Foundations: Dave Rossiter's Horse Sensible Horsemanship

by Dave Rossiter

Arizona horse trainer Dave Rossiter looks back on knowledge gained through experience, and a little help from his friends, which brought him success with horses and built the foundation for his “Horse Sensible Horsemanship” program.

Dave then goes in-depth on how to "read" a horse and how adjusting your training program to suit each particular horse's physical and mental profile reaps great rewards.

Foundations is the first in a series of books written in support of Dave's Horse Sensible Horsemanship program that takes the horse enthusiast on a journey of communication and understanding with the horse, focusing on leadership, trust, communication, and safety.

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First published March 9, 2012

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a horse lover and owner of 6 horses over the years plus learning from my Dad and Uncles about horses (one being a trainer) I found this to be a very interesting book to read. Now I understand why maybe I didn't get to see my Uncle's methods as he too probably did the "full attention on the horse getting the horses full attention" so didn't want any of us kids nearby as he did his training. He could get a horse to do things on his voice commands without touching anything. You will definatly come away learning something from this book. I did learn the alpha mare/herd things Dave mentions when I had 3 horses together instead of just one like my early years and the one I rode the most was definatly the alpha mare. It was very interesting to read about the trainers that Dave had learned from too. I didn't know anything about the confirmation things that could relate to the way a horse might act! I highly recommend any horse owner to read this book, you will surely come away learning something new and useable.

[Letty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book on horse training has information I've never seen anywhere else. A main aspect of Dave's program is teaching how to "read" a horse to determine not only its physical abilities, but mental capabilities and personality. He then instructs how to adapt your training methods to get the best results with each type of horse based on the analysis of its capabilities and its personality. He includes detailed illustrations to help you determine which traits are likely to cause issues during the training program, and how to deal with it.

The first part of the book is like a memoir and is pretty entertaining, but also has lessons within the stories.

It's natural horsemanship taken to a new level. A kinder, gentler version of natural horsemanship training than any I've seen elsewhere.

If you have horses, or plan on getting any, this is a must-read.