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The Amazon Store at MillionDollarPetPix.com ( In association with Amazon.com )The Body Language of Horses: Revealing the Nature of Equine Needs, Wishes and Emotions and How Horses Communicate Them - For Owners, Breeders, Trainers, Riders and All Other Horse Lovers - Including Handicappers - This book was a fantastic find!Wow! There are 45 horses who are personal friends of mine, and after reading this book, I feel that I know them so much better now! I had already figured out many of their quirks and cute personality traits, and now I have a whole new insight. For example, now I understand that the reason Image is "attitudinal" is because his mama was lead mare when he was born, and he's not about to let anyone forget it. And Casanova is the "class clown" who, if he likes you, will entertain you for hours with his (sometimes annoying) antics like knocking the hat off my head, over and over again -- and if he doesn't like you, don't turn your back on him, or he'll nip you in the butt (but never hard), and by the time you turn around, he's looking the other way, as if to say, "Who did that? Not me!" There are stories in the book to match and top any I have to tell, including a senior horse who liked to play jokes on cows. It's a terrific read and very educational as well. If you are looking to buy a horse, there are tips for selecting one. And for those who enjoy horse racing, there are tips for betting on horses, based on observing their behavior before the race. There's something for everyone in this book. Rating: - Worth the short amount of time it takes to read--I personally felt that this book is an awesome introduction to horses and their behavior. No, it does not go into great detail of body language, and it is not for the experienced horseman (I only bought this book because it was required for a class), BUT the book is worth your time. I think that this book offered an excellent perspective on undertanding the horse and why they do what they do. For example, just because the horse isn't doing what you want, doesn't necessarily mean that it's being a "bad" horse- there is an incredible array of things that could be the 'problem'; even though as I said this book will offer no new insights to experienced horsemen and women, it can be a very good reminder of why our horses do what they do. All in all, if you are a beginner to the horse world, pick this book up, and take a few hours to read it, it'll be worth the time and money. Rating:  - A different view on horses I've read thus this far.I'm a young horse lover and I spend much more time reading and studying horses in books, magazines, and other sources of trustworthy media than I do actually experiencing these beautiful animals up close. Nor am I lucky enough to be able to regularly work with them. I recently received "The Body Language of Horses" and I have blazed through this small book and found that it is very informative, observant, and suitable towards an aspiring horsewoman or horseman. It gives out clear, though thick, digestible pieces of horse psychology and body language offering ways to understand and `connect' with the equine. I give it a rating of four stars out of five because there is further searching in different books about horse language I have yet to discover and the horses themselves. Thanks! Sarah Rating:  - The Body Language of Horses: Revealing the Nature...This is an excellent resource for a person who hasn't had much exposure to horses or has trouble interpreting the meaning of equine body language and sounds. Although, it was well written, and made some excellent points, it seemed quite basic and I didn't come to any new revalations about horses that would help or change my relationships with them. Rating:  - States the obvious and strays off-topic.I was rather disappointed with this book for several reasons. First and foremost, the bulk of the book does not, as the title would have us believe, focus on the body language of horses. A couple of chapters devote themselves to brief descriptions of horse behavior under different circumstances (when happy, angry, frightened, bored, tired, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, etc.), but the largest sections of the book concern curing problem horses and training foals. At the end there is a chapter on observing the body language of racehorses in order to pick winners, and two appendices on how to buy a horse. Not only does the book stray from it's purported topic, but the information that IS given about equine body language is so basic and obvious that any true horseperson would already know it, and any aspiring horseperson could learn it all in a matter of a few weeks spent around the creatures. Of course a nervous horse will work up a sweat, a bored horse will get mouthy, and a horse that is irritated by a fly will swish its tail and twitch its skin. There are really only two forseeable uses, in my mind, for this book. The first is as a reference for those who know next to nothing about horses and wish to learn. The second, a slightly different version of the first, is as a guide to non-equestrian racegoers in order to pick winning horses on which to place their bets (and this is not surefire or guaranteed in any way, since pre-race behavior is only one of many factors that determines the outcome of a race). The book is also considerably old, and a bit dated. It was written and first published in 1980, more than two decades ago. While the basic behavior of horses hasn't changed in that time, much else in the horse world has, including attitudes toward the care and training of horses. There are now many more effecting training methods than those presented here, and one passage in the book even alarmed me. Though they pronounce it a "dubious last resort," the authors nevertheless included the following method for "[teaching] manners to a resistant horse": ". . . dramatic effects are obtained by striking the animal over the poll bone with a fragile wine bottle filled with a slush of sand and warm water. When the bottle breaks and the warm, moist substance dribbles down its head, the savage horse becomes a trembling wreck. A gestured threat to repeat the treatment is usually enough to terminate subsequent misbehavior" (pg. 49). While this is the only place in the book where the authors propose such blatantly inappropriate methods, I nevertheless cannot give a vote of confidence to anyone that would condone striking an animal with a wine bottle to elicit compliance. In addition, the authors make a great many generalizations about equine behavior and do not allow much leeway for differences in personality. As any person who spends much time around horses knows, one can be vastly different from the next. I said earlier that this book had two conceivable uses, but even for those I would not recommend purchasing this book. There are other books out there on the behavior and training of horses that are more current, more accurate, and more effective.
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