I’m not an advanced rider, by any stretch of the imagination. I consider myself an advanced beginner – training level.

I found about half of this book to be too basic for me.

It is well written, clear and concise. Good as a reference. Nicely put together book.

It would be a great gift for someone recently starting into dressage.

I love that this book is written in such a way that the absolute first time dressage rider and the experienced upper level show rider can both sit down with it and find something of real value.

The illustrations are well drawn and easy to use.

The photography is excellent & the horses are shown in correct form and carriage.

The language used is not full of random terminology that assumes you have been riding with a coach for two years and “should already know this stuff” – the assumption is that you have spent a substantial sum of money on this book because you intend for the book to teach you these things. AND IT DOES!

I am immensely pleased to have this one in my library. My husband, who normally finds dressage tomes to be his version of sleeping pills, is enjoying it too. We both especially like the fact that the author has covered very clearly and with great detail, including photos, specific tack choices and the clothing for the show ring at various levels as well. Again these are things that people just assume you already know or have a full time coach who handles all these little details and that’s not the case for most of us out here in the real world! If you’re on a budget and learning as you go or live in a rural setting where you’re the only dressage folks in a 60 mile radius, this book will make life considerably easier!

this is a great book, covers about everything for the person new to dressage and/or a little rusty on the basics.

I found this book to be a well-illustrated and easy-to-read guide. My one comment, or warning to those considering this book, is that as an official guide of the major national dressage organization, it is clearly geared toward those riders whose primary interest is in eventually competing. For the “recreational” dressage rider, much of the nitty-gritty of this book will be of little interest, and the real meat of training and riding techniques may seem too superficially covered. Overall though, great book for what it is and was written for!

This book should be on the shelf of EVERY dressage rider. Particularly useful to the newcomer, it is also a way the experienced rider can stay on the same page as all their collegues.