Horse Show Mom's Survival Guide: For Every Discipline

While this book is an excellent overview - it's a bit dated. Some of the defined jargon in the section related to jumping may no longer be in use. This may be the case as well in other sections. That said - she covers a lot of different types of riding/competition. So, if you're not interested in the specific details of the current day rulebooks - then it could be a nice introduction. Also, the illustrations are really fun and it's well written and easy to understand.

I taught riding lessons for several years, and was always appalled at the parents who would never learn anything about horses, horse behavior, horse shows, etc. They put their children on 1000+ lb beasts with minds of their own, and yet never educated themselves about that 1000+ lb beast. This book at least helps parents wade their way through the horse show business (a very BIG business), and does at least hint about the mild fraud that is at the heart of all horse shows (your kid's trainer is not well-known, or, worse, is not well-liked? then your kid won't get the top ribbons). Ultimately, when the kid wins ribbons, and the number of ribbons is divided by the amount of total dollar outlay by the parents, they learn that each ribbon could cost them as much as $500 at some of the bigger shows. In any event, this is a nice, cheery intro into this world, and I recommend it.

Ehh. I suppose I was expecting more. She gets into specific stuff about bigger shows, we just do a few small fair shows so that didn’t apply. Probably nothing that I will ever refer back to.

This was a gift for my new daughter-in-law who had no idea of the things that are needed at a horse show. I'm sure that she has really enjoyed knowing the do's and don'ts of the sport.

There was nothing new in this book. I was in a few casual schools shows as a kid and learned as much from thise experiences as I did from this book. If you’ve never been in any sort of horse show this will be useful.

This was actually a second copy of this book I bought. We started out horse-showing years ago. My mom recently started attending my daughter's shows and was asking a lot of questions, so I bought one for her. It is incredibly helpful for any horse show mom - or dad! Very easy to read and understand, and just a ton of information all in one place.

other riders & parents are the BEST resource for horse show experience, NOT a book

What a fantastic book! I had started a blog last winter to address some of the many many questions parents have as they enter the horse world with their children. If only I had this book then! It is so complete and well done. The author addresses every discipline you can think of and is thorough without being verbose and boring. She has a great sense of humor and a good feel for what we really want and need to know. My daughter is an eventer and she captured our sport extremely well. I especially enjoyed reading the section on the hunter/jumper sport because the shows and divisions are so complicated that the nuances have long eluded me. Well, no longer! Thank you Susan Daniels!

Boring and poor illustrations. Over complicated an already complicated subject