# Know of any good books or DVDs on natural horsemanship? Good trainers?



## Spirithorse (Jun 21, 2007)

Pat Parelli is who I follow. I love his program! You can go to www.parelli.com and look at their DVDs and see if anything catches your attention. Pat also wrote a book many years ago about his approach that is very good.


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## TipTop (Mar 2, 2007)

I have read Pat Parelli also. I also have a ton of CLinton Anderson DVD's. I like his approach.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

Clinton Anderson (He's the guy I like the most)
Buck Brannaman
Gawani Pony Boy
Kyra Kirkland (Uses very natural methods IMO) (Dressage but great fundamentals)
Sally Swift (Same as above)


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Clinton Anderson

Craig Cameron


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## Calamity Jane (Mar 16, 2009)

Books by Tom Dorrance & Ray Hunt. These are the guys who came before Parelli, Lyons, Anderson, Cameron, etc.... In Ray's book Think Harmony With Horses he talks about the very basic idea that encompasses the entire NH movement:

That it's not about making a horse do anything, but about presenting him with an idea and letting him figure it out AND that the training isn't for the horse, but for US (people)....that by working on ourselves (our communication skills through becoming more aware of how we are presenting ourselves to the horse)....that is the important thing. That's what makes the difference.

For example, I can say I am the leader between me and my horse. But if I lead him around by pulling on the lead rope or let him drag me around by the lead, or if he steps in toward me I always step out of his way so as not to get stepped on....then wonder why he bucked me off, or why he bites me or why he.... I'm out of sync with my horse and am only being a leader in my mind not in my actions. 

I think the Revolution in Horsemanship is a good book to get you started as to why this NH stuff works, what's the point? why it even "exists" (it's been around for as long as people have existed...practically, but it has just now come around to being so public)..... 

It's way more than just the mechanics of things....understanding the "why" behind it is (I think) more important than getting the "moves" down perfect. 

For DVDs and such:
Clinton Anderson is plain and simple and direct
John Lyons has some DVDs out, and some books that can get you started (Communication through Cues) that explains and has some How to's in em.
Parelli has the games and a lot of stuff too

These, I think are the ones who you might like the best because they break it all up into baby steps for you to put together as lessons.

There's also Dennis Reis who has a complete program like Parelli, Chris Cox has some cool stuff (but I tend to lean toward saying he's more of a trainer's trainer. less ground work and more in the saddle and some folks can't start up there, ya know?)

If you get RFDtv, you can see some Clinton Anderson and Craig Cameron and others...


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## Juniper (May 4, 2007)

I have mentioned this before, you can get quite a few from your local library. That way you can try some and see who you like before you spend a ton of money on Dvd's.


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## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

Thanks, everyone! I really like the Library idea. I think I saw you mention the Library in another thread, and it hadn't crossed my mind =) I'll have to put "Library card" on my to-do list.


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## Qtswede (Apr 16, 2009)

I love Chris Cox. Monty Roberts has a few neat tricks, and Stacy Westfall is great too. Read as many as you can, and watch all the videos you can. I don't follow any one particularly closely, but Cox is my favorite, mostly because he teaches the same way I do. LOL!!


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## cowgirl4jesus94 (Jun 14, 2008)

I really like John Lyons. He doesnt use the big fancy words. He's super easy to understand and is really good with horses.

I would love to get parelli's level 1 series but dont have the money and my library doesnt have it. :/


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## Jane Honda (Feb 27, 2009)

Steve Rother.


Steve Rother - Horse Teacher


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## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

John Lyons is the only person I've ever viewed doing Natural Horsemanship and I really took an understanding of his methods. He did a show at a horse fair in California a while back before I got my first horse. 


cowgirl4jesus94 said:


> I really like John Lyons. He doesnt use the big fancy words. He's super easy to understand and is really good with horses.
> 
> I would love to get parelli's level 1 series but dont have the money and my library doesnt have it. :/


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## Juniper (May 4, 2007)

Cowgirl4 did you ask if the library could order it from another library? Sometimes they have a pretty large network to borrow from. I got my Clinton Anderson DVD from E-bay for a fraction of the cost of a new one. My friend put up a sign at the local feed store looking for used training tapes and got a few that way.


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## EternalSun (Mar 29, 2009)

John Lyons and Clinton Anderson are my personally favorite. I love Clinton - his philosophy is with horses, everything is black and white, no shades of grey. It's very simple and you get excellent results.


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## cowgirl4jesus94 (Jun 14, 2008)

Juniper said:


> Cowgirl4 did you ask if the library could order it from another library? Sometimes they have a pretty large network to borrow from. I got my Clinton Anderson DVD from E-bay for a fraction of the cost of a new one. My friend put up a sign at the local feed store looking for used training tapes and got a few that way.


They might be able to inter-library loan it. (our library is so high maintenance! But i'll call them later!


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## Juniper (May 4, 2007)

When you call, tell them libraries are supposed to be "user friendly" and they are supposed to help you find any resource you need. Okay, you probably can't really say that but sounds like you would like to.


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## cowgirlfitzy (Jan 27, 2009)

Clinton Anderson is the way to go! I LOVE HIM! He is very easy to understand and gets the job as quickly as possible. 

Do you have RFD-TV? Its on like dish network, and direct Tv. You could watch that and find out who you like before going and spending money on stuff.


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## MaieuticManege (Mar 2, 2009)

My personal favorite is Dennis Reis. He's got his own horsemanship that is somewhere between Parelli and Anderson. I enjoy that he only has 1 course to sell and not about 100 different ones like everyone else so you don't have to buy a bunch of stuff. However, I do like Parelli and Anderson and I use a lot of their techniques. John Lyons also is good.

However, I do not like Craig Cameron. He is too rough-and-tumble for me and I prefer a gentler approach, but that's just me. I respect Stacy Westfall, but after seing one of her seminars I don't agree with all of her methods, and yet again, I prefer a gentler approach.

That's just my two cents though. I would recommend buying Parelli's book _Natural Horse-man-ship _though, it has lots of useful information with out all the showboating and high prices.


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