Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)In Ride the Right Horse, Yvonne Barteau gives four basic horse personalities: Social, Fearful, Aloof and Challenging to describe horses she has encountered in her training and riding career. Each horse is further evaluated by their level of Aggressiveness, and could possibly be a Mix of two, with one always being predominant.
The obvious, huge problem with this book is the very limited categories to describe horse personality. There is also the difficulty that she states that horses are always X type and never change, though their intensity may change. This is dogmatic and inflexible thinking that I personally found limited the book and it's use for me.
Overall, I think this book has good information that can be helpful as long as you know what you are getting from it. It does provide insight into different horse personalities and does a very good job on providing ideas on how you can type your horse through observation.
The bullet notes on each type are extremely clear and should be easy for the layperson to experienced horseperson to apply. They will be helpful in understanding your horse and deciding how to build a connection and a training program (on your own - as no real training plan is provided) based upon their personality. Whether these traits are man-encouraged or innate though is something I don't feel Barteau gives enough flexibility in understanding.
Where the book is the weakest is in recommending a training program that fits with the type. Though some snippets are thrown in at the end of chapters they are vague, to the point of being meaningless.
As someone pointed out on another review here, Barteau does not give Case Studies (as the author calls them) but anecdotes. Anecdotes are personal short stories that may be used to illustrate a point, but like all dogs are not German Shepherds, it can't be used as blanket, scientific proof of anything. If you are science-based or an analytical/logical person this may irk you; it only mildly irritated me as the stories were a bit entertaining though too salted with Barteau's own prejudices.
One of my areas of concerns is her chapter and discussion of The Aloof Horse - as well as her voice/tone which is more obvious in this chapter but is actually throughout the book. It's a tone of entitlement: horses are there to serve the needs of the rider, and horses are only beautiful when they obey.
Let me quote some of the book:
Bertha lived in his own little world. He didn't keep up with any of the comings and goings along the barn aisle; in fact, the only thing he paid attention to was feed time. He had no equine friends and was never the favorite of any of the grooms. A white horse that seemed to enjoy making himself filthy, he tolerated, rather he relished the lengthy effort it took to transform him into a sparkling white steed for his nightly performance. p. 67-68.
Am I the only one who sees some real dangers on the part of the author in writing this text? Let's ask us some questions:
1.) Why wouldn't a horse enjoy getting dirty?
2.) Why would anyone expect a horse to process what a human wants it to do (stay clean so it will look pretty) when it has nothing to do with a horses' need?
3.) Placing human feelings/desires/motivations upon a horse and using inflammatory language: "he relished the lengthy effort" implies the horse is getting dirty out of revenge and spite towards its humans. It is extremely dangerous for a trainer to place human motivations upon a horse; it gives the trainer an excuse to dislike or abuse the horse in order to punish for misconceived human-projected failings.
Another quote:
Ultimately he was not much fun to ride and because of his aloofness and laziness, he was only moderately talented as a dressage horse. Bertha would have made a tolerant lower-level lesson horse and may have been more suited to that purpose. p. 68
I'll excuse Barteau on not getting the horse removed from the show as she did not own him. However, the contempt in these lines (written years after she encountered this horse) drips like acid. She still cannot forgive the horse or cut him any slack. Instead, she acknowledges that he was not suited to the drudgery of nightly performances of high level dressage yet does not perceive that this may have caused the horse any emotional distress, unwillingness or depression.
Yet, another quote (quite indicative of Barteau's sense horses are to be used):
Horses like Bertha, especially in a busy training barn, can be much to easy to ignore...We were just too busy, so consequently Bertha rewarded himself by doing just enough to get by. p. 68.
Again, Barteau gives a solution for this horses' problem, does not provide it for him, and continues to blame him for his lack of talent.
The Rider-Horse matching at the end was a pretty weak chapter. It will appeal to people who take personality quizzes in the back of Cosmo magazine... The fitting of horse with rider is based upon the Myer-Briggs Scale, yet Barteau, the only contributing author, is no psychologist. By coupling the Myer-Briggs Scale with her own personal, subjective and untested 4-Personality system it lends a scientific validity to her own theories. Excuse me if I find this rather funny and don't take it too seriously.
Overall, I found Barteau spends more time explaining her personal stories of how she rode XYZ horse (usually a pricey, imported Warmblood) to the ribbons, then in providing ideas for the average, non-Grand Prix rider to accomplish good work. Interesting idea but falls way short of what I was expecting.
UPDATED TO ADD.... poor widdle author got mad that she got a poor review for a book that was average... Her reply to me follows (BTW I stand by my review - her research protocol STILL sucks) -- she didn't have the guts to print it here - but had to attack me on my private blog! ROFLMAO!!:
Good evening,
A friend directed me to some comments you wrote concerning a book I authored. You made some ridiculous suppositions based on looking at the cover photo and also a comment that I mostly worked with young horses which could not be farther from the truth. My research has been in the horse field for almost forty years and when I am not riding teaching or competing I am still studying horses so I can get better at my craft. I do not know you or what you have accomplished in the horse world but I hope you have more than fingers and a keyboard to help you reach the conclusions you type.
I was requested to write that book before I ever started it and only did so in order to help shed light on what I believe to be an important issue when handling all horses in that they must be treated as individuals first and foremost.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Ride the Right Horse: Understanding the Core Equine Personalities & How to Work with Them
A compatible personality is the most desirable quality in a horse, yet it is much harder to assess than gait or conformation. All horses have distinct personality traits that make them more or less suitable for various riding styles and disciplines. Riders and trainers who understand how to work with, not against, a horse's temperament will be rewarded with a happier, more successful human/equine relationship. Dressage trainer Yvonne Barteau describes the four basic equine personality types — social, fearful, aloof, and challenging — and the different clues to identify a horse's primary personality. Often the dominant personality type is complemented by a secondary trait, creating, for example, the aloof-challenging or fearful-social horse. Using clear signals and readily identi-fied behavior patterns, riders can determine any horse's type and then use this book's tips and techniques to improve training sessions. Fun and enlightening as it is to analyze equine characteristics, it's just as important to understand how the personalities of both the rider and the trainer affect each horse. Barteau includes a self–evaluation quiz to help the reader determine what her own riding and handling preferences are and how she can use that knowledge to work more effectively with her current horse or to shop smarter when selecting a new equine partner. Fascinating case studies, stories, and profiles of famous horses and their riders offer readers real-life examples of how compatible personalities work together to achieve great things!
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