If it hadn’t been for the other horsey memoirs and instructional books out there, I certainly wouldn’t have made it to the relationship I have with horses today. Back when the only thing I did was lessons and trail riding I felt the overwhelming itch to learn everything I could about the link between human and horse. Technical riding books confused me, since I was just starting out. I didn’t know what an “inside” was, much less an inside rein. Instead I was drawn to books about people and horses working together. Many teachers who are inclined to be the memoir-writing sort were also some of the more gentle horse handlers and trainers. This worked to my favor in learning how to be around horses and still hold onto my gentle nature.
Mark Rashid’s books were easy to find and there were several of them. In a large way, his books influenced my decision to make my first book a memoir. I learned through his experiences, not through his instructions. In his books he never told the reader specifically “you must do it this way.” He relayed his successes and failures and let you figure it out from there.
I also discovered Linda Kohanov’s books and was fascinated by the similarities between horse herds and human “herds”: what we call teams. She also suggested a spiritual component to horsemanship, which was something I had stumbled upon in my own work. Her stories of horse ancestors and animal communication intrigued me, though at first I was quite skeptical. Later on I would have my own spiritual experiences with horses. I am no longer quite so “anti-woo.”
Finally, I will mention the memoirs written by Frederic Pignon and Magali Delgato about their horses and about traveling the world, performing. I had sadly missed their Cavalia show when they came to the US a few years prior to my introduction to horse work. I was happy to learn more about what I had only seen in YouTube clips: people working with horses in a liberty context, enjoying and displaying the grandeur of a horse existing in its own right, not just as a mount for a rider. Their mention of Tellington T-Touch in the memoir led me to even more great discoveries about horses, including eventually learning energy work and exploring how that related to horses and their communication with us and each other.
No author lives in a vacuum, so I am happy to recommend these authors as continued reading if you liked my book!
If you have not yet read my memoir, you can find it here. Please also leave a review if you enjoyed the read! It helps others to find the book. Thanks so much.
Maeve Birch Home 