!

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at TSB.

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont. 

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The Decade in Horse Books

Here we are on the cusp of not only a new year but a whole new decade. This gives us a chance to look back across the last 10 years and consider what we’ve done with our time…

Here at TSB, we’ve published a whole lotta horse books.

We are so lucky to be able to work with the committed and talented horse people who write our books! Thank you to each and every one of them for choosing to partner with us in the production of quality education for the equestrian community…and for the good of the horse.

And so, let’s consider the decade in horse books.

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We’ve had many highlights along the way:

2010: 50 5-MINUTE FIXES TO IMPROVE YOUR RIDING by Wendy Murdoch and HOW GOOD RIDERS GET GOOD by Denny Emerson

2011: JANE SAVOIE’S DRESSAGE 101 by Jane Savoie and BEYOND HORSE MASSAGE by Jim Masterson

2012: DRESSAGE FOR THE NOT-SO-PERFECT HORSE by Janet Foy and HOW TO SPEAK HORSE by Andrea and Markus Eschbach

2013: PRESSURE-PROOF YOUR RIDING by Daniel Stewart and 3-MINUTE HORSEMANSHIP by Vanessa Bee

2014: WHEN TWO SPINES ALIGN by Beth Baumert and THE ART OF LIBERTY FOR HORSES by Jonathan Field

2015: WORLD-CLASS GROOMING FOR HORSES by Cat Hill and Emma Ford and THE ESSENTIAL FERGUS THE HORSE by Jean Abernethy

2016: JOURNEY TO SOFTNESS by Mark Rashid and HORSE SPEAK by Sharon Wilsie and Gretchen Vogel

2017: TRAINING HORSES THE INGRID KLIMKE WAY by Ingrid Klimke and THE ESSENTIAL HOOF by Susan Kauffmann and Christina Cline

2018: IN THE MIDDLE ARE THE HORSEMEN by Tik Maynard and KNOW BETTER TO DO BETTER by Denny Emerson

2019: CORE CONDITIONING FOR HORSES by Simon Cocozza and RIDING FOR THE TEAM from the United States Equestrian Team and edited by Nancy Jaffer

And thank you to all our readers, who choose to support great authors, small companies, and are always striving to learn one more thing to be better riders, trainers, and caretakers of the horse.

Happy New Decade,

The TSB Staff

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman Now Streaming

Just in time for holiday-movie-watching with your family! TSB is excited to announce that 7 CLINICS WITH BUCK BRANNAMAN, the Telly-Award-Winning educational video series from filmmaker Cindy Meehl, director of the documentary BUCK, is now available to stream from HorseandRiderBooks.com.

“The biggest challenge in creating the documentary BUCK was taking over 300 hours of footage and cutting it down to 88 minutes,” says Cindy. “We still hear audiences saying they didn’t want the film to end — they want more Buck!”

The valuable but unused footage shot during the making of BUCK was carefully curated to create 7 CLINICS WITH BUCK BRANNAMAN  a series of seven videos featuring over 10 hours of instruction.

In videos 1 and 2, viewers travel to several Buck Brannaman clinics to learn important groundwork techniques, including: hooking on, leading, halter work, bridling, saddling, backing up, working in circles and half-circles, using the flag, and firming up.

In videos 3 and 4, viewers learn some of Buck’s most important lessons when working under saddle, including the all-important release, which teaches a soft feel and allows the horse to attain collection and willingly move off the leg. Additional instruction covers rider form and position, riding serpentines, “getting the life up” (finding animation), perfecting the stop, and backing up.

In videos 5, 6, and 7, Buck shares more lessons on horseback — such as turn-on-the-haunches, transitions, jumping, and finding the feel — as well as ways to solve problems, including crowding, biting, striking, fidgeting, rushing, anxiousness and sensitivity, and bad attitudes. The series ends with Buck’s best advice, tips, and ideas about working with, riding, and training horses — sage knowledge imparted with the dry wit that the world has come to expect of one of the finest horsemen of our time.

All 10 hours of programming are available to stream as individual programs or a complete series, only from HorseandRiderBooks.com.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

Happy Holidays!

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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5 Horse Books for the Holidays

If you’re searching for gifts for the horse lover in your life, consider this: Reading a book about horses is almost as good as the real thing.

Bibliotherapy is a type of therapy that uses literature to support good mental health. “A 2011 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology, based on analysis of fMRI brain scans of participants, showed that, when people read about an experience, they display stimulation within the same neurological regions as when they go through that experience themselves,” writes Ceridwen Dovey in the 2015 New Yorker article “Can Reading Make You Happier?”

In other words, maybe you can’t buy your horse-crazy friends or family members a pony, but you can give them the same elated feeling with a good book!

