Watching a great trainer explain something is useful.Watching the video, opening a workbook, figuring out where you are in the equation, and then taking an exercise to the barn? That is where things get very interesting.Many NF+ Masterclasses include detailed workbooks designed to be used alongside the video lessons. And we are not talking about three pages of write your thoughts here.Some of these are full training programs.There are readiness assessments, self-scoring exercises, ride plans, goal-setting worksheets, training journals, mental-performance exercises, troubleshooting guides and arena exercises you can print out and take straight to the barn.Basically, there may be a small stack of very good riding homework hiding inside your NF+ membership.Here are 10 we think are worth opening.1. Karl Cook: Strategic RidingUse this when: You have a goal, but you are not completely sure what needs to happen between here and there.Karl Cooks Strategic Riding workbook starts by asking you to examine the things you do with your horse because someone once told you that was how things were done. You identify traditions in your training, management, grooming or mental game where you may know the what without really understanding the why. Then you go find the answer and decide if that habit still belongs in your program.Then comes one of our favorite exercises: the prerequisite pyramid.You put your goal at the top and work backwards through everything you and your horse need to be able to do first. The workbook then asks you to identify the missing skills at the base of the pyramid, because that is where your training needs to start.Want to move up a level? Jump a bigger track? Improve your horses adjustability? Before you start attacking the end goal, Karl makes you figure out what it is sitting on top of.Slightly less glamorous than announcing your big goal.Potentially much more useful.2. Steffen Peters: Building Better Flying ChangesUse this when: You are working on flying changes, or you enjoy finding out that the thing you thought was a flying-change problem is really a canter problem.The workbook accompanying Steffen Peters Building Better Flying Changes Masterclass is essentially a diagnostic system for the flying change.Instead of giving you one exercise and sending you off to swap leads until everybody is annoyed, it starts with the quality of the canter. Steffens framework asks riders to look at self-carriage, balance, collection, straightness and lightness before worrying about the change itself.There is even a readiness audit covering walk-canter, canter-walk, forward-and-back work, response to the outside leg, travers, walk pirouettes, baby half-pass, straightening aids, self-carriage and the horses mental state. The point is to identify the piece that needs more work before repeatedly asking for the end result.That makes this workbook useful even before you have a horse doing flying changes.It teaches you how a top dressage rider works backwards from an advanced skill and asks, Does the foundation underneath this support what I am asking for?Very inconvenient when you wanted the answer to be buy a better flying-change button.3. Anne Kursinski: How to Bring Out the Best in Your HorseUse this when: You want to develop more feel instead of collecting more instructions.Anne Kursinskis workbook is one we would spend real time with because the course moves from understanding how horses think into partnership, connection, transitions, feel, jumping and putting all of those pieces together.This one is meant to be worked through over several weeks, with the workbook acting as a study guide while you take the exercises into your regular riding routine.One of the exercises asks riders to dedicate rides specifically to transitions and lateral work rather than treating flatwork as the bit you do before the fun stuff. The bigger goal is learning to notice the horses response to your aids and developing the elusive thing horse people call feel.That is hard to teach from a checklist.But you can train yourself to pay closer attention.Annes workbook gives you somewhere to start.4. Missy Clark: Recognizing and Riding the Distance to Every JumpUse this when: You would like to stop approaching every jump thinking, Please be there, please be there, please be there.Missy Clarks distance Masterclass is already extremely practical. The workbook makes it even more so.The program breaks seeing and riding distances into trainable skills: developing your eye, rider position, creating an adjustable canter, reactions and timing, line and track, and riding the short distance. Rather than treating a good eye like magical genetic material bestowed upon a lucky few, the course is designed around deliberate practice over several weeks.The workbook also gets you to assess where the problem is.Is it visually judging the distance? Your position? Adjustability? Timing? Track? The short distance?That distinction is pretty important.Because Im bad at distances gives you approximately zero useful information about what to practice tomorrow.Missys workbook turns one giant frustrating problem into skills you can work on one at a time.5. Ian and Amy Millar: The Millar Method Training SystemUse this when: Your rides could use a little more system and a little less lets see what happens today.The Millar Method resources are some of the newest additions to the NF+ toolbox, and they are designed to help you apply Ian and Amy Millars training system to your own horse.The system moves in stages, beginning with assessment and then working through flatwork, gridwork and coursework. The goal is a horse who can carry themselves, respond to the rider and maintain those qualities from schooling at home into competition.There is a companion exercise workbook too, which is where this gets especially fun.Exercises include cavaletti work that asks you to change the number of strides while preserving the horses rhythm and balance, grid exercises for rideability, and coursework used as a test of the training you have already done. The overall philosophy is wonderfully useful: each stage gives you information about what needs attention next.So instead of finishing a course and thinking, Well, that was kind of a mess, you learn to identify why.Lost balance through the turns? Back to the relevant flatwork.Horse got quick? Look at the canter.Straightness disappeared? There is information there.Your course becomes feedback rather than a personality test.Much healthier.6. Tik Maynard: Training the Anxious or Spooky HorseUse this when: Your horse has opinions about tarps, corners, shadows, cows, banners, flowers, leaves, invisible ghosts or life generally.Tik MaynardsTraining the Anxious or Spooky Horse workbook is particularly good because it forces you to get more specific about the behavior you are seeing.The workbook walks through identifying spookiness and anxiety, reading the horse, stress, relationship, groundwork, attention, pressure and release, managing spookiness and setting realistic goals. One exercise asks you to choose something that worries