Published in 2005, this 244 page hard cover book with lots of descriptive photos is a must read.
Author, Lesley Skipper questions everything we do with horses in a constructive way, dispelling many myths with her thorough research and practical knowledge of horse care, breeding, training and psychology.
She argues her point with clarity and really gets you thinking about whether your current practices with horses can be improved upon.
There is a very good section on how horses learn where she describes the process of positive and negative reinforcement and other scientific terminology, in a way that makes sense and is easy to understand.
My favourite sections in the book were on ‘The best start in life’ where foal training and weaning is discussed deeply. I found we were definitely on the same wavelength.
There is also good information on stallions, mares and geldings with their differences in temperament, training and care are examined.
I like this book because of the way its helps you have balanced views and indeed Lesley aims to help you keep an open mind and listen to your inner feelings.
She reminds us to be flexible as each horse is an individual, and to always listen to the horse for the answers.
This book allows us to find a nice balance between providing a life as natural as possible for our domestic horses, while making allowances for the constraints a domestic situation imposes.
It is published by J.A. Allen and I borrowed a copy from the State Library but you can also purchase it from www.amazon.com.
