Equestrianism: Essential horse sense to help riders stay in saddle

All aspiring three-day-event riders will pounce on Pippa Funnell's Training the Young Event Horse (David and Charles, £19.99), in which the European champion generously lays bare the wonderfully effective schooling methods that have helped her to win four events this year alone.

She achieved her victories at Badminton, Saumur, Bramham and Pau with four different horses, showing that the formula is suitable for a variety of equine characters. Funnell employs patience, firmness and empathy, all qualities which shine through in Kate Green's lucid text, which is complemented by Kit Houghton's excellent photographs.

Funnell takes us through the various stages of the horse's education, from being handled as an unbroken youngster to competing in its first event. "The overall theme I have tried to impart is that producing a young horse is all about building up a bond of trust," Funnell tells us in the concluding chapter. The methods that she employs can be judged by their fruits.

Mary Wanless's Ride with Your Mind Essentials (Kenilworth Press, £16.95) comes with warnings to anyone embarking on the author's teaching: "The people where you keep your horse may think that you are crazy . . . you may appear to ride worse before you appear to ride better."

But her own belief in her methods will encourage some to take up the challenge. Kyra Kyrklund, the Finnish rider and trainer who won the World Cup for dressage in 1991, recommends them "to anyone who really wants to understand and ride with their mind".

Wanless has made it her "personal mission" to discover the secrets of skilful riding and pass them on in "bite-sized chunks". This is no quick fix. The author reckons it would take at least a couple of years to master such things as alignment, "plugging in", muscle tone, the "pinch" and shaping the horse. Among the common responses of those who succeed, Wanless quotes: "It's as if I used to ride under an anaesthetic. I'm amazed by what I didn't notice happening."

The 12th edition of The Manual of Horsemanship (The Pony Club, £13.95) provides riders of all ages with more straightforward information on every aspect of riding and horse management. But infuriatingly it includes an erratum slip concerning the points of the horse illustration, on which the word "thigh" has gone walkabout and come to rest incongruously on the horse's ribcage.

From the same stable is The Pony Club Quiz Book No. 2 (£7.95), compiled by Judith Draper. With 1,001 questions, this could provide material for several quiz evenings.

Anyone seeking simple definitions of dressage movements and terminology need look no further than Jane Kidd's booklet, Dressage Basics (British Dressage, £4). Subjects include "Common Terms on Judges' Sheets", which should help demystify some of the more obscure observations.