I don’t recall where I got this book from, but I thought of it when I finished The Man Who Lives with Wolves the other day- I had a hunch there was a similarity here. I was right. Both books have lots of intriguing information on animal behavior and communication, but then a key point I disagree with or can’t believe is factual. So:
Talking with Horses is an older book by a man who owned many horses and became known for his effectiveness in resolving their behavior problems. He took in or bought many horses to try and fix their issues, then returned them to their owners, or found them new homes if needed. His methods are very like Monty Roberts‘- to make a connection with the animal via its own use of body language, while gradually getting it used to new things- introducing the tack slowly, repeatedly handling a horse to overcome its fear of being touched in certain places, etc. Desensitization and verbal, visual cues. For years he studied the way his horses communicated with each other, took detailed notes, and made lists of gestures and sounds that seemed to have certain meanings. A lot of this sounded very solid and familiar to me- he even mentions the head-lowered, mouthing gesture a foal or young horse uses to indicate submission, the same signal Roberts looks for when “joining up” with a horse in a round pen (though Blake didn’t utilize it the same way).
There are many interesting and insightful anecdotes in this book, demonstrating Blake’s methods and showing what he learned from the horses in his life, and how many he helped. I enjoyed reading them, and I found his compiled “dictionary” of horse vocalizations and body language pretty interesting. What kind of put me off were a few sexual references which he carefully phrased in an attempt to be subtle, but it was pretty obvious, borderline offensive and a poor choice of comparison, in my opinion. And then there’s his conviction of ESP and telepathy- he sincerely believed he could communicate with certain horses this way. Nearly half the book is details about incidents when he felt sure he’d received mental images or messages from a horse, and experiments he carried out to try and prove it. I am sure there is another explanation for the reactions he observed- whether it’s that horses simply can hear far better than he realized (one reference I found said they can hear frequencies that bats utilize, and sounds from 4 km in distance) or just pure coincidence.
I’m shelving this book alongside The Man Who Listens to Horses, I think it’s an interesting comparison because the two have such similar methods and observations about equine communication (particularly the body language). With a huge caveat in my head for keeping this book, since I think half of it is just a load of bunk.
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I’m always curious about books like this one. I have one called “What It’s Like to Be a Bird” that’s about to come up to the top of my TBR stack. Can’t wait to read it. It’s oversized and filled with color illustrations that make it a striking book…but not one that can be easily carried around.
That title sounds familiar- I think it’s on my TBR too!