Not super NH but NH book about communication?

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Ryeissa
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Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Ryeissa » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:45 pm

Hi Friends!
I feel like I'm doing well with my dressage theory and plan. I have several very good trainers and regular help from GP level clinicians.
I'm looking for a fresh view of the horse/human connection. Not so much dressage, but just how to explore with a different spin
I do not really want NH exercises, join up, etc but more a refresh of the horse/human bond, communication- in short NH ideas with out the parelli stick :lol:
Anyone have some new books? are the oldies still the goodies (Dorrance, Buck, etc)?
Thanks so much

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby khall » Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:39 pm

Have you looked into Peggy Cummings or Linda Tellington Jones?

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby demi » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:59 pm

I still like some of the oldies, like Tom Dorrance’s “True Unity”. Not everyone likes it but it works for me. Also Podhajsky’s “My Horses, My Teachers”. Both books are genuine horsemanship books and get to the heart of the horse-human relationship, in my opinion.

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Ryeissa » Mon Apr 18, 2022 3:10 pm

thanks!

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Sue B » Mon Apr 18, 2022 4:20 pm

I like TTouch for Horses

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby blob » Mon Apr 18, 2022 4:55 pm

I haven't read it myself, but I know a lot of people who like Mark Rashid's work, particularly Whole Heart, Whole Horse.

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Kyras_Mom » Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:31 pm

Karen Rohlf has a book (Dressage Naturally...Results in Harmony) and has lots of podcasts dealing with partnership. The book has tons of great exercises in addition to her philosophy on partnership and connection.

Susan

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Lipsmackerpony88 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:41 pm

I like Warrick Schiller's new approach for some stuff. Much more mindful than it used to be years ago.

Also you might check into Nashon Cook.

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Chisamba
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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Chisamba » Mon Apr 18, 2022 6:54 pm

I love "my horse my teachers" but it's a subtle learning tool. I learned more from it than I did from his training book.

When I was a kid my father gave me a book by an old Irish man who captured un touched cobs and Conemara ponies and used a square pen , showed how to put a rope on the end of a staff to put a halter on etc. Spoke a lot about body language, touching the horse to get it relaxed , getting a halter on et al. Book long lost , wisdom still used .

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Flight » Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:02 pm

Calming signals stuff with Anna Blake! Great start for building relationship with horses.

Then onto Warwick Schiller's newer stuff.

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Ryeissa » Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:16 pm

Do you guys have specific links to books or video?

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Kyras_Mom » Thu Apr 21, 2022 4:44 pm

Here you go. You can find the book used in several places. The DVD is useful.
https://dressagenaturally.net/book/

Susan

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby khall » Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:00 pm

Kyra’s Mom. I really like Karen R stuff for the most part. Her video classroom is a good deal too with so much information there. Well done videos.

I’ve worked several times directly withKaren though and just did not get much out of it. Prefer to learn from her through her videos

Rye Linda Tellington Jones and Peggy Cummings both have books out there. Both have an interesting take on working horses. Not quite NH but also not mainstream dressage at all

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Flight » Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:13 pm

This is a good intro:
Just let you know though, once you start learning stuff you can't unsee it!
https://annablake.com/2014/04/18/calmin ... listening/

I haven't read this one, but is recommended by Anna Blake. I did a clinic with Anna and it was great!

https://www.amazon.com.au/Language-Sign ... 374&sr=1-1

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Chisamba » Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:33 am

When I was a kid I had no TV and my brothers and sister went to boarding school. I sat with the horses. I guess like most farm kids I had quite a lot of solo time while everyone else was working.Tough? I spent hours with the horses. I got mad at the mean gelding who kept picking on the smallest filly. I got kicked for carelessly walking behind a horse at its dinner. When I lay down and slept on the hay I never once was stepped on or bitten. I did notice that the main mare communicated with the smallest gestures and most calm demeanor, but the mid rank horses wete the loud, aggressive or bossy ones. I think a very similar gesture can mean very different things. I think when you read a book you get someone else's interpretation of a gesture. If you sit, stand or hang our with a group of horses you are more likely to get the horses opinion instead of Schillers opinion, Blake's opinion or ( fill in the blank) opinion on what something means. They all differ and they are all more about the humans perception than the horse.. you know how if you read a thread on Facebook. Even if you know nothing about the people commenting. Their comments reveal more about them than the subject? So is it with horse books.

