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Training to Win by Caroline Moore

Martha Terry Martha Terry

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    • Training to Win

    Score

    10/10

    Price as reviewed:

    £25.00

    Title: Training to Win: the Complete Training System for the Modern-Day Event Rider
    Author: Caroline Moore
    Foreword: Ros Canter
    Published: 14 July 2023

    Available as paperback
    View now at amazon.co.uk

    About Training to Win by Caroline Moore

    A comprehensive guide for the modern-day event rider to support every stage of the training process, from the early years, up to the first four-star.

    The introduction gives a thorough vision on the crucial ingredients of what makes a champion at any level, whether it is the Badminton Grassroots, the Youth Europeans, or the World Equestrian Games. This proven and successful training system is broken down into three equally applicable sections: Training to Learn; Training to Compete; and Training to Win.

    The reader will be taken through the four to five years that essentially it will take to produce the horse and rider partnership to a high level of performance. Every physical and mental skill required will be demonstrated by an exercise, which can be easily followed with tips on equipment required, setting up the exercise and relevance to competition.

    This informative book will be a great support to the event rider, focusing on the three periods of the eventing year: the winter training period, the spring fitness period and the lead up to a championship or long format. There will be coverage on season planning, course design, performance profiling, goal setting and, most importantly, advice on how a rider can manage nerves in a competition environment. The book is packed with performance-enhancing ideas and for any rider wanting to improve their training system this is an essential guide to developing the confidence to succeed.

    Review

    This is a fantastically comprehensive manual for how to become a winning event rider. It’s a very practical guide, with around 150 pages of exercises, complete not just with helpful diagrams on layouts, but also how to warm up specifically for each exercise, and its relevance to competition. The book is certainly worthwhile for the exercises alone. Caroline breaks down the skills you need to have at every level, and provides exercises that will improve your and your horse’s ability in each of the eventing phases through those levels.

    Before the exercises begin, Caroline explains the four ingredients crucial to any champion, namely: the correct training system, a podium mentality, a positive mindset and confidence. She then goes into detail on what each one means, and breaks down the training system into the goals of learning, competing and winning. The book is centred around this system, and the exercises are tailored to each of these three stages.

    What I loved about the book was its thoroughness, both in content and plan. It covers everything from mindset to equipment; from annual training plans to what to eat the night before an event; from practising how to trot-up to the skill of riding the last minute on a cross-country course. There’s a useful chapter on dealing with nerves, which will be useful for riders from grassroots to Badminton. There is not one facet of eventing for which Caroline does not give you a masterplan.

    I also enjoyed how precise Caroline’s advice is – mirroring how she wants our transitions to be. (Every halt transition you ever make, including stopping to tighten girth or when you reach the gate at home, needs to be square and correct). You have to subscribe to her methods – pressure and release/reward is the foundation of her training – but I feel that if you follow her advice to the letter, you couldn’t fail to succeed.

    The content is rich and didactic; it’s not full of anecdotes, but it is easy to read and follow due to many large colour photos, as well as bullet points and boxes pulling out acronyms and salient points to remember.

    This is a guide for the serious event rider. You don’t have to have aspirations to make it to four-star and beyond (although it covers everything you need up to advanced-level eventing), however it’s targeted at ambitious riders, whether you’re aiming for grassroots or riding championships or much higher. It’s for perfectionists who want to do a great job, be it your hobby or profession.

    Personally, I found the chapter on “making a champion” fascinating even though I will never be a champion. The section on training in the pressure zone was so informative – really enlightening on how Caroline trains riders to perform under pressure at home, when not under competition circumstances. 

    Badminton winner and 2018 world champion Ros Canter writes the foreword, saying: “Caroline writes in the same clear and concise way that she trains. There is no stone left unturned in her training, and she explains this methodical approach to working with both riders and horses to create successful partnerships.” So, if you want to know how Ros became world champion and a Badminton winner, this is how.

    I feel if you read through this book, and methodically went through all the exercises you would be ready to succeed at whatever level is appropriate for you and your horse. It could take you several years however to do it properly – there is so much to get through! A really meaty book for all levels of competitor.

    Verdict

    Not bedtime reading, but one to keep in your tack room and incorporate the instructions wholeheartedly into your daily routine. It would be fascinating to see how far you could go if you followed Caroline’s instructions to the letter for a whole season!

    View now at amazon.co.uk

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on dogs of all shapes and sizes. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs, one a street dog from Gambia who was abandoned at three weeks old. Now, her constant companion, whether by her feet at her desk or walking cross-country courses, is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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