Natural horsemanship/'horse whispering' book suggestions?

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Araboo27

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As per the title really, Rosa arrives on Saturday and obviously things may be a bit up in the air whilst she settles in but I'm really keen to create an amazing bond and respectful relationship. Any suggestions for what I could be reading now to pass the time till sat? Kelly Marks was the big thing back when I was a bit younger but i've seen a lot of good stuff about Parelli...kind of out of the loop with the horsey world!
 
Kelly Marks and the Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associates are very good and the ones I have come across have massive amounts of experience and a real love of horses. Kelly has written a couple of good books, I don't think you need to look further afield.

I know several people who have had extraordinary results with Parelli, but it is a very controversial subject - maybe there is a local yard/trainer who could help you.

For additional reading I would suggest books by Mark Rashid and Linda Tellington-Jones, also Micheal Peace and Richard Maxwell.
 
Just as an additional note, don't be too wishy-washy with the new horse. What they want is leadership - be clear and consistent with your instructions and remember that every time you handle your horse, you are training it.
 
I'm going to second this:

Just as an additional note, don't be too wishy-washy with the new horse. What they want is leadership - be clear and consistent with your instructions and remember that every time you handle your horse, you are training it.
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Don't get swept up in the fluffy padding or you'll be missing the useful parts and it can go badly wrong.
 
Orangehorse said:
Just as an additional note, don't be too wishy-washy with the new horse. What they want is leadership - be clear and consistent with your instructions and remember that every time you handle your horse, you are training it.
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That's a really good point and I imagine it'd quite easily happen, for me anyway. I appreciate all the book/author suggestions, I can always rely on you guys for ace advice! I've already added about 7 books to my amazon basket ;-) I'm beginning to see the truth in what I've read so many times - I'll always be skint from here on out!!
 
ridefast said:
True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance
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This is a good book, its quite unique in writing style, you'll not have read another like it but its a great read

I also like Perfect Manner by Kelly Marks

I'm not a close follower of natural horsemanship, I just dip in and take the useful bits out.
 
ridefast said:
True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance
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I found that quite hard to read - I struggled to get past his old American style. Mark Rashid's Consider the Horse, Horses Never Lie and A Good Horse is Never a Bad Colour are good easy anecdotal reads with a real way of getting their learning points across, and Kelly Marks has done some with some good groundwork exercises.
Just set clear boundaries and let her learn what they are.
 
Assuming Rosa doesn't have any particular issues (i.e. not a feral pony!) then definitely Perfect Manners by Kelly Marks. I also second The Fearless Horse by Roger & Joanna Day and Mark Rashid books for a good read but not so immediately applicable to handing a new horse.
 
Orangehorse said:
Just as an additional note, don't be too wishy-washy with the new horse. What they want is leadership - be clear and consistent with your instructions and remember that every time you handle your horse, you are training it.
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This - though the challenge is defining leadership because people have different ideas about what constitutes good leadership, and what horses need and respond best to may not be the same for every kind of "leadership". In other words, it's somewhat subjective! In contrast, "clear" and "consistent" are very objective and concrete notions - easy to recognize, teach and cultivate personally.

As for books, I really like the BHS Book of the Natural Horse by Sarah Widdicombe. Also, Abigail Hogg's book The Horse Behaviour Handbook is well worth a read in my opinion. Strictly speaking it isn't "Natural Horsemanship" but takes a very down-to-earth approach to explain why horses behave as they do and how we can use that knowledge in training and in improving our working relationship with them.

Here are Amazon links for the books:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Natural-Horse-Sarah-Widdicombe/dp/0715324969
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horse-Behaviour-Handbook-Abigail-Hogg/dp/071531467X
 
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