This is the book your horse wants you to read. It reveals simple yet effective methods for natural horse care that are quickly becoming known as best practices in the 21st century to promote consistently healthy horses, content in their environment. This guide to better understanding horses, horse care and horse training, explores the history and paradigms humans developed over the centuries for keeping and working with horses, and defines the best ways in moving forward, to appropriately match our care and training with the horse's true nature.
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By Anne Louise MacDonald
Mar 21, 2012
If you want to understand your horse, learn to be partners, or simply learn how to 'fix' problems, this is the only book you will ever need to read! Seriously. It's well written in a clean edited style. It builds information from the front to the back, carefully designed to give you a deep understanding off what lies under all horse/human interactions. By the last page if you haven't had a dozen (or more) "AHA" moments, you must have fallen asleep! This book will explain all those problems you've ever had with a horse; all those questions that got you so many different answers. Once you understand and find your hidden horse, problems become a thing of the past. This is no sappy, emotional, or overly scientific, hard-core training book either. Just clear simple truth and logic. Hallelujah, someone as finally written it all down for the rest of us!!!
I class this book as one of my all time favourites - it is a great read but more importantly, it defines how horsemanship has developed over the centuries to reach the point we're at today, then gives a road map for the future. "We need to understand how our ideas and the reality of the horse are moving apart, and the best place to start this is with an understanding of the evolution of the relationship between our two species" says Mark who presents four models of horsemanship to achieve this. I found by understanding the four models of horsemanship I then understood how horsemanship (and the way I relate to my horses) has changed and grown. This validates our progress without making us feel wrong, and shows the next step forward. The four models Mark so beautifully defines (I believe he is the first to describe it this way) are: The Utility Model The Anthropomorphic Model The Natural Horsemanship Model The Natural Horse Keeping Model These are supplemented by detailed... More > chapters on The Environment, What is a Track System, Control and Communication, Positive Reinforcement Training and Relationships then Great Questions, Great Answers. "For more than a thousand years humans have taken the things they wanted from the horse. The 21st century is our chance to give something back." Most of us are on the way to making that change by choosing to look at more modern ways of communicating with and training our horses. "Natural Horsemanship is a huge step in the right direction and in many ways it is the forerunner of what is to come. I think of these systems as a progressive stop on the journey to understand horses rather than a destination in themselves." Some of us are ready to move on and embrace the 21st Century model of Natural Horse Keeping. "It's not about wild horse keeping, it's about natural horse keeping." I love this book not only for the quality content but how it is written, how each concept is built upon from the previous one, and how Mark shows us the way forward to develop even better relationships with our horses, not only through the way we train them, but through the way we keep them.< Less
This book is for all horsey people who want to have their eyes opened to the reality of horses. Mark Hanson writes in a very easy style that is well set out and satisfying to digest. Learn about why we do the things we do to horses and what effect that has on them. You may be surprised, you may be horrified! As humans, as predatory animals we have very different goals in life compared to the horse, a prey animal. We might like to wear clothes and shoes, live in a warm comfortable house, have regular meals, a warm bath and some time to our selves. Does your horse want this? Does your horse need this? This book reveals the real needs and wants of all horses and how we can attain them. No gadgets no gimmicks, no unnecessary spending, just compassionate thoughtful management and positive rewarding training. This book will set you well on the way to a healthy, trusting relationship with your horse. Enjoy!
