Equicize: Progressive, Mounted Exercises That Improve Cardiovascular and Muscular Fitness for Everyday Riders of All Levels

Achievable, riding-specific fitness for equestrians looking to up their game, get back in the game, or stay in the game.

In this accessible, highly illustrated guide, former Dartmouth Equestrian Team Coach Sally Batton shares her secret to 30 years of winning riders and championship teams: a unique series of progressive, mounted exercises that improves cardiovascular and muscular fitness for riders of all abilities and levels. Batton's proven program, which she calls Equicize, can be used as part of a horseback rider's daily warm-up by targeting specific muscle groups, or it can be a more intense workout in the saddle once or twice a week, making up the bulk of a mounted training session. Easy to learn and flexible by design, riders can pick and choose the Equicize exercises that best address their personal "problem areas," or they can dedicate a specific number of rides per week to performing an entire sequence. As Batton explains, there are literally hundreds of ways to adjust, modify, and adapt this fun fitness program to suit specific circumstances.

No matter what level of fitness a rider starts at, when the Equicize system is practiced regularly, everyone will see improvement in balance, strength, coordination, and flexibility. And Batton has made it easy to incorporate her training into the modern rider's full and complex life, with exercises designed to fit seamlessly into time that has already been set aside for grooming, tacking up, and riding. With sensible, achievable goals, easy-to-implement steps, progressive how-to photographs, and dozens of QR codes to scan and view engaging instructional videos to help readers perform the exercises for the best result, this book is both a superb launch point for ambitious riders looking to grow their abilities and a stable lynchpin for those aiming to stay in the game, and in the saddle, as long as possible.

Sally Batton holds an Equestrian Studies degree from Lake Erie College in Ohio, and a master's degree in Communications from Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey. She was the head coach of the Dartmouth College Division I Varsity Equestrian Team for 30 years, coaching dozens of riders to regional, zone, and national titles. In 2020, Coach Batton was inducted into the inaugural class of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Hall of Fame. She currently travels all over the United States, teaching clinics to riders of all ages and levels. Batton is the author, with co-writer Christina Keim, of The Athletic Equestrian, also published by Trafalgar Square Books. An avid polocrosse enthusiast, Batton is a certified APA Polocrosse Coach and the author of Polocrosse: Australian Made, Internationally Played (Belcris, 1990). Batton is the Founder and President of the Athletic Equestrian League, an organization offering horsemanship education and competition opportunities to both English and Western riders, from first grade through adult. She is also the host of the popular Athletic Equestrian Riding in College Podcast. An avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, when not on the road teaching, Batton can be found hiking the hills of New Hampshire, kayaking in the summers, and skiing and snowshoeing in the winter (athleticequestrian.com).

Christina Keim, M Ed, MFA, is an award-winning narrative journalist with over 1,000 published articles to her credit. Her work has appeared in The Chronicle of the Horse, UnTacked, Equine Journal, Practical Horseman, The Eastern Equerry, Northeast Equestrian Life, Green Mountain Horse Association Magazine, Woodstock Magazine, and The Plaid Horse, among others. With Sally Batton, she is the co-writer of The Athletic Equestrian, also published by Trafalgar Square Books. For nearly two decades a top intercollegiate hunter seat coach, Keim now teaches compassionate horsemanship and offers equine-assisted coaching out of her Cold Moon Farm in Rochester, New Hampshire (christinakeim.com).