Living with Horsepower!: Personally Empowering Life Lessons Learned from Horses [Hardcover]

Rebekah Ferran Witter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

A remarkable and entertaining look at why people spend time, energy, and money on horses - and what they receive in return. Featuring 70 photographs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square Publishing (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570761213
• ISBN-13: 978-1570761218
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,966,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sophisticated yet personal look at the human-horse bond, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Living with Horsepower!: Personally Empowering Life Lessons Learned from Horses (Hardcover)

Rebekah Ferran Witter's Living with HorsePower!: personally empowering life lessons learned from the horse, reflects the depth of Witter's investment in horses and her skill in analyzing the human-horse bond. Witter elegantly blends direct quotations from her interviews with many well-known figures in the horse industry with her own synthetic and interpretive narration. The interviewees are horsepeople from all disciplines of riding, from western pleasure to dressage, cutting to cross-country, pleasure and trail to endurance. Living with HorsePower! should attract readers from the professional horse world as well as anyone who has ever enjoyed riding or has felt the mesmerizing power of horses. Witter sets her narrative in personal terms, making her presentation accessible to all readers. Included are excellent sets of photographs of the interviewees. Well organized chapters touch on topics such as species-specific behaviors of the horse, equine intelligence, methods used by humans to understand and communicate with these oft used and misused creatures, and the psychological benefits that can result from working with horses. Living with HorsePower! is not only enjoyable reading for the horselover, but can be an instructive read for friends and partners who are unable to fathom the attraction to horses, providing insight into just what constitues the attachment to equine partners in work, play and imagination.

A couple notes or warnings about the text. The interview selections are included in italics directly into Witter's narration. This caused no problem with the continuity of the read, in fact it was one of the appealing uniquenesses of the text, but I imagine this format might be bothersome to some readers. The other note is that this is not a "how to" book, nor a scientific text, although it does include short but excellent analyses of central training and behavioral theories.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do You Really Know Horses?, March 4, 2000

By 

Kristian Kirk (Pinehurst NC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living with Horsepower!: Personally Empowering Life Lessons Learned from Horses (Hardcover)

Yeah, I thought I did. Being a copetetive showjumper can give you a "big head", but after reading LIVING WITH HORSEPOWER, I saw the horse in a new light. Witter's interviews with top horseman that everyone admires taught me that horses do have feelings,they love you, and they can put you in your place quickly. Reguardless of the size of the animal, and there more commonly spoken about "stupidity", I have come to realize through this book that horses can reason. I swear I can disagree with any scientist that horses CAN do these things. LIVING WITH HORSEPOWER, has truly taught me to think like a horse, and has made me become a better horsewoman. I would like to now thank Rebekah Ferran Witter for this new "life".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for every horse owner!, July 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living with Horsepower!: Personally Empowering Life Lessons Learned from Horses (Hardcover)

Ms. Witter seems to have captured all that is truly equine, and then some. Being a "Saddlebred" person, I was thrilled with Ms. Witter's interviews with Tom Moore and Mrs. Crabtree who today are the icons of the Saddlebred world.

I could relate to every chapter in this book from horse communication, to detective work, to the chapter on loss. This book is a MUST have for anyone who rides or has horses in their lives! A fantastic read...A fine job!