Linda Tellington-Jones - Getting in Ttouch with Your Horse: How to Assess and Influence Personality, Potential, and Performance

Books

The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book

Enlightened and Revolutionary Solutions for the 21st Century

Lets Ride! with Linda Tellington-Jones

Fun and TTeamwork with Your Horse or Pony

The Tellington TTouch

A Breakthrough Technique to Train and Care for Your Favorite Animal

An Introduction to the Tellington-Jones Equine Awareness Method

The TEAM Approach to Problem-Free Training

Getting in TTouch with Your Dog

A Gentle Approach to Influencing Behavior, Health, and Performance

Getting in TTouch with Your Puppy

A New and Gentle Way to Harmony, Behavior, and Well-Being

Getting in TTouch with Your Cat

A New and Gentle Way to Harmony, Behavior, and Well-Being

TTouch for Healthcare

The Health Professionals Guide to Tellington TTouch

DVDs

Hit It Off with Your Horse!

Understanding and Influencing Character and Personality

Unleash Your Dogs Potential

Getting in TTouch with Your Canine Friend

Solving Riding Problems with TTEAM

Disc 1: From the Ground

Solving Riding Problems with TTEAM

Disc 2: In the Saddle

TTouch for Dressage

Starting a Young Horse

Haltering Your Foal without Trauma

Developing a Horses Full Potential with TEAM

Riding with Awareness

Developing a Horses Full Potential with TTEAM

TTouch of Magic for Horses

The TTEAM Approach to Handling Stallions and Mares

This book is dedicated to my sister, Robyn Hood, with my deepest appreciation for the major contributions she has made to my life; to the memory of my grandfather George, who taught me to approach horses with gentleness; to the memory of grandfather Will Caywood, who gifted me with his understanding of equine nature and gypsy lore; and to the spirit of all the horses who have enriched my life and opened my heart.

First published in 1995 by

Trafalgar Square Books

North Pomfret, Vermont 05053

Revised in 2009 by Trafalgar Square Books

Printed in China

Copyright 1995 and 2009 by Linda Tellington-Jones

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a magazine, newspaper, or Web site.

Disclaimer of Liability

The authors and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. While the book is as accurate as the authors can make it, there may be errors, omissions, and inaccuracies.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier edition as follows:

Tellington-Jones, Linda.

Getting in ttouch: understand and influence your horses personality / by Linda Tellington-Jones with Sybil Taylor.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-57076-018-7

1. HorsesBehavior. 2. HorsesAnatomy. 3. HorsesTraining. I. Taylor, Sybil. II.

Title.

SF281.T44 1995

636.1083dc20

94-37475

CIP

ISBN: 978-1-57076-415-8

Book design by Friedhelm Steinen-Broo, eStudio Calamar

Cover design by Heather Mansfield

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When the first edition of this book was published in 1995, it immediately attracted a great deal of interest from horse owners who wanted to learn more about evaluating their horses personality through an analysis of physical traits and characteristics. The book was published in several languages and excerpted in many magazine articles all over the world. I received hundreds of emails and letters from riders who found the information invaluable in deciding whether or not to buy a new horse, or just more fully understand and appreciate the horse they already had.

Interest in personality analysis continuesin fact, it is more active today than it was then. For this reason, in this new edition, we have added 15 new horse evaluations as well as updated it throughout with brand new color photographs and accompanying text.

In February 2008, the German horse magazine St. Georg published a special section on breeding and discussed horses personalities looking at the subject from many different angles. The article showed the connections between personality and the horses physical characteristics: conformation; color; markings on legs and face; position, size and expression of the eyes; as well as length, setting and movability of the ears. It was mentioned that personality traits are inherited and often stay consistent for three or four generations.

Interestingly, St Georg reported just how long horsemen have made these sorts of evaluations by quoting an expert, Max Fugger, who wrote, in 1584, about the importance of the horses ears. He said, Just as you would not take your eyes off the lions tail to see how he is carrying it, it is important to look at the horses ears. Today we know that 16 muscles are involved in moving the ears and holding them in varying positionsall of which signify different moods, emotions and behavioral tendencies. The same sort of evaluation can be done by looking at the horses profile, nose, muzzle, eyes and other parts of the head and body.

Here I am pictured with Blazethe perfect horse for a young rider. You can see the gentle, friendly expression in his eyes; his broad, flat forehead (indicating he is smart and polite) combined with his beautiful, long nose bone hint at his intelligence. His ears are far apart at the base, and even further at the top, which shows a steady, cooperative character. Blaze had a wonderful personality and great conformation.

Over the past 30 years, the Tellington Method, which has three partsthe Tellington Touches (known as TTouches), Ground Exercises, and Ridden Workhas continued to develop. During this time Ive come to understand even more just how vital it is to adjust training to the