One of my presents for Christmas was Mary King's new book,
'My Way'. It was a book I had seen
advertised on her Facebook page and was keen to add to my collection! I haven't finished reading it from cover to
cover because some of it is more 'dip' into but I wanted to review it for
you.
When I reviewed Mark
Todd's book back in October I mentioned that I would like to read about the
day to day things - and this is exactly what Mary does. The first part of her book is about
Management and she talks about how her yard works and what they do on a daily
basis from their daily routine to clipping tips and what kit she uses.
I always love reading about how other people organise their
yards and their routines so I found this section fascinating!
The rest of the book is then divided into the 3 phases of
Eventing; Dressage, Showjumping and Cross-country. Each section includes the aim of the phase,
the rider, how to prepare at home and more.
In the Dressage
section she gives some great advice about training a youngster but also about
improving your riding. After talking
about the basic skills of dressage eg: transitions she has included pages about
leg-yield, shoulder in, rein back and more.
On each of these pages she has details, with pictures, of what the rider
should be doing, what the horse should be doing and common mistakes. This section I think is good for dipping into
when I am ready to try the movements with Basil!
The Showjumping
section has lots of pages of exercises to try at home in preparation for a
show. I think they look really good fun
to do at home even if you aren't going to a show. I am hoping to try some of them this year
with Basil. Mary goes on to talk about
how to warm up and walk the course with some hints about striding on doubles
amongst others!
The Cross-country
section also has tips on speed and the warm up.
It then goes on to some really good advice (obviously) about tackling
ditches, banks and drops, water, corners etc.
This includes how you should ride but also how to build your horse's
confidence. Finishing with some more
great exercises to try at home (with showjumps) and how to look after your
horse after a cross-country round, I loved reading this section.
Throughout the book there are some great photos and I love
the layout of it with little boxes on the side with hints, tips and details
about 'My Way'. Yet again I am singing the
praises of a book. In reality I guess you
can't learn all of this just from a book. I still think it is really useful to use
alongside lessons or training sessions and I think that her advice is really
useful and usable!
Have you seen my 'January Fun' video, watching the horses being silly in the field?
Look out for Day 2 of my 'One Weekend in January' vlog tomorrow. Horse Life and Love
Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook for updates on Chesney, Basil, Fidget and Daisy.
Until next time!
Jo
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