Perfect Manners - Kelly Marks

...ever make.

Perfect Manners: How You Should Behave So Your Horse Does Too, is easy to read and easy to follow. Using plain language, anecdotes, case studies and clear photos (mostly of her beautiful little horse Pie, who I was lucky enough to have done a Join Up with on one of my courses!), this book really helps you and your horse to achieve a greater bond and to overcome specific problems such as fidgeting when mounting, not wanting ...
...The book is divided into the following sections:

PART 1: RECOGNISING GOOD MANNERS
This section deals with what is understood by manners, the concepts behind Kelly's techniques, some basics about the way horse's perceive the world, the all important foundation exercises which will be the foundation (hence their name!) of your work to create that special bond with your horse, some more advanced exercises, and how to achieve the ... more

Anyone who has ever spent any time around horses will almost certainly have heard horses being berated for having 'no manners'. The truth of the matter is that ALL horses have manners - it's just that they have horse manners. If we want them to learn what acceptable manners around humans are, then it is our responsibility to teach them - and this book will show you how!

Former European champion jockey and show jumper Kelly Marks was the equine problem solver on the BBC series 'Barking Mad'. She regularly writes articles for Horse And Rider magazine and she starred in an Animal Planet documentary called 'Whispering The Wild' where she and her team worked with the wild horses of Namibia.

In 1993 Kelly met world famous horse whisperer Monty Roberts (in a petrol station of all places)and began to study his methods.
Kelly soon became the first ever teacher of Monty's methods. She founded the Intelligent Horsemanship Association, an organisation dedicated to "bring the best horsemanship ideas together from around the world in an effort to promote understanding and fair treatment of horses at every opportunity".

Kelly runs courses from Witney in Oxfordshire where students can study for The Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate Of Horsemanship.
As one of Kelly's students, and a holder of this certificate, I cannot recommend Kelly, her courses or her books highly enough - but even if you are someone who does not want to train for this qualification, if you are just a horse lover and/or owner, then this book could very well be the best investment you will ever make.

Perfect Manners: How You Should Behave So Your Horse Does Too, is easy to read and easy to follow. Using plain language, anecdotes, case studies and clear photos (mostly of her beautiful little horse Pie, who I was lucky enough to have done a Join Up with on one of my courses!), this book really helps you and your horse to achieve a greater bond and to overcome specific problems such as fidgeting when mounting, not wanting to load or being difficult to catch.

The book is divided into the following sections:

PART 1: RECOGNISING GOOD MANNERS
This section deals with what is understood by manners, the concepts behind Kelly's techniques, some basics about the way horse's perceive the world, the all important foundation exercises which will be the foundation (hence their name!) of your work to create that special bond with your horse, some more advanced exercises, and how to achieve the Monty Roberts' process of Join Up.

PART 2 - TEACHING GOOD MANNERS
This section deals with more specific problems you might have with your horse's manners such as: catching, barging, tying, biting, separation anxiety, scraping and banging, mounting, fear of vets, dentists, farriers, mane pulling, clipping, and loading.

For each problem, Kelly talks about possible reasons why this problem may have developed as well as things that you can do to help. There are lots of case studies in this section, provided by not only Kelly, but also from her Intelligent Horsemanship students and her team of Recommended Associates.

PART THREE- DEEPENING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
This section gives a brief history of behaviourism and an overview of behavioural terms such as Positive Reinforcement, Shaping, Desensitisation, Flooding and Latent Learning.
Don’t worry if this sounds too scientific for you, like the rest of the book, Kelly has worded it so that it is all very clear, easy to read and easy to understand.
Finally, this section talks about our own manners, and how we should behave both to our horses and to other people around us.

This is a comprehensive book that will benefit ALL horse owner - not just those with specific problems.

BORING BITS ( of the review that is!)
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The book is 224 pages long and available in soft back format.
Published by Ebury Press RRP £16.99
ISBN: 0091882702
Currently available from Amazon at £11.89

MORE INFORMATION
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Details of Kelly Marks, Intelligent Horsemanship, courses, merchandise and how to get help with your horse from one of Kelly's Recommended Associates can be found at http://www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk/

OTHER BOOKS FROM THE SAME AUTHOR:
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Kelly has four short books available, all published by J. A. Allen:

CREATING A BOND WITH YOUR HORSE
In depth description of Join Up, how to do it, when not to use it and what to do if it isn't working.

LEADING AND LOADING
Loading problems often go hand in hand with leading problems, so this book tackles both issues and shows you how to train your horse to want to load.

CATCHING HORSES MADE EASY
The title says it all!

HANDLING THE UNTOUCHED HORSE
How to safely catch, put a headcollar on, and eventually lead an untouched horse or pony.

 

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