Customer Reviews

Stallions: their management and handling

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I originally read this book almost 20 years ago (1983), along with John Richard Young's Schooling for Young Riders (also a must-read for beginners). The book is full of gentle, caring wisdom about the nature of horses and how best to partner with them. The author includes information about everything the novice horseman needs to know, from equipment to a variety of specific training and communication techniques. I have never encountered a better, more comprehensive text for the beginner who wishes to progess to confident competence. I highly recommend anything ever written by this author. It is a loss to us all that his books are no longer in print; he was ahead of his time 50 years ago, and he's still far more progressive than many contemporary trainers.

I was lucky to find it in an antique store, but what a load of infomation it has provided me. It has given me more training advice and tips that I can use on western horses through to hunters. Starting from the foal to yearlings to finishing, he is practicle informative of training a well manered and obidient horse and is not bias in the breed of horses he uses. I found this a great book for any one who wants to lern more on riding and horsemanship. John Richard Young is a great horseman and knows and respects his horses.

I originally read this book almost 20 years ago (1983), along with John Richard Young's Schooling for Young Riders (also a must-read for beginners). The book is full of gentle, caring wisdom about the nature of horses and how best to partner with them. The author includes information about everything the novice horseman needs to know, from equipment to a variety of specific training and communication techniques. I have never encountered a better, more comprehensive text for the beginner who wishes to progess to confident competence. I highly recommend anything ever written by this author. It is a loss to us all that his books are no longer in print; he was ahead of his time 50 years ago, and he's still far more progressive than many contemporary trainers.

I first bought a copy of this book in the early 1970's and used it to train my first green horse - a young Arabian Stallion. I found the approach clear and very usable. I feel the John Richard Young horse and rider training books to be among the best available then - and now. My training work was successful as a result of the book and I had many years of enjoyment with my well mannered responsive horse.

This is a virtual encyclopedia of valuable and interesting information on the schooling of the western horse and rider. Extremely readable - in fact, elegantly written, - it provides information on everything from the nature of horses and the traditions of western riding to the reasons for the peculiar style of gaucho saddles. The author discusses a vast range of topics in great detail - how to tell if your two year old is sufficiently developed to be ridden, the balanced seat of a working cowboy vs. that of the pleasure rider, the marks of a good mouth, the use of the legs, halterbreaking ("Halterbreaking is probably the simplest of elementary lessons in a horse's life; yet it can be taught wrongly, even to the extent of lasting ill effect."), the choice of bits and saddles - overall, a comprehensive, intelligent and enjoyable book on western horses and riding, full of thoughtful and interesting observations on training from the earliest days to the most advanced stages. Invaluable for the trainer or rider, and something the western horse-lover will want to read in-depth and then keep for reference. Superb.

I originally read this book almost 20 years ago (1983), along with John Richard Young's Schooling for Young Riders (also a must-read for beginners). The book is full of gentle, caring wisdom about the nature of horses and how best to partner with them. The author includes information about everything the novice horseman needs to know, from equipment to a variety of specific training and communication techniques. I have never encountered a better, more comprehensive text for the beginner who wishes to progess to confident competence. I highly recommend anything ever written by this author. It is a loss to us all that his books are no longer in print; he was ahead of his time 50 years ago, and he's still far more progressive than many contemporary trainers.

Overall, a good introduction to the handling and management of stallions. Packs a lot of information into a fairly small space, with detail on stallion physiology, training stallions to breed, breeding facilities, and methods for handling and housing stallions.

Caveat, however: the text portion of the book is only 60 pages long. True, it's packed with facts and illustrations, but I felt a little cheated when I realized that the last 40 pages of the book were simply photos of famous stallions with a little explanatory text.

Once, long, long ago, I babbled happily to a wonderful friend about the horse I was borrowing for rides in the country. One day, he brought me his worn, well-loved copy of "Schooling the Western Horse" saying it was the best book on horses he had ever seen. He had inscribed this on the inside cover...
"to Jody and her horses:
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On the fields of praise."
Then, he said to me, "Why don't you BUY that horse?"
It was electrifying! I was young and footloose. The idea of owning something so wonderful had never occured to me! I was a carefree airline girl, owning nothing but my car and my clothes!
My life has never been the same. Because of buying that horse, I bought a beautiful farm. I have owned many more horses, along with legions of beloved dogs, peacocks and chickens, goats and llamas pet cows and ponies and many more. I have baled hay, grown gardens, and laid in the pasture looking at clouds.
I have thought of him so often, in the decades that have passed, though I haven't seen him since. The gift he gave me was magical! The poem was "Fern Hill", by Dylan Thomas Fern Hill (Northern Lights Books for Children), and in these 40 years, I have lived what it describes exactly! Eerie! No one could have predicted that...but it's what happened! All because of buying that horse! I am so grateful to him! Not only is it certainly the best book on handling horses that I, too, have ever seen, but also it opened my life to unimagined wonders. Thanks, Al!