For example horse calming signals are nothing like dog calming signals. One is a predator and then other prey. Flight is the last option to a dog and the first option to a horse. Logic will tell you that if you think on it. But you read a book that said it's true and you abandon logic and become a disciple. Also having lived a few decades with different horses of different breeds in different countries, horses also learn communication from their group. Groups have different languages if I may. That is why if you bring a strange horse onto a group there can often be a lot of misunderstanding in the herd. It's a ruckus it takes a few days before the communication dynamic settles. For example some mares are super tolerant of their foals. They let them jump all over . Other mares will give their foal a warning followed by a sharp punitive action. Those two foals will grow up with a very different training perception. So if Mrs natural horseman A says this gesture means the horse is communicating that, I guarantee it bull shit of the highest degree. Because it differs from horse to horse to herd to herd to reed to breed species to species. It even differs in the same horse from day to day.
We can be either amused or insulted by the same thing of two different days, based on the sun, our rest, a cheerful versus a stressful interaction at the coffee shop. Well, horses too. As a rider we know there are days when a very light leg aid has a dynamic response and then there are days when the same horse feels sluggish to the same aid. Well the same with communication. The exact same horse will have a different mood, a different gesture, from day to day. So that is, in my arrogant opinion. Be prepared to listen to, watch and learn from your horses. Try not to hang on to everything you already know. The only truth about being sure about something is that stops you from learning.

And...Nothing about riding is natural. It just isn't. Horses are the most amazing tolerant, teachable co operative creatures. Learn from them. This is my perspective.

I won't blame anyone if they stopped reading this lol

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Dqwannabe » Sat Apr 30, 2022 5:57 am

Chisamba wrote:When I was a kid I had no TV and my brothers and sister went to boarding school. I sat with the horses. I guess like most farm kids I had quite a lot of solo time while everyone else was working.Tough? I spent hours with the horses. I got mad at the mean gelding who kept picking on the smallest filly. I got kicked for carelessly walking behind a horse at its dinner. When I lay down and slept on the hay I never once was stepped on or bitten. I did notice that the main mare communicated with the smallest gestures and most calm demeanor, but the mid rank horses wete the loud, aggressive or bossy ones. I think a very similar gesture can mean very different things. I think when you read a book you get someone else's interpretation of a gesture. If you sit, stand or hang our with a group of horses you are more likely to get the horses opinion instead of Schillers opinion, Blake's opinion or ( fill in the blank) opinion on what something means. They all differ and they are all more about the humans perception than the horse.. you know how if you read a thread on Facebook. Even if you know nothing about the people commenting. Their comments reveal more about them than the subject? So is it with horse books.

For example horse calming signals are nothing like dog calming signals. One is a predator and then other prey. Flight is the last option to a dog and the first option to a horse. Logic will tell you that if you think on it. But you read a book that said it's true and you abandon logic and become a disciple. Also having lived a few decades with different horses of different breeds in different countries, horses also learn communication from their group. Groups have different languages if I may. That is why if you bring a strange horse onto a group there can often be a lot of misunderstanding in the herd. It's a ruckus it takes a few days before the communication dynamic settles. For example some mares are super tolerant of their foals. They let them jump all over . Other mares will give their foal a warning followed by a sharp punitive action. Those two foals will grow up with a very different training perception. So if Mrs natural horseman A says this gesture means the horse is communicating that, I guarantee it bull shit of the highest degree. Because it differs from horse to horse to herd to herd to reed to breed species to species. It even differs in the same horse from day to day.
We can be either amused or insulted by the same thing of two different days, based on the sun, our rest, a cheerful versus a stressful interaction at the coffee shop. Well, horses too. As a rider we know there are days when a very light leg aid has a dynamic response and then there are days when the same horse feels sluggish to the same aid. Well the same with communication. The exact same horse will have a different mood, a different gesture, from day to day. So that is, in my arrogant opinion. Be prepared to listen to, watch and learn from your horses. Try not to hang on to everything you already know. The only truth about being sure about something is that stops you from learning.

And...Nothing about riding is natural. It just isn't. Horses are the most amazing tolerant, teachable co operative creatures. Learn from them. This is my perspective.

I won't blame anyone if they stopped reading this lol


I. Freaking. Love. This.
One of the best posts I've ever read!!

I aspire to be this perceptive!

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Flight » Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:36 am

A great post Chisamba, but you are lucky in the way that you had and have the time to be around horses and learn all that.
Some of us came into it later and some only get the time they go when they ride or feed their horses.
Anna Blake and now more of WS, gives people the starting point of what to start noticing about their horses. Yes, it's their interpretation but people (like me) need help to get started.

These 2 (especially AB) encourage owners to watch and learn from your horses.

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Ryeissa » Sat Apr 30, 2022 4:00 pm

So what was the source of my discontent?

the saddle needed a reflock.

thus I was listening to the horse as always but it took a bit to assess the core issue.
thanks for all these good ideas!

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Lipsmackerpony88 » Mon May 02, 2022 5:45 pm

Ryeissa glad you figured it out!

Ryeissa
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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Ryeissa » Mon May 02, 2022 10:53 pm

thanks! yes! Its amazing how a little difference can get us TOTALLY off our game! I'll still look into the suggestions! thanks all

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Re: Not super NH but NH book about communication?

Postby Lipsmackerpony88 » Mon May 02, 2022 11:44 pm

Ryeissa they are such sensitive creatures... Good for you for figuring it out when your horse was telling you something was up.


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