empower

Empowered Horses - Learning Their Way Through Independence, Self-Confidence, And Creative Play by Imke Spilker

I received a copy of this amazing book in the mail a while ago, I have trouble myself working out how to describe this book. The translator Kris McCormack is a friend of mine and she has made this a very special project - one I think is a must for every horse owner who wants to develop a relationship with their horse. I have pasted Kris's review as she tells the reader all they need to know to know that this book is a must read:

Since I'm the person who translated this book from German into English you might consider me hopelessly biased. And you'd be right. I think this is an extraordinary book. I've read it a total of 5 or 6 times, in two languages, and I still have not gotten everything there is to get from it. I doubt I'll ever get it all, no matter how many more times I read it. "Empowered Horses" is that rich. I was not hired to translate this book; I read it, loved it, felt it had to be available in English, and took it upon myself to translate it, long before I ever had a commitment from a publisher.

The market is flooded with many books about working with horses. Nearly all of these books concern themselves with how we can better use the horse, how we can get him to do more amazing things for us, how we can make him more compliant to our "requests," more obedient to our demands. Even the books that purport to tell us how to "whisper" to our horses are, at root, just teaching us another method for imposing our will -- albeit in a "softer" voice.

"Empowered Horses" is different. You could say it is a handbook for a revolution in the horse-human relationship. There's no mention at all of any technique or "trick" for getting a horse to do what we want him to do. On the contrary, the book begins by issuing an invitation -- an invitation to enter the world of horses and see things from their perspective: "There is an entryway. Once you go through it, you will never again be able to distance yourself from the concerns of horses. You will no longer be deaf to their language. You will no longer be unreceptive to their feelings. It is up to you to take this step. We invite you into the world of horses...."

If we accept this invitation and open our hearts and minds to what the horses have to teach us, we find ourselves re-examining everything we thought we knew about these intelligent, creative, and supremely kind beings -- and re-evaluating everything we do with (and to) them.... and how we do it. We learn what it means for a horse to be empowered, and how we can help him become that way. We learn how important it is to free the horses in our lives from our unceasing demands, desires, and expectations. We learn to listen to them so that a real conversation, a real dialog can take place. We begin using our power in their behalf, for their well being. We learn how to develop a relationship with horses based in freedom, equality, and mutual understanding -- in short, we learn how to form a true friendship, with all that implies.

And that's just for starters. There is much more to be learned from this book. Just for example, it contains the best explanation of collection I have ever read, not only of the biomechanics, but particularly of the emotional and spiritual dimensions. There is fascinating information on the many forms of communication, and on how emotions (our own and our horses') are manifested in posture and movement. And so on...

The back covers of both German editions,and this English one, too, have the "slogan": "The book that every horse would give his rider." That's not hyperbole; that's truth in advertising. This book really is the one your horse would give you if he could.