Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership Paperback – September 22, 2015

Finally...it all makes sense...49 years of working with horses is so much clearer in my mind. I had bits of it here and there. Never enough to put all the pieces together until now. I have been able to look back at the different horses I have had and see each one of them in the examples of the stories Rashid writes. I could see myself creating some of the exact issues in the stories he has written going all the way up till now from when I first started as a child to a more recent horse. I could see the resemblance of the different trainers and farriers I had in the past and how the horses reacted. I always wanted to communicate with my animals & horses. I have always loved horses. Reading this book has given me new energy and perspectives. I find it a comfort and a relief to go back and look at each horse that has been in my life and see more insight into why they were doing some of the things they did, what I was going thru at that time in my life and put it all together. I remember as a teen reading horse training articles. Two come to mind right away. One was an article that said horses were stupid, lazy and bullies. I felt sorry for the person (big time trainer) that wrote that story because I didn't have that experience being around horses since I was 6, but was dismayed at the way this person trained and felt sad for their horses. That was not the route I wanted to continue down. Another was from an olympian rider that talked about "the touch" and connecting with your horse. That was the direction that I wanted to go and tried my best to do so. Wish I had come across this book earlier in my life. Will be signing up for more training and books! Thank you. What a wonderful writer & human Rashid is. This applies to almost every relationship I can think of as well. With or without horses!

This is one of my favorite horse-related books to date. Full of amazing stories and lessons about horses that are truly applicable in every day life. Wonderful, informative, interesting narratives that will make you want to read through in one sitting! This book will teach you about life with horses, and with people.

I really enjoyed this book. Aside from being rather entertaining, I thought it had really valuable lessons on how to be open to the nuances of how horses communicate. I am currently having a lot of trouble with one of my horses and can totally relate to clients who had stories of how their horses were written off by trainers. There is a lot of insight on herd dynamics and learning how to see the world from the horse's point of view. I especially like Mark's counter argument for making yourself the so-called alpha horse. I agree that it's all fine if you want to dominate your horse, I'm looking for a partner and am more interested on how to build a relationship that puts my horse at ease and I found a lot of guidance here on how to take that path. Don't get me wrong, this is not a cookbook on how to fix your problem horse. There are no lesson plans, methods or tricks - it is just a lot of wisdom, observation and suggestion on what else could possibly cause your horse to not cooperate as you expect. If you are willing to listen, then I believe this is a great start to put a rider in his or her right frame of mind to go to the next level of horsemanship and allow your horse a voice in how you go about it. Also, I think the lessons in this book perfectly transfer to relationships with people and valuable lessons on leadership in a corporate setting. It'a all about being self aware, how to focus and truly listen and practice that art of silent communication.

I absolutely love this book. I was having a difficult time understanding the was my horse actualmente, and this book really helped. He is partially blind in his left eye, so this makes some of the easiest (it seems) tasks nearly imposible. I really recomend this book for anyone who wants to better understand horses.

I have recently rediscovered my love for horses in the past year. The horse & donkey I have been able to connect with is owned by the property owner where my husband and I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. As I read this book I recognized many of the things about building trust and the horse’s willingness to follow based on this. I am more excited to continue learning how to connect with these amazing animals by considering things from their perspective as well. Thank you so much for spelling things out through the many experiences included in this book.

This book is especially enjoyable because the author shares his personal insights so colorfully that you experience it along with his stories. It reads as if he's in the room, telling you about his lifelong experiences in the rural horse world. The book is written in a down to earth, logical and compassionate style makes for extremely easy reading. I found myself wishing there were more words published in this sturdy hardcover...there is a lot of white space because the book is briefer than it appears from the cover. Otherwise, great!Just a little different spin from the conventional natural horsemanship approach, but it dovetails with the philosophy. I especially appreciated that the author observed horse behavior in the wild, not in artificial groups on a horse farm. With this perspective, it becomes obvious that we often attribute social strata behaviors to our horses as "natural" that really are not, but that rather result from conditions we impose upon their stability in their social environment.Aside from sharing insightful information about horse interaction, leadership and relating to your horse, the stories alone were riveting and fulfilling for any horse lover.

Such a wonderful book. I will definitely being applying a lot of what I have learned from this book to work with my heart horse who was once a wild mustang and is now learning to be my domestic ride 💕 I have already ordered my next book by this author and I’m thrilled he has a few books so I can continue my studies.