Horse Books I Love
In my eternal quest to get my instincts to dance better with Dodger’s, I’ve tried to become a sponge of the methods taught by those for whom it seems to come much more naturally. These are a few of the better books now in my library:
- I’m becoming a huge fan of Carolyn Resnick’s Waterhole Rituals after listening to 16 hour-long calls between her and horse owners around the world who are implementing her rituals and discussing their results. The fascinating story of how she discovered the herd behaviors that led to the development of her Waterhole Rituals is in her book: Naked Liberty. The photo on the cover is deceiving because the behaviors Resnick learned as a child to become accepted into a wild herd have nothing to do with anything naked except the equine truth. Her Waterhole Rituals, perfected over many years as a trainer since her childhood experience, create the perfect program on which to base any and all other training methods because they create the bond and trust necessary between a horse and its human for any training to be successful. Her Waterhole Rituals are built around a horse’s natural instincts so they’re astoundingly effective. I’m going to share the rituals with Dodger after his training program is over, but if I had our relationship to do all over again, I would’ve learned and applied Resnick’s Waterhole Rituals before all else, avoiding two years of angst and frustration in our relationship. I highly recommend the book to anyone, at any level of horsemanship, who wants to create a deeply bonded herd of two with their horse.
- Although written for a young reader and not written to teach any training methods, I loved this little shooter of a book: The Georges and the Jewels by Jane Smiley. Ornery George reminded me of Dodger in his early years, and the foal’s story reminded me of Dodger’s youth, so I was hooked into the story on a couple of levels. I would highly recommend it for a young girl in love with horses.
- This is a book I should probably read once every year just to better understand Tom Dorrance’s methods. Timing is a huge element, and maybe it only comes after doing it wrong a lot first. If so, I should be about ready to do it right: True Unity: Willing Communication Between Horse and Human
- The author, Klaus Hempfling, claims to know the personality of a horse and which rider is right for it, just by looking at a horse. If I wasn’t so impressed with his companion book, Dancing with Horses, I’d think he was full of it. He defines 26 character groups with several photos of each type of horse. I vacillate on which character type(s) Dodger falls into but I think he’s closest to being “The Fat One.” Not really fat, just acts as if he is with a lazy work ethic. But I’m not going to pigeon-hole him. I know he can rise above it if I give him a good enough reason. Bottom line, it’s a fascinating book: What Horses Reveal: From First Meeting to Friend for Life
- The author, Kelly Marks, is British. Her father was a racehorse trainer so she grew up around horses. At some point she became a student of Monty Roberts and became his star protege. I think I bought the book because her “perfect horse” is a Paint and she had some unexpected ways of dealing with certain problems. I enjoyed reading the book, and need to read it again. There’s a point at which you can out read your horse’s level and it doesn’t stay in your head and that happened to me with this book: Teach Your Horse Perfect Manners: How You Should Behave So Your Horse Does Too
- Once Dodger becomes easier to keep going, I’m going to use this book of Cherry Hill’s a lot. I love all the patterns it has for arena riding and it looks like a lot of them would be perfect for a group of riders to do together: 101 Arena Exercises: A Ringside Guide for Horse & Rider
- Last but not least, a wonderful, sweet novel about an unusual woman who trained horses in a place and time when that just didn’t happen: The Hearts of Horses
