Pony Care: A complete guide to buying and caring for your first pony

Description

Pony Care is a practical guide about the ups and downs of choosing, buying and looking after your first pony. It offers advice to first time buyers and inexperienced pony parents, as well as riders taking equine exams in Pony Club or other organisations. This step by step guide offers advice to ensure that knowledgeable decisions are made about when and how to purchase a pony, followed by the information needed to care for it. The book will be illustrated throughout with photographs by Matt Roberts, as well as some specially commissioned line drawings. Chapters include: When is the right time to buy?/Where to keep the pony/Daily Routine/Pony Health. AUTHOR: Alison Bartle (Pocklington) started her career with horses at the Yorkshire Riding Centre in 1987. She trained for the British Horse Society (BHS) exams, gaining her BHS Instructor Stable Manager's Certificate. Alison then went on to groom internationally, preparing horses up to Olympic level. She has trained students for exams up to BHS Instructor level. Alison was awarded the Horse and Hound groom of the year award in 2000.

Alison Pocklington has ridden and owned ponies from the age of eight. Her career with horses began in 1987 at the Yorkshire Riding Centre, where she gained her BHS Instructor Stable Manager's Certificate. Alison went on to groom internationally and was awarded the Horse and Hound Groom of the Year award in 2000. Following on from this success, her first book The Essential Guide to Professional Horse Care and Grooming was published in 2004. Having successfully evented and ridden in point-to-points, Alison is now an instructor at the Yorkshire Riding School and trains a wide range of clients for eventing, show jumping, dressage and hunting. She is married to Olympic and international rider Christopher Bartle and has two children. Alison enjoys going hunting with her nine-year-old daughter and cares for her ponies when she is at school.

Very accurately aimed at the growing army of non-horsey parents who finally cave in to the 'please can I have a pony' pleas. This book is easy to read, its information clear and easy to understand and is illustrated with delightful colour photographs throughout. The chapters on when is the right time to buy and how to find the right pony are extremely useful, especially for parents who come from a non-horsey background. Often parents give into the pleas for a pony without knowing the reality of ownership, the sheer, constant hard work and seemingly bottomless financial demand. This book does not gloss over this and make pony ownership sound a completely wonderful experience, instead it gives a warts and all account of the joys and pitfalls of pony ownership. -- Louise Broderick * Horse and Pony Ireland * This book gives children new to ponies or people who perhaps are not so familiar with the equestrian world an insight into what it is really like to be involved with horses as a full-time commitment...This book is a must-have for all horse involved parents who are seeking advice; people who are considering it; people who are wondering what comes with owning a pony or children who are pony mad. -- Lolita * Teen Equine * The book is very cleverly laid out with the starting process of stepping into the equestrian world giving clear instructions and images. It is very honest and gives great sound advice in every aspect of what to look for when searching and buying a pony, to the realities and costs involved in the everyday care. Every page has wonderful informative images and checklists to know what to buy or giving helpful tips. If you are thinking of buying a pony or your first horse, then buy this first before the pony purchase. It will save time, mistakes and actually save you money in the long run. As every horse and pony owners know, any saved pennies are a bonus in the cost of their care. -- Samantha Hobden * Haynet * Pony Care by Alison Pocklington is a complete guide to buying and caring for your first pony... It's one of those must have books and will not only be a good read for parents... This is a book that you will keep returning to again and again until you become the pony expert! It's definitely a good read and one that will keep the interest of pony mad children desperate to own their own pony, as it shows them exactly what is involved... * Northern Horse Magazine * Soon became our riding "bible"... Pony Care is an excellent equine handbook and should be regarded as obligatory reading for anyone thinking of getting into horse riding and more importantly, horse ownership. One to be kept on the bedside table, in the stable or in the horse float. -- Gary Creighton * British Country Sports * You may well be saying to yourself 'not another first-pony book' but I can assure you that this one is better than most. It is long, comprehensive, with lots of sound advice and, although covering all the things parents want and/or need to know, it also has colour photos and other illustrations on just about every page, which will help retain the interest of children, too. -- Gill Cooper * Tracking-UP *