There are lots of information available online on how to train the horses. So most modern people prefer to watch YouTube videos and read blog posts instead of using books.
Nevertheless, the books remain the most valuable source of theoretical knowledge and practical pieces of advice. If you want to understand horses better and to upgrade your skills, here are five must-read books for you.
How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill
In this book, you will find essential insights for understanding equine behavior. You will learn which things make a horse feel calm and confident and what makes it experience the fear. You will get a better understanding of the horse’s basic instincts.
This book will allow you “to walk a mile in your horse’s shoes.” It will help you to understand how animal sees the objects, feels the touches, hears sounds, and tastes the food. Once you get to know the horses’ basic needs and routines, you will improve the training process.
This book is essential reading for every horse lover. It will allow you to build an effective, solid partnership with the horses that will benefit you in the long run.
It’s worth mentioning that the book is written by Cherry Hill, an award-winning author of over 30 books. With the help of her works, thousands of people learned how to train horses and how to care about them adequately.
Clinton Anderson’s Downunder Horsemanship: Establishing Respect and Control for English and Western Riders by Clinton Anderson
Clinton Anderson designed training techniques, which teaches “everyday people” to train horses most effectively. The author emphasizes that it doesn’t matter how old you are and which riding style you prefer. If you get in-depth knowledge about the horses’ instincts and behavior, you will achieve fantastic results.
Clinton Anderson provides detailed explanations “why they do what they do” and share fundamental insights of the horse psychology. The book is reader-friendly. The text is not overloaded with jargon and rarely used terms.
According to the numerous reviews, this book helps to see positive results from the very first session. If you follow the directions given, the transformation of your horses’ behavior will amaze you.
Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership by Mark Rashid
In this book, Mark Rashid break the stereotype that horse rider must be dominant to be a leader. The author explains that there is a significant difference between being an alpha and being a passive leader.
So if you want to become an effective leader, you should consider this book as a step-by-step guide. If you follow the directions given, you will be able to turn indifferent horses into enthusiastic partners. This book may help you to improve your approach to training and achieve much higher results.
The best part about this book is that it contains illustrative compelling stories. These stories help the readers to look at the relationship between horses and humans from another angle.
The Complete Training of Horse and Rider by Alois Podhajsky
If you want to learn more about Classical training, don’t look any further. Alois Podhajsky wrote this book in 1967, but it still extremely popular among the horse owners, trainers, and riders.
The step-by-step methods of training, which are illustrated in this book, remain relevant for more than 50 years. So this book is definitely worth reading.
The author explains how to develop the natural abilities of the horse. Also, he advises how to turn the riding into a pleasant experience.
It’s worth mentioning that most of the modern Natural horsemanship techniques are based on the method designed by Podhajsky. So once you read this book, it will be much easier for you to understand new approaches to train horses.
Riding Logic by Wilhelm Museler
First published in 1937, this book became a must-read for everyone who takes horse training seriously. If you are an experienced trainer, if you have vast knowledge in the field, this book is right for you.
But if you are a newbie, you may find this book a little bit hard to read. Try to read other books from this list first, and then get back to Riding Logic.
“Wilhelm Museler seems to be the only writer who explained the kinesthetic of riding in details. He provided comprehensive answers on why certain actions cause a result, while others don’t,” says Tom Jacobs, editor at WoWGrade.net and passion horse lover.
Wrapping it up
If you want to learn how to train horses more effectively, you should read more books. Don’t hesitate to pick old books, if you want to learn fundamentals. And read newly published books to keep your knowledge up-to-date.
It’s impossible to be overeducated. So the more information you acquire the better trainer you become.
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