Here are our Top 5 Recommended Horse Books for this holiday season: 

1

RIDING FOR THE TEAM from the USET, edited by Nancy Jaffer

A dazzling, behind-the-scenes look at the incredible equestrian athletes and horses who compete and win for the USA, with 47 riders, drivers, and vaulters from all 8 FEI sports sharing their stories of how they “made it.” “Not only informative but extremely captivating…. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed,” says Jumper Nation in their review.

 

2

FERGUS AND THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Jean Abernethy

Could be THE best holiday horse book EVER! Fergus, the world’s most popular cartoon horse, shares an epic holiday adventure inspired by the classic tale ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Recommended for ages 5 to 95. “Jean Abernethy once again provides readers of all ages with another adorable account of the famous cartoon horse Fergus,” said Equine Journal in their review. “An adventure that will make any horse lover’s heart swell.”

 

3

IN THE MIDDLE ARE THE HORSEMEN by Tik Maynard

Adrift after college, Tik Maynard decided to become a working student, and here he shares how he evolved under the critical eyes of Olympians, medal winners, and world–renowned figures in the horse world, including Anne Kursinski, Johann Hinnemann, Ingrid Klimke, David and Karen O’Connor, Bruce Logan, and Ian Millar. Through it all he studied the horse, and human nature, and how the two can find balance. And in that journey, he may have found himself. “A must-read for every horse lover out there,” Horse Journals said in their review. “An inspiring story about horses, life, and everything in between.”

 

4

HOW GOOD RIDERS GET GOOD by Denny Emerson 

Discover the 9 key character traits of successful riders and how you can learn to call each one of them your own in this revised paperback edition of Denny Emerson’s bestseller. Plus, read the stories of 23 of the world’s top riders from different disciplines and sports and how they “got good” despite facing the same kinds of challenges and setbacks you face in your own day-to-day riding. “Anyone searching for a positive boost in a quest to better himself will find Emerson’s perspective, analysis, and advice valuable,” wrote The Chronicle of the Horse in their review. 

 

5

THELWELL’S PONY PANORAMA by Norman Thelwell

Following the 1953 publication of British artist Norman Thelwell’s first pony cartoon, his name became synonymous worldwide with images of little girls and fat hairy ponies. In 2017, THELWELL’S PONY CAVALCADE, featuring many of the earliest Thelwell cartoons, was re-released in North America, reviving the artist’s fervent fandom and initiating calls for more. Now, in this second hilarious collection, readers are treated to three additional Thelwell classics: Gymkhana, Thelwell Goes West, and Penelope. “Equestrians of all ages will delight in this classic collection of Norman Thelwell’s artwork,” said Northeast Equestrian Life in their review. “Pick up an extra copy (or two) as you will find yourself wanting to share the fun.” 

 

Order by today, December 11, 2019, and you will still get FREE SHIPPING with delivery in time for Christmas!

Want a horse book but don’t see one here that’s just right? BROWSE OUR STORE to find books and videos for every equestrian.

Thank you for supporting small business and independent publishing!

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.

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47 True Stories of Winning, Losing, and “Achieving the Dream” from 8 Equestrian Sports

“To win for the USA.” Many young athletes grow up with a goal of reaching the Olympics and the glories of their sport’s highest levels. It is no different for equestrians, whether they ride English, Western, vault, or drive a carriage. From playing with plastic ponies and taking their first riding lessons, to finding success in the arena, thousands of horse lovers hope they can one day represent the United States in international competition.

RIDING FOR THE TEAM, the new book from the United States Equestrian Team Foundation and edited by Nancy Jaffer, chronicles the lives of those who dreamed about competing for their country and “made it,” sharing inspirational stories from the FEI’s eight equestrian disciplines: show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, vaulting, reining, endurance, and para-dressage.

Readers are immersed in the fascinating histories of the medal-winning riders, drivers, and vaulters who have dominated American equestrian sport over the past 28 years, such as McLain Ward, Karen O’Connor, Debbie McDonald, and Tim McQuay. Get the inside scoop on legendary horses who have become household names, including Flexible, Biko, Verdades, and Gunners Special Nite.

Offering exclusive insights, this book gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of top-level equestrian sport. Athletes tell their stories and those of their horses during the years they honed their talent and dedicated their lives to representing their country in the Olympics, World Equestrian Games, World Championships, and Pan American Games. Beautifully illustrated with breathtaking photographs from prestigious competitions held around the world, RIDING FOR THE TEAM not only provides a dazzling record of American equestrian accomplishment, it promises to inspire the next generation of champions.

RIDING FOR THE TEAM is available from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information or to order.

 

Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and videos, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont. 

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