training books....

[jimbo&rooster]

Im looking for some good reading on advanced equine training. any recomendations? new or old doesnt make any difference. After having been around horses for probly 15-20yrs, Ive decided that I need to learn more about training them rather than just riding them and going through the paces. Im mostly interested in ground work type stuff and some advanced training. And am interested in information on gaited and non gaited stuff.....

Im not looking for the best or worse, Im looking for suggestions of anything that has worked for you.... looks like im gona be in horses for the long haul, I just as well learn something about them .

Thanks

Jim

[daniel77]

I don't really know of any great diy advanced training books, but I do have a couple of favorites for you that focus on basics and philosophy. IMO, what most pros call basics are very much lacking in 99% of the horses out there and rider's skills, so don't be thrown off by me calling these books basic.

True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance
Lyons on Horses by John Lyons

Think Harmony with Horses by Ray Hunt and True Unity by Tom Dorrance are also classics, but I found them very hard to read and understand. They are quite abstract and Tom Dorrance uses the pronoun "THIS" every fourth word and I constantly had to reread to figure out what this "THIS" was referring to.

Hope that helps. If you are looking for some true advanced skills books, I'd look at the dressage stuff (though, IMO many of these guys severly lack what I'd call horsemanship), but I'm not sure how dressage would go along with gaiting.

[jimbo&rooster]

I guess what I call advanced, isnt really..... Im not looking to be the "horse whisperer" by any means, but we've got a handful of horses, and my wife and her father have probly 75yrs horse experience between them. However, i believe about 1/4 of what I hear, and 1/2 of what I see. This has brough me to the point where I need to do some reading to go along with the experience I have to make my own decisions and try to figure this thing out.

Until about 2yrs ago I had only ridden the push button horses I grew up with, About 2yrs ago i got thrown in the mix and started doing the grunt work ("hey dummy jump on this horse for its first ride"). Now it looks like we might get back into raising and breaking a couple horses every couple years, and my father in law is getting to old to break em. Now I want to learn for my self instead of just taking ques.

Thanks Ill start looking into those books.

Jim

[Kmack]

"Storey's Guide to Training Horses" is pretty good and there are a series of books by The Western Horseman which are broken down by discipline.

[fourseasons]

Well, if you truly want to be a 'cut above' as relates to horse training (conditioned behaviors), one of the best books currently available is Equitation Science by Paul D. McGreevy (Author), Andrew N. McLean (Author): http://www.amazon.com/Equitation-Scienc ... 1405189053

The book is a bit pricey, and uses a lot of 'big words' that truly aren't necessary from the point of communicating the core of the information (and can distract somewhat from the flow while reading), however it truly is an excellent discussion of the science of Equine Learning Theory... which is the basis of what most excellent trainers "stumble into" when they have practiced consistent success in their training techniques! Once you read this book, and compare the information to the techniques described by published 'horse whisperers,' you'll see that there is definite science behind training horses well and effectively for any riding/handling discipline.

This book outlines not only what will work when training horses - from a scientific as well as practical perspective - but the WHY as well. Enjoy!