Trafalgar Square Books

An insider’s guide for the amateur equestrian.

Andrea Sinner embarked on her equestrian journey at age 30 while navigating an all-consuming global consulting career. A neophyte with little to guide her but passion, she found the horse world's customs and complexities challenging. After 25 years of hard-earned lessons and continuous growth, Sinner now shares the wisdom she fought to gain along the way, with a book for adults who are newcomers to the equestrian lifestyle as she once was.

Whether riders themselves or the parents of horse-crazy children, the equestrian realm can be daunting and often perplexing to those beginning their journey with horses. Luckily, Sinner’s book serves as a comprehensive insider's guide, offering a sensible pathway to enjoying the company of horses while always advocating for their welfare. Sinner’s advice is clear and on point, helping readers confidently find their place among both the professionals and the lifelong enthusiasts in this unique world.

Rather than focusing on horse care or riding—topics she acknowledges are well covered in existing published works—Sinner aims to help readers integrate smoothly into the equestrian community on their own terms. She deftly demystifies the often bewildering culture, traditions, conventions, and unwritten rules, and offers “watch-outs” to help shield the novice from the less savory characters and practices that unfortunately can be encountered in the industry. You’ll find advice on:

• Appreciating the unique language, relationships, and responsibilities
• Defining your values, boundaries, and objectives
• Understanding the financial costs, including (most importantly) exceptional horse care
• Finding the right barn, trainer, and horse
• Building a quality horse care team
• Being a good client and member of the barn
• Preparing for the psychological elements of the sport
• And much more

Throughout, Sinner delves into what it means to intend to “do right” by horses and guides readers on extending their involvement in the sport only as far as that intention can be realized. Learn how to form deep connections and elevate your time spent with horses and horse people from a hobby to a transformative journey. Whether taking up riding for the first time (ever, or in many years) or guiding a horse-crazy child through the maze of learning to ride, Sinner’s thorough and thoughtful book promises positive experiences and happy moments in the barn, at the ring, and in the company of your horse.

A book that entertains and teaches by turns, as a renowned horsewoman entwines stories from her remarkable life with horses with the classical lessons she learned along the way.

From bareback romps on a Shetland Pony that bit her and dumped her in a water trough, to the top show jumpers she schooled and competed, and the winning “diamonds in the rough” she plucked out of obscurity and trained, the trajectory of horsewoman Julie Ulrich’s life has followed a star-lit path of horses and stables and riding arenas across the globe. Say a name of a classical master or a leading rider of the past century, and the likelihood is high that she has brushed shoulders with, learned from, taught, or trained a horse for that equestrian.

And so, it makes good sense that Ulrich should not only wish to share some of her adventures—her wins and losses, successes and hardships—but that she would assemble them in a unique manner that best showcases the two sides of who she really is: an incredibly hard worker with a sharp sense of humor; an eager adventurer who also loves teaching, and above all, believes in the value of a life lived for horses. 

This "two-sided approach" means that, as readers laugh at her witty asides, they’ll also glean an authentic understanding of the horsemanship ideals that weave together equestrian sport’s past with its present. They’ll learn the names of movers and shakers and players and playmakers within the industry, and they’ll come to value the relationships that are at the heart of anyone’s success in the horse world.

Between chapters, Ulrich summons the extraordinary teaching talent for which she might be best known and provides practical guidance and instruction on numerous topics, including:

• Rider balance and position.
• Training methodology.
• Half-halts and improving the use of horse’s hind legs.
• Shoulder-in.
• Communication between rider and horse.
• And more.

Using the multiple moves she terms “new beginnings” as her guideposts, Ulrich ensures readers understand that starting over and starting again and starting something new aren’t precipices to avoid but opportunities to grow and change, and with horses, they are usually unavoidable. So you might as well ride forward with gusto.

Rich with horse world history and chock full of invaluable wisdom gained over a lifetime of serious study and application, Ulrich’s “memoir plus” is for every person who sat on a horse and thought, “I want to do this for the rest of my life.”

A hypnotic narrative that twists through both light and dark as journaling therapy unlocks the troubled memories of a lonely veteran.

Haunted by the death of his son in infancy and the love of his life many years later, Jake Montgomery grudgingly agrees to a form of “journal therapy” that allows him to expose and confront the sharp, insistent pain that he regularly buries with rage and scotch and television. As he writes, secrets tightly bound within him gradually unwind—first in racially segregated Ocala, Florida, in the 1950s, where his best childhood friend was a Puerto Rican jockey, then in Ireland, when a summer as a stable apprentice ushers in a new and all-consuming passion. 

Jake relives his experiments with free love in the 1960s, and is embroiled once more in choices of life and death on the battlefields of Vietnam, and later, as undercover intelligence officer in the countries of Eastern Europe. What begins as a journey chronicling youthful discovery spirals swiftly into spaces where loss overwhelms and the path chosen is one of ruthlessness and revenge. It is the birth, life, and death of a special horse that gives Jake a sense of purpose in his desperate search for a reason to carry on.

A delightfully entertaining journey following the lifelong development of a devoted horseman, and the opportunities and challenges native to such a pursuit in different parts of the world.

It was at the age of thirteen that Gunnar Ostergaard wrote in his journal, "Is there anything more beautiful than horses?" The rhetorical question would come to guide his every step as he sought a way to build a life around that which he loved most. What transpired was a journey through three lands and cultures, each providing a different window into the body and mind of the horse and the heart and soul of the horseman. In these pages he traces his path from Denmark to Germany to the United States, providing a glimpse into the world of rider development in three vastly different places, as well as a rare peek behind the curtain of top international dressage training and competition. Throughout, Gunnar is funny and frank, generously sharing both his struggles and successes. The result is a highly entertaining history lesson that is at the same time rich in equestrian philosophy readers can immediately apply to their own riding lives.