Useful horse behaviour books?

[Francis Burton]

Thought I'd take an informal (and appropriately horsily named!) straw poll.

Do you think books about equine behaviour tell us things that can inform and help us with our practical day-to-day handling and training of horses, or are "commonsense" and personal experience enough on their own? If you do think books are useful, which is/are your favourite(s)?

[Trewsers]

I think everyday experience is best, but books play a good part in back up - I like to read as many horsey books / magazines as I can - you can't learn enough I say! :D Nothing you read can prepare you though for the "unexpected" stunts they pull :p If only their body language were that easy to read...... :D

[chev]

I think both personal experience and books work best when used complementarily. I've worked with horses and owned them for years, and learnt huge amounts from being with them; but I've still learnt an awful lot from reading books.

Sometimes what I read just sort of slots what I've experienced into place somehow; where I've seen a behaviour but maybe not understood it, and what I've read has clarified or explained it. Sometimes books give you another view, or make you think a bit more. Sometimes they do come up with something entirely new, that I'd either misread or just not noticed before.

Equally I don't think you can learn all you need from books alone. Nothing really beats just being around horses, and letting them teach you.

One of my favourites was Lucy Rees' The Horse's Mind. That one stands out because it was just such a simple book, written with insight and thought and based heavily on her experiences. There was no pretension there; just an understanding, that I really liked.

[nicolaj]

I've read Parelli, Monty Roberts, Kelly Marks, Mark Rashid and Pony Boy, (sorry can't recall how to spell his proper name). There is a lot of commanality among them in so far as they all talk about respecting the horse, learning their language and understanding their behaviour more. Sorry being a psychology graduate, I'm a bit of a psychology freak ;) !

However, you can read all the books in the world, but nothing really prepares you for being with horses and dealing with all those issues that come up. It's interesting to watch people who are 'very good' with horses, who may have been around them for a long time, but never picked up a book on horse behaviour, but have amazing insight into them no matter what they do, the horses are usually like little lambs, yet for their owner total monsters! Probably similar to the Old Cowboy Mark Rashid talks about.

Another thing that I believe gives you great insight into your horse's peronsality is just watching him interact with his field friends. Many horses owners never take time out just to watch. They have to bring in a ride, then just turn out and leave. Next time just watch your horse instead, see how he plays with the others, is he dominant or submissive?

I think it's really interesting!

[Francis Burton]

Next time just watch your horse instead, see how he plays with the others, is he dominant or submissive?
Or maybe even neither, much of the time! ;)

It is fascinating, I agree. That's how I started with horses - just watching, sometimes for hours on end in the summer sunshine. No books in those early days, until I bought one of Henry Blake's books and The Language of the Horse by Michael Shaeffer. Then a few years later, Lucy Rees' The Horse's Mind came out. What a super book that was (is)! As chev said, so simple - and quite Zen-like in some ways. (There's a similar sort of Zen quality about Tom Widdicombe's Be With Your Horse, even though the subject matter and approach are quite different.) Anyway, THM is still a favourite of mine.

Lucy Rees also wrote Understanding Your Pony, which was aimed at the younger reader but full of wisdom and good advice for horsepeople of any age. She wrote another book recently, about the past, present and future of horsemanship - more wonderful writing, going by the draft ms that was my privilege to read - I wish they would hurry up and get it published!

Then there's are Marthe Kiley-Worthington's newly published Horse Watch and Equine Education. There is some overlap between them, but as the titles would imply, the first one is more purely ethological while the second is more applied. While Marthe can be quite "challenging", her books are always interesting and thought-provoking.

Finally, if you're after a really solid, no-nonsense reference text on behaviour that's bang up to date, I recommend Equine Behaviour by Paul McGreevy.

(There are books about training/applied psychology rather than behaviour that I like very much too - Mark Rashid, Kelly Marks, etc.)

As everyone has already said, nothing can replace actually interacting and working with horses, but books offer a valuable input into that process.

[Greentchr]

When I was unable to ride after an accident, I spent quite a bit of time (and money) reading many horse books. One of the ones I enjoyed was Understanding the Ancient Secrets of a Horses Mind by Robert Miller, DVM. It was a good primer on the whys and hows of horse thought.

[virtuallyhorses]

I think that the wider and deeper your education the better, books help you to understand those things that you experience by putting them into context or by comparing your experiences and thoughts with others.

My favourite horse 'behaviour' book is Robert Vavra's 'Such is the real nature of horses' for it's stunning photography and observation of wild horse behaviour.

[Yann]

I think experience and common sense can take you a long way indeed and the world is full of excellent horse people who've never read a book. The average leisure rider doesn't often get the time, or the exposure to gain wide experience. In this case books can be a tremendously useful resource, adding increased understanding and providing ideas and scenarios for dealing with different situations. Used appropriately they can give you the benefit of other people's experiences in a useful way.

If I have a favourite book it has to be Perfect Manners which covers many of the basic why's, wherefores and possible hows, it's one book that should be in everyone's collection IMVHO :D