Horse Sense and the Human Heart: What Horses Can Teach Us About Trust, Bonding, Creativity and Spirituality [Paperback]

Adele McCormick (Author), Marlena McCormick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1997

Can horses really teach us to be better human beings? In this groundbreaking work, you will discover that the answer is a resounding "Yes".

While working with severely disturbed youths, therapists Adele and Deborah McCormick discovered the best healers were their herd of Peruvian Paso horses. Through their work with horses, the McCormicks' patients were initiated into the hidden world of animal energy and instinct, and found a safe and natural way to learn about their own dualistic natures. Patients learned to tap into their primal "animal" mind and energies and apply them toward more creative and responsible living. What took days or months to uncover in an office setting took onyl minutes when patients were on a horse.

You will read case after fascinating case of people discarded by society and the psychiatric community whose lives were turned around by the intuitive guidance and friendship of their equine therapists.


What People are saying...

"This book got me. It is about personal growth and the cultivation of wisdom, and is one of the wisest contributions I have come across in years...Its implications for healing are utterly profound. Horse Sense and the Human Heartis a breakthrough work."

--Larry Dossey, M.D. author Prayer is Good Medicine and Healing Words

"Horse Sense and the Human Heart is an eye-opening and heartwarming adventure. In sharing their pioneering therapeutic discoveries, Adele and Deborag McCormick take us on a shamantic interspecies odyssey. They reveal a secret world governed by wise equine masters, availalbe to help heal our psyches, and guide the human spirit on its journey toward wholeness."

--David Jay Brown, author, Brainchild and Mavericks of the Mind

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Horses can teach us about trust and love and be part of a therapeutic healing process for troubled humans. The authors, both practicing psychotherapists, use horses in their treatment program with mentally disturbed patients, who often bond with their equine companions even when they are unable to relate to other people. The McCormicks explain how horses, quick to sense pretense, force people to rely on their instincts and to be honest with themselves. But riding is only a part of the authors' treatment program. Their clients establish close relationships with the animals by feeding and grooming them, cleaning their stalls and equipment, observing them at work and play, and learning about the long history of humanity's interaction with the horse. The healing process begins when clients learn to relate first to horses and then to their therapists. This is a fascinating book, though its appeal may be limited to those with an interest in psychotherapy or in the therapeutic use of animals. Recommended where interest warrants.?Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll. Lib., Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Adele von Rust McCormick, Ph.D. and Marlena Deborah McCormick, Ph.D., have been psychotherapists for over 30 years. Currently, they are co-direectors of the Institute for Conscious/Awareness and co-founders of the Three Eagles Equine Experience in Calistoga, California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: HCI (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558745238
• ISBN-13: 978-1558745230
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most rewarding books I've ever read!, June 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Horse Sense and the Human Heart: What Horses Can Teach Us About Trust, Bonding, Creativity and Spirituality (Paperback)

A horse is a mirror...he looks right into our hearts and reflects the image back in his own behavior. Once a person understands this - whether or not s/he is a lover of horses - great insight can be gathered from being around these animals. No one explains and illustrates this as well as the McCormicks do in this book! The philosophy and knowledge they offer for our perusal is phenomenal. Read it! You won't see the world the same way...or yourself.

44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Psycho-babble, January 11, 2003

By 

Erica (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Horse Sense and the Human Heart: What Horses Can Teach Us About Trust, Bonding, Creativity and Spirituality (Paperback)

My primary complaint about this book is that the authors are not familiar with the idea of "Show, Don't Tell". The book hops blithely from topic to "inspirational" topic, tossing in pseudo case studies at random. These case studies, or short stories about particular client/horse experiences, rarely last more than a page and would be just as easily summed up in a single sentence like "Joanne recognized her control issues after realizing that horses can't be controlled like humans can". In several cases, the stories would end just as I started to be curious enough to read more. In many other cases, the stories were so short or bland that I didn't care about them at all. The basic thrust of most of them, regardless of the chapter title (like "Our Connection with Animals", "Riding Horses to Health", and "The Genesis of Feelings") was that "the magic of horses fixes stuff". While people like "Joanne" are described as having these sudden revelations about their lives, there is nothing to follow up whether they took that lesson back and truly made a change in their life. The troubled youth who tried to straighten up from his jail cell so he could someday acheive the dream of owning a horse might just as well have been inspired by the dream of owning his own tattoo parlor. Don't TELL how much we can learn from the special and magical horses, SHOW me.

Every horse in the authors' stable is an anthropomorphic Lassie. Their horses know just what lessons their clients need to learn, are sweet and loving to anyone who approaches with an pure and open heart, but collectively act crazy a la Black Beauty if someone is on drugs or just plain untrustworthy. One stallion trumpets and paws at the ground because he "knows" that there is a foal trapped under a fence several miles away. A horse tumbling off a cliff has terror in her eyes, not for herself, but for her rider. A mare's negative reaction to a student's tension and anger is because she "knew" that the student was ready for the lesson of being forced to take resposibility. Furthermore, the authors' intense focus on the traits of their beloved Peruvian Iberian breed (a fine breed, to be sure) ends up implying that there is something special and magical about the breed itself, rather than horsekind in general. I am an avid horse lover, and at no time did I feel that any equine in this book was a real living, breathing beast.

Metaphysical abilities are attributed where none are necessary. A student realizes that the more she concentrates on staying away from flowerpots in the corner of the arena, the closer she and her mount get to them. The fact is, all beginning riders learn the lesson "look where you want to go". There are physical reasons for this that have more reasonable explanations than "vibrations" or "path of energy". I can't argue that any of this is false, because it isn't. However, the psychospiritual and metaphysical aspects of horsemanship as presented here are too syrupy for my own sensibilities.

There is little that is presented in this book that I would challenge or disagree with, but the presentation was too nonsensical to have been inspiring to me, and in fact, I had a very difficult time trying to discover what the true message of the book is. If I'd never had experiences of my own with horses and were handed this book to convince me to back a new venture using horses in psychological therapy, I doubt I'd write a single check. Although I have the strong feeling that the authors are experienced horsewomen and competant psychiatrists, there was nothing in this book to truly convince me of this. The only reason I gave this book 2 rather than 1 star(s) is because it may have interest for psychotherapists with little exposure to horses.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horses as friends, January 3, 2000

By 

Ortega Matas Josep "Josep Ll. Ortega" (Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Horse Sense and the Human Heart: What Horses Can Teach Us About Trust, Bonding, Creativity and Spirituality (Paperback)

Horses can be many things to different people. If you let them, they can be therapist, guides and perhaps better, friends. If you look for something more in riding, this book is illuminating. You will never ride again as before.