Lyons on Horses by John Lyons
Cover art courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing
I have long spoken out against horse trainers who make their living with flashy clinics and shiny promotional materials, largely lumping them into the same category. This started with exposure to just one of these trainers, to whom I took an immediate dislike.
So when Skyhorse Publishing sent me a review copy of LYONS ON HORSES by John Lyons I was immediately skeptical. I’d never attended any of his symposia nor read any of his articles, but my immediate thought was: “This guy is probably full of crap.”
Unfortunately, most of us are immediately distrustful of hype. We assume that because something is popular it must be vacuous, and we therefore seek out more obscure schools of thought. This might be true particularly in the horse business because we are, as a group, skeptical human beings.
This isn’t a bad thing. However, after reading LYONS ON HORSES I fear I might have put the cart before the horse.
I read the entire book cover-to-cover, then went back and read select passages again. I marked several places in the book so I could consider them further at a later date, and I’ll admit that a few statements raised my hackles a bit.
Nevertheless, the majority of the material in LYONS ON HORSES is solid, well-informed advice. I found myself nodding my head in agreement through a number of the chapters, filtering each tidbit through my own range of experience. And the parts with which I don’t necessarily agree are not deal breakers by a long shot; they are just minor pieces of wisdom that I could take or leave.
There are three main themes in LYONS ON HORSES that really impressed me:
1. Safety is paramount. Lyons mentions frequently throughout the book how important it is for every equestrian activity to be safe for both horse and rider. Lots of the trainers I’ve worked with have not considered safety to be a primary concern, and I am grateful for Lyons’s concern.
2. You must set up the horse to succeed. This might or might not have been spelled out in so many words, but Lyons stresses the point that the trainer must put the horses in situations where he is most likely to succeed. So many trainers try to bait their horses into misbehaving, which sets up a pattern of mistrust and incorrect responses to stimuli.
3. Horse training begins (and ends) with a calm horse. If you whip a horse into a frenzy of anxiety and frustration, you accomplish nothing. In LYONS ON HORSES, Lyons points out that the horse learns best when he is calm.
To be honest, most people could follow Lyons’s approach to horse training from the first page to the last and wind up with a perfectly sane, responsive, well-behaved horse. In fact, it might be one of the best training programs I’ve ever encountered, and believe me when I say that this surprises me more than it could anyone else.
I don’t believe that you have to follow someone else’s equestrian philosophy in order to succeed as a horse trainer. However, I do believe in taking sound advice when it is offered, so I encourage all horse trainers to buy this book. Even if you’ve attended a John Lyons symposium. Even if you’ve been burned by famous trainers before. Even if you’re as skeptical as I was.
Read my full review at Suite101. Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for the free review copy.
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About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Chief Equestrian Officer of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. She believes that any horse business can succeed provided its owner practices smart strategy.
