Customer Reviews

How to Think Like A Horse: Essential Insights for Understanding Equine Behavior and Building an Effective Partnership with Your Horse

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As a person who has loved, worked with, trained, ridden, lived with horses for over 50 years I wanted to like this book. Unfortunately I did not find it useful. In fact, I am afraid that novice horsemen will use this book as a baseline for equestrian behavior. I found her knowledge limited to personal experience, maybe she needs to get around or to read some research. I question her observations and interpretations of those observations. There are many issues in this book that I could take exception to but I will just talk about one. To suggest that a horse does not learn and their behavior is only rote or instinctual is very misleading. I've watched horses remove their halters, untie their leads, open gates, open snaps to get to the feed-room, and direct me to issues that they thought I should see such as empty water or feed barrels. Perhaps the author just has dumb horses but I suspect not. I hope that any novice horseman will expand their reading to other books as well so that they can get a more rounded view of equestrian behavior.

Great book. Bought it for my 14-year-old who thinks she knows it all. She has learned some interesting facts and applies that to her own horse. It has made her understand the horse instead of just reacting. Highly recommended for any level horse rider. You will learn at least one thing you didn't know before you picked up this book.

Cherry Hill's books are always very useful and easy reading. She has a way of stating things in a very simple but informative way. You can't go wrong with her books. This book is great if you have a casual interest in learning about horse behavior. It gives a lot of basic logic behind why horses do what they do. If you were intrigued by the study of horses, I would recommend "The Nature of Horses" by Stephen Budiansky as a more in depth study of the subject.

This is a delightful book full of information and insight from an often under-appreciated trainer. Cherry Hill covers everything from development to grooming to behavior to training.
Information which is normally strewn across several horse books comes together in this single volume. This is a must-read for every horse enthusiast.

Cherry Hill always has great books that are both interesting and informational. I have several in my home library and this may be the most useful one that I own. The horse is so much more complicated than people realize and if you are able to understand what your horse is thinking then you will be able to be more successful in anything and everything you do with your horses. The book has been an excellent source of information for training my own colts and understanding what they are thinking when you are trying to get them to respond to what you are asking them to do.

Cherry Hill is a great trainer and writer. She has a great way of explaining training procedures and offers excellent information on how to make training easier on both the trainer and the horse. Your horse will thank you for reading this book!

I have purchased many books on horses and riding, but Cherry Hill's "..Think Like a Horse" explained and reinforced so much more about what I was questioning and experiencing with my horse. It is certainly a wonderful resourse for "newbies" like myself who have discovered the wonders of horse at a late age, but I believe it also holds a lot of insights for the more experienced riders/owners who care about knowing their horses at least as well as they ride/show them. I was looking for something to explain a particular change in my horse's behavior (after eye exams, blood work etc turned up negative) and I believe I found it in Ms. Hill's book. Winnie and I thank her for sharing her knowledge and wisdom in a book packed with information.

This is a must for beginner riders or anyone who wants to understand horses. The material was very useful to me as a beginner rider, as well as, understanding what I need to know to ride my horse. Cherry Hill presents her knowledge in a way that is easily understood even by beginners, and has helped me greatly in knowing about my horse. I feel that I have gained enormious knowledge, and am grateful for such a book. I feel it has made a difference in how I relate to my horse. Thanks Cherry!

Cherry Hill has produced yet another trade paperback which is very difficult to summarize or critique due to the inherent contradictions that appear throughout, and the absence of a clear thesis or theme for the work. Ostensibly, the book purports to describe the horse's mental world and cognitive functions. But the title seems at odds with the thrust of the content; and in fact, there is very little empirical information as to exactly "why" horses do what they do (she admits to a reliance on anecdotal 'evidence' drawn exclusively from her own experiences; indeed, the bibliography lists only her own publications). The title leads one to believe that Hill is going to translate the equine view of the world into terms that humans can understand and use to communicate with their equine partners. However, the central tenet upon which Hill bases her description is that horses function in accordance with an exclusively behavioralist model (a la` B. F. Skinner, a modality outdated and at present rejected by most of the professional psychological community). She states in Chapter 9, "Learning," that "horses are not ranked highly as problem solvers," (pg. 127); and again in the same chapter, "as horses learn they don't reason, they react." She is actually describing the horse's mental world as not mental at all, but linear, exclusively instinctive and limited to responses to stimulus presented to them by their environments. First of all, anyone who has watched a horse undo a stall latch, take off a blanket or fly mask, feign fear, or cut corners in a riding arena to save themselves some steps is fully aware of the problem solving ability of even the most lackadaisical horse. Hill discusses the ability of horses to anticipate cues or requests, or events such as feeding time but denies that this is a form of reasoning. Nor does she take into account some of the latest field research which is finding innovative ways to test the finer points of equine cognitive abilities (cf. publications by Dr. Katherine Houpt, Director, Animal Behavior Institute, Cornell Veterinary College; and the full body of work by Dr. Evelyn Hanggi, Equine Research Foundation, Aptos, California).
Less than innocuous is Hill's brief and misleading discussion of appropriate punishment of horses for "bad" behavior (pgs. 141-142). As if her claim that horses in a herd, left to their own devices, "punish" each other is not misleading enough, Hill further states that "punishment" is a part of "natural" horse training (one presumes she is referring to the 'natural' horsemanship of a John Lyons or Monty Roberts?), which is clear misstatement, and worse, gives license to frustrated riders or owners to vent their anger on horses. Punishment is defined as the imposition of a penalty for the perpetration of some fault or offense. To comprehend deeply the equine mind/spirit is to attempt to access an entity totally 'other,' an alterity that does not, can not, subscribe to human notions of fault or immorality or social obligation. To presume otherwise smacks of extreme anthropocentrism, the very world view the true horseman should be working to overcome.
There are so many negative criticisms one could make of Hill's most recent publication - there simply isn't time or space. If such works were simply cluttering up bookshelves in tack shops and bookstores, there would be no cause for comment. But apparently unsuspecting neophytes in the horse world believe they are duly informed about horses after reading this book and others like it. Hence the perpetuation of misconceptions, myths, and fabrications that have caused untold suffering within the realm of the domesticated horse.

Cheryl Hill is a new hero of mine. Her grasp of the equine species is tremendous and she has a beautiful and easy way of communicating her deep knowledge to us in this book. I now require all my children to read it (cover to cover) as it will help them understand why horses do what they do, and how, in our becoming better horsemen, we will bring out the amazing horse inside each one of ours. The layout is excellent, photography spectacular, and the format so easy to follow and read. Five stars for sure.

This is a great book for someone who is a horse owner for the first time or just getting into horses. It gives you a great insight on how and why horses do what they do. It gives good tips on how to act around a horse in different situations. The author also gives good examples from her life with her horses. I have had horses my whole life so I felt the book was borning.