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With its conversational style, Essential Riding is easy to read although it lacks the attractive inside design usually seen in books intended for novice riders. What makes it particularly useful for beginners is that Price works from the premise that the rider is on a typical lesson horse whose favourite pace is halt and who doesn't necessarily pay much attention to canter aids.

As an instructor who teaches adult beginners on lesson horses, I found his observations accurate although I disagree with a couple of his instructions. (He advises students to take the horse's head to the outside when asking for the canter, and also talks about using an active outside leg for a turn.) However, since the book is intended as back-up for live lessons, readers will be following their own instructor's advice anyway.

Overall, this is a very useful book for beginning riders to read in conjunction with lessons. It supports what their instructor will be telling them and confirms that their experiences and frustrations are part of the process that every aspiring rider must go through.