Discovering Natural Horsemanship: A Beginner's Odyssey

by Tom Moates, Harry Whitney (Foreword by)

Overview

Tom Moates’s life and work were on a horseless path until serendipity brought Niji, a sorrel gelding, into his life. In his candid and plainspoken style, Moates shares the honest highs and lows of starting out in the Better Way with horses. He works hard to follow the wise ways of many well-known clinicians and shares his personal experiences attempting to implement them. Discovering Natural Horsemanship is sometimes humorous, often inspiring, and always resonates with authenticity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592289509
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2006
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Tom Moates writes regularly for Equus, Western Horseman, Eclectic Horseman, The American Quarter Horse Journal, and Natural Horse.

Read an Excerpt

The sun on their fuzzy winter coats warmed them that morning to complete tranquility. All three stood, each with a rear leg cocked, in a sun coma when I got up there around eleven. Saddling up Soke went with ease, and I rode her down the farm road and over to the house just fine. Soke and I had been going for rides away from the other two for several weeks now in preparation. Even the still-nursing colt was fine when the mare was absent for an hour at a time, perhaps a testament to Niji’s babysitting skills.Just as the house came into sight, we saw Terrie’s green F-250 pick-up and gray two-horse trailer driving down another farm road toward the house from the other side. Sokeri changed. I felt the change. The sensation was not just in her body—which did stiffen, her head raised with ears focusing on the trailer—but was also in the energy field around her, which included me. She became electric, like the air just before a storm.

Table of Contents

ForewordIntroduction1 Niji2 Discovering Natural Horsemanship3 Naming My Two4 Whipper Snapper 5 Feeling Of A Horse6 Groundwork7 Round Pen8 Going Barefoot9 Don’t Get On!10 Anatomy Of A Wreck And My First Clinic Revisited11 Mounting From The Fence12 My First Trail Ride13 Equine Writing14 Old Blue Eyes15 Sokeri Stands Still16 Meeting Ray Hunt

Interviews

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Editorial Reviews

"Tom has an easy, personal style of writing and he warns people gently yeteffectively of how much natural horsemanship necessitates our own selfdevelopment."—Linda Parelli "What a unique and utterly refreshing approach to the topic of natural horsemanship. In a genre flooded with overbearing tomes that spout trademarked catch-phrases, Tom’s book stands out as a truly enjoyable read, with the added benefit of being incredibly informative. Rather than simply telling us what natural horsemanship is all about, Tom invites the reader to learn along with him. The journey is fascinating. One of the most open-minded, inquisitive and contemplative people you’ll ever meet, Tom is continually asking “why” and gives careful consideration to each and every answer he receives. When he turns his attention to horses and so honestly shares with us what he discovers, the result is a gem of a book."—Christine Barakat, Equus magazine"With his blatant honesty, Tom gives other beginners in this quest of plenty to relate to, but he also takes those of us who have never known life without horses back to revisit some of the perils, struggles, and life-changing discoveries that horses present all of us. Many of us have come to accept these as everyday occurrences and need the newness and freshness of Tom's insight that we might look anew at what life with horses has to offer us humans."—Harry Whitney "The prose is wonderful, a smooth ride in itself. I have only just started, and already as I read I am worried that you can't keep it up. Can this continue so smoothly and so fun?" —Dr. David Williams, PhD, author of Sin Boldly! and Wilderness LostMoates was an established author, writing on the subjects of homestead living and renewable energy. But in his midthirties, he felt like he was ready for a change. His wife, Carol, saw an ad for an "Amish trained" horse. When Carol met Niji, there was an instant connection, and she and the author began a new communication with horses that they call the Better Way. Natural horsemanship is largely about the relationship between horse and human, about seeing things from the horse's point of view. In plain language, Moates speaks of how he learned to work with Niji and with Sokeri, the mare he later bought. Moates was a total novice and unused to riding, so the emphasis on communication with the horse as a separate issue from the commands and aids used to guide the ridden horse makes for a refreshing addition to the large canon of books on horsemanship. This personalized account of learning the art of natural horsemanship will find a ready audience among horse lovers and anyone interested in animal training. /Nancy Bent/Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved/—Booklist

From the Publisher