A horse whisperer is a horse trainer who adopts a sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and desires of the horse, based on modern equine psychology. The term goes back to the early nineteenth century when an Irish horseman, Daniel Sullivan, made a name for himself in England by rehabilitating horses that had become vicious and intractable due to abuse or accidental trauma. Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... Practical equine psychology refers to the practical study of horse psychology. ...

He kept his methods secret, but people who managed to observe him noticed that he would stand face to face with the troubled horse. They seemed to think that he must be saying something to the horse in a way the horse could understand and accept because the horses were quickly gentled by his mysterious techniques.

His techniques were passed over to Willis J. Powell, who learned them well and traveled widely in the New World to help the most seriously traumatized horses. His fame spread, and more and more people sought help from him. He wrote his own book and later cooperated with John Solomon Rarey. Rarey was protective of the tradition he had thus learned, and in early versions of his own book did not reveal how the most severely traumatized horses were salvaged by the methods originated by Sullivan and passed to him by Powell. He did, however, always give Powell full credit for his methods of gentling horses. Finally he became convinced that it was better to reveal the secret method to the world than to risk its loss. That method is fairly faithfully represented in the novel and motion picture The Horse Whisperer. Willis J. Powell wrote a book with J.S. Rarey, Tachyhippodamia; on The New Secret of Taming Horses. ... This biographical article needs to be wikified. ... The Horse Whisperer (1998) is a Robert Redford movie based on the 1995 novel by Nicholas Evans about a talented horse trainer hired to help an injured teenager and her horse recuperate. ...

The first horse whisperer is thought to have been Xenophon. Today, numerous trainers and clinicians call themselves horse whisperers, often building on the work of Daniel Sullivan, Willis J. Powell, and John Solomon Rarey in the 1850s. The early twentieth centuries exponents of securing the horse's cooperation by kindness include Tom Dorrance, and somewhat later Ray Hunt. Xenophon, Greek historian Xenophon (In Greek , c. ... Daniel Pegleg Sullivan was a Chicagoan who is often credited with being the first to sound the alarm when a fire broke out in Catherine OLearys barn on October 8, 1871, the beginning of the Great Chicago Fire. ... Willis J. Powell wrote a book with J.S. Rarey, Tachyhippodamia; on The New Secret of Taming Horses. ... This biographical article needs to be wikified. ...

Dorrance's True Unity and Hunt's Think Harmony With Horses advocate "true understanding" of the horse. Monty Roberts wrote a textbook on the subject entitled From My Hands To Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses.

Well-known trainers

Some well-known trainers using and advocating similar methods today include:

• Billy Jack Barrett
• Buck Brannaman
• Jessica Jahiel
• John Lyons
• Mark Rashid
• Monty Roberts
• Pat Parelli
• Ray Hunt
• Steve Jefferys
• Tom Dorrance
• John S. Rarey, an early practitioner of "natural" horsemanship.

John Lyons is the name of: John Lyons (b. ... Monty Roberts is a horse trainer who became world famous when his autobiography, The Man Who Listens to Horses, became a best-seller. ... Ray Lee Hunt (1943-). Inherited most of fathers H.L. Hunt Hunt Oil Co. ... Steve Jefferys was the lone rider in the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. ... Staranzano(Italy), Cona Island. ...

Literature and film

• On Horsemanship - A Wikipedia article that summarizes Xenophon's teachings on equitation and training.
• The Horse Whisperer -- the novel and the movie.
• Monty Roberts: A Real Horse Whisperer - a documentary film about Monty Roberts

On Horsemanship by Xenophon is a guide to horsemanship. ... The Horse Whisperer (1998) is a Robert Redford movie based on the 1995 novel by Nicholas Evans about a talented horse trainer hired to help an injured teenager and her horse recuperate. ... Monty Roberts: A Real Horse Whisperer is a 1997 documentary film about the life and work of horse trainer Monty Roberts. ... Monty Roberts is a horse trainer who became world famous when his autobiography, The Man Who Listens to Horses, became a best-seller. ...

See also

• List of equine topics
• Domestication of the horse
• Practical equine psychology