What Horses Want

This book is a revelation not just for horselovers but also for anyone who has ever felt inexplicably drawn to horses or riding. Gertrud Pysall has spent many years investigating the nature and behaviour of domesticated horses, how they deal with humans, and their reaction to life in the stable rather than in the wild. She gives her readers valuable advice on how to interact with horses in a harmonious and peaceful way.

The difficulties in dealing with horses cannot be solved simply by loving them. This book creates awareness for the needs of horses. The horse is not made into a culprit: instead, the aim is to show the path to establishing respectful cooperation.

This book describes for the first time the social rules of horses, including a vocabulary of around 130 horse “words” and 40 essential communication gestures for humans. When people learn to use these gestures, they become accepted by the horse as a social partner. It is this that creates the basis for the horse to decide to trust the person.