Touching Horses

A practical guide to using reward-based training techniques to create a true partnership with your horse. This leads to lifelong connection, effective problem-solving and joyful performance.

Inspired with her work with horses and patients at the National Centre for Equine Facilitated Therapy, horse lover and author A. Bronwyn Llewellyn brings together the most moving tributes to the healing power of horses ever collected in one volume.

Improve your horse sense! This indispensable guide will introduce new and prospective owners to every aspect of buying, riding, grooming, handling, stabling, training and caring for horses. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® Horses gives you everything you need to know about these magnificent animals. In this Complete Idiot’s Guide®, you get: • Detailed information on the daily care needed to keep a horse happy and healthy. • Smart advice on how to keep your horse free of infections and parasites. • Helpful hints on evaluating riding instructors and what to look for(and what to watch out for) when choosing a lesson barn. • In-depth descriptions of the various riding styles. • Expert tips on rider safety and fitness and the right gear for the job.

Horse trainer Jonathan Field has made a name for himself with his unique ability to give people simple, understandable, doable steps that lead to working with a horse “at liberty” in a safe and progressive manner. True engagement with a horse at liberty isn’t just about removing tack and stepping outside the arena—it’s about connection, trust, and communication through movement. Enrich your relationship with your horse, improve your “feel,” and teach your horse to respond to the subtlest of cues; no matter your discipline, whether you compete or ride for pleasure, liberty training can change the way you interact with horses forever.

A revised edition of the inspiring bestseller, now in paperback with new good rider profiles! This book is exactly what you need to become a better rider. It's a smart, honest, on-target kick-in-the-pants, guaranteed to rev your engines as you see how a few changes in your life, a few smart choices and strategic moves, can transform you from a run-of-the-mill rider into a good one. How does Denny Emerson know what makes a good rider? For one thing, he is one—he is the only rider in the world to have won both a gold medal in international eventing and a Tevis Cup buckle in endurance. Plus, he's been around great riders, and taught those on their way to becoming great, for over 40 years. How will what Denny knows help you become a good rider? He's boiled the whole thing down into seven broad "Areas of Choice" that determine whether you are a "gonnabe" or whether you'll be stuck in the "wannabe" category for decades. Examine how your choice of riding sport may or may not be the best for who you are and where you live. Find out how those frustrating hurdles known as "life circumstances" don't necessarily hold you back like you think they do. Learn how to build a strong support team by winning people to your cause and choosing the right teachers and mentors. Analyze your physical self (your body, how it is formed and how you care for it) and your intellectual self (your "horse smarts" and how you are adding to them or not) and apply the results to your "gonna-be-good" equation. Take a good hard look at your partner—your horse—and think critically about his ability to help you attain your riding goals. Discover the nine key character traits of successful riders and how you can learn to call each one of them your own. Along the way you'll read the stories of 23 of the world's top riders from different disciplines and sports—including dressage, reining, driving, show jumping, endurance, hunter/jumper, and eventing—and how they "got good" despite the same kinds of challenges and setbacks you face in your own day-to-day riding. You'll get an inside look at their path to success, as well as their very best tips for how to "make it" in the horse industry.

Horses Whispering emphasizes the unique bond between horses and people, suggesting that every hair on the horse is a biofeedback signal that the horse is responding to connectedness with the rider. For adults interested in beginning horseback riding or returning to riding after a period of time, often due to a traumatic experience with a horse, the author provides detailed examples of the wide range of experiences which are useful to all equestrian activities. Understanding the power of the horse/rider partnership is a metaphor for the gestalt of teaching and learning. Abigail B. Wiebenson, Director Emerita, Lowell School,Washington, DC Indeed, learning to receive the unspoken messages from people and horses is crucial for all successful relationships. Just as human body language is often more important than speech, intuitive awareness of this more subtle information is essential for all aspects of life. This is a call for your success-centered life, whatever your interests. Once you learn the whispered messages between individuals, you will overcome fears about your interactions with other people and animals.