your horse, write down exactly what happens, then work through a problem-solving process: identify the issue, understand why it may be happening, examine the communication and decide how you can approach it.There is also an exercise around anthropomorphism, which challenges riders to replace stories about what a horse supposedly thinks with descriptions of the behavior they can actually observe.My horse is being dramatic becomes something useful like, My horse raises his head, speeds up and loses focus when we ride past that corner.Now you have something you can work with.Tiks broader approach combines groundwork, ridden training and equine behavior, which makes this workbook useful well beyond the particularly spooky horse.7. Mette Larsen: Dressage for All DisciplinesUse this when: You are not a dressage rider and have therefore decided dressage fundamentals could not possibly apply to you.We have some news.Mette Larsens Dressage for All Disciplines workbook is written for jumpers, hunters, eventers, equitation riders and dressage riders. The course uses dressage fundamentals to improve elasticity, balance, coordination, effectiveness of the aids and the horses ability to do whatever your particular sport asks of them.One of the early workbook exercises asks you to assess your horses strengths, identify the areas you would like to improve and then consider which of those areas could be influenced through dressage work. Another turns the focus onto communication, asking where the horse and rider are misunderstanding one another.That makes this a great workbook for the rider who says, I know our flatwork needs work, but has no idea where to begin.You do not have to develop a sudden passion for 20-meter circles.Although we cannot rule it out.8. Dr. Jenny Susser: Performing Under PressureUse this when: You ride beautifully at home and then your brain arrives at the horse show with its own agenda.Dr. Jenny Sussers Performing Under Pressure workbook treats mental performance like something you can train rather than something you either have or do not have.The course starts by helping riders understand their individual response to pressure. It then moves into tools for managing that response and performing more effectively when the stakes feel higher.The workbook is about creating true change. You identify internal and external sources of pressure, examine how they show up physically, choose coping tools, create process and outcome goals and practice mental rehearsal.There is also an exercise around recreating pieces of a high-pressure environment at home so the first time you encounter them is not when somebody rings a bell and starts judging you.Which feels obvious once someone says it.And yet.This is the kind of workbook worth doing before show season, not while sitting in the truck after a round wondering why you temporarily forgot everything you know.9. Tonya Johnston: How to Be a Consistent RiderUse this when: Tuesday-you and Saturday-you appear to be two completely unrelated equestrians.Tonya Johnstons How to Be a Consistent Rider workbook tackles one of ridings most annoying mysteries: why you can have an excellent ride one day and feel like you have misplaced all your skills the next.The course works through identifying your strengths, focusing on factors within your control, setting performance goals, breathing, visualization, personalized pre-ride routines, recovering after difficult rides and resetting between rides.One of the best sections helps you create your own pre-ride routine.Not a rigid lucky-socks situation.A repeatable group of physical and mental habits that help you arrive at the mounting block prepared to ride. That might include breathing, visualization, movement, nutrition, course preparation, music, grooming or another routine that helps you get into the state you want before getting on.The broader point of the workbook is that consistency starts before your foot goes in the stirrup.Which is mildly annoying information for those of us hoping our horse could take full responsibility.10. Boyd Martin: Building Bravery Through PreparationUse this when: You want to feel braver, but just be confident has proven to be spectacularly unhelpful advice.Boyd Martins Building Bravery Through Preparation workbook starts with a very useful premise: bravery comes from trusting your preparation.The course is designed as part of a progressive series, with each section adding skills to the riders toolkit instead of treating bravery as something you summon at the exact moment things get scary. The workbook asks you to examine your current routines and prepare for challenging situations at home. Boyds warm-up work, for example, uses familiar exercises, stride adjustment, flatwork and repetition so that the environment may change later, but the rider and horse already understand the job.That changes the conversation from How can I make myself feel brave? to What can I practice now so this feels more familiar later?Much better question.The secret is not downloading the workbook. It is using it.We know how this goes.You download a beautiful workbook.You think, I should print that.It enters the mysterious digital afterlife known as your Downloads folder.Fin.So pick one.Not ten. One.Choose the Masterclass that lines up with the horse or riding question you are working through right now. Watch the lesson, open the workbook and do the exercise. Take the relevant page to the barn. Come back afterwards and write down what happened.Many of these workbooks were specifically created to be used over several weeks rather than consumed in one sitting. Missys course, for example, recommends systematic work and repetition, while Annes workbook encourages riders to integrate the exercises into their regular riding over four to eight weeks.That is where these resources become much more than course notes.They give you a way to turn an idea from an Olympic rider, top trainer or sports psychologist into something you can test, practice, revisit and use with your own horse.And yes, there are more.These ten are only a starting point.There are also workbooks for Archie Coxs How to Win, Tik Maynards Training the Young Horse, Dr. Jenny Sussers Gaining Control of Fear and Anxiety and more across the NF+ Masterclass library. Archies workbook alone moves through flat performance, jumping, ring confidence, rider body type, strategy and mindset, while Tiks young-horse workbook includes exercises around prerequisites, voice cues, groundwork, transitions, lateral work and introducing jumping.So the next time you open NF+, do not only hit play.Check the resources attached to the course too.There may be an entire training plan sitting underneath the video you were about to watch.And with NF+ Member for Life, those are resources you can keep returning to as your horse, riding and goals evolve. The workbook you need right now might be about distances. The one you need a year from now might be about flying changes, confidence, young horses or riding under pressure.One payment. No renewals. A lot of very good horse homework.