How much do you know about your horse’s mind?
Is there a way to identify your horse’s inner strength and ability to learn and use that knowledge to help move him toward your goals?
Researcher and author Kerry Thomas believes there is. Thomas, who began his theory on “emotional intelligence” while researching wild horse herds in Wyoming and Montana, says a horse’s Emotional Conformation Profile can tell you whether that horse will be successful in competition–or have what it takes to be a solid trail riding horse.
He outlines this research and how you can use it in his book, Horse Profiling, which Thomas wrote with Calvin L. Carter. This fascinating book is the June book of the month for MyHorse Books, the online book club for MyHorse Daily, and is offered on HorseBooksEtc for $29.95. Buy Horse Profiling before the end of the month and they’ll give you a 10 percent discount off your entire order through May 31,2012 when you use the promo code MOTIVATE.
If you are in the market for a new horse, you should read this book before making a final decision, as it will help you identify a horse who is mentally trainable. And this factor, Thomas says, is just as important as your horse’s build when it comes to your overall success with him.
“In a manner of speaking, the machine of the horse is his physical conformation,” Thomas wrote in Horse Profiling. “The pilot of that machine is his Emotional Conformation.”
It is that emotional conformation of a horse that determines his pecking order within a herd, Thomas says, and he offers detailed ways you can evaluate your horse. For example, “Observe your horse in a herd,” he writes, “and identify the distance of space around him that is both influencing is own movement and reactions, and that of others.”
Does your horse spend most of his time reacting to communication from the other horses, or from a buddy? That can help you determine if he has an Individual or Group Herd dynamic–and knowing that helps you determine what kind of training he needs. If your horse is a high-level horse or the herd leader, for example, he will require specific training because he can get bored easily, Thomas says, and that poses its own training challenges.
“High-level horses are ‘thinkers’ and tremendously advanced communicators, but they can be stubborn,” he writes in Horse Profiling. “They are the best racing, endurance, and eventing horses, but they must be physically trained and mentally nurtured.”
He also offers case studies of horses whose poor physical conformation caused them to be initially cast aside as athletes–until their “emotional conformation,” or inner strength, became apparent. Those horses include racing greats Seattle Slew and Seabiscuit.
Horse Profiling will help you:
- Choose training methods specific to your horse’s mental makeup
- Improve your horse’s performance as you unlock the key to motivating him
- Nurture your horse’s mind
