The Horsemasters. The Secret Of Understanding Horses

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Publisher: Methuen
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 1983
Edition: First Edition

Description: 110 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Good condition. There is some light shelf and reading wear, but still a presentable copy. Foreword By Dorian Williams

Publishers Description: "The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength. Hast Thou clothed his neck with thunder?" Job asks God in the Old Testament.Awe and fascination have been a constant theme in the history of man's dealings with horses. But to make the horse useful to man, he had fist to be tamed and trained into obedience. In the early days, the answer for most people was to meet strength with brute force - literally to break the horse's spirit, using any device from whips, spurs and blinkers to putting shot into the horse's ears and firing revolvers close to his head. It was small wonder that some animals reacted adversely to this treatment, and were branded as vicious, dangerous and untameable.Although the question of just what might be locked inside the horse's head had bothered people for a very long time, it is only relatively recently in the history of man's relationship wit the horse that a new and enlightened approach to his handling took root and manifested itself in the legendary horse-tamers.In this fascinating and thought-provoking survey, the author traces the development of that history from the mystery and witchcraft of the Middle Ages - the Whisperers, the Toadmen and the possessors of the magic 'Horseman's Word' - through the revolutionary American 'horse-gentler', John Solomon Rarey, in the mid nineteenth century to some of the horsemasters of today, like George Freeman and Royal trainer Jack O'Donoghue, who have this vital affinity with horses. Does their secret lie solely in methods using patience and understanding, gentleness, respect and mutual trust, or do they possess some special quality?Full of intriguing examples and insights, sometimes unexpected and often moving,this book will make everyone who comes into contact with horses think afresh about their own approach and relationships with the animals. For the time has come to reassess all that has been observed and documented about horses, and since horses have learned to understand our language, we must now make some effort to understand theirs.

ISBN: 041353510x