User Reviews

I spent more than 10 years working with horses on a daily basis and thought of myself as a knowlegable horseman. And then I saw the movie "Horse Whisper" which led me to reading the novel, which led me to learning about Monty Roberts and his round pen method of horse training. By the time I'd completed this process I'd discovered how little I really knew about horses. And then tonight I watched this excellent documentary and learned to relate to horses on an entirely different level. A wonderful movie that filled me with a sense of peace despite the fact that as a rule the mere term New Age prompts me to reach for the channel selector. Free of cliche this documentary flows like a peaceful mountain stream exploring uncharted territory be concerning the mystical connection between man/woman and the so-called lower animals. While horses, foals, a pony,and a steer play leading roles the women and man with whom they interact all have important stories to tell. All told I came away from watching this astounded by what I had witnessed, both in terms of the silent but powerful connection between the humans and horses, and the powerful it all had one me as I watched. Add to this truly immaginative camera work and you have a powerful package. I suspect I will watch it again.

Funny how the woman said that she doesn't use pressure and release when that was exactly what she did. Pressure doesn't mean physical contact. It can be just the presence of a person. You give pressure when you move towards a herd or an individual horse. Even a look is pressure. Any horse can be conditioned to the slightest pressure when trained well. As an example, you can first introduce the pressure by actual physical touch and sound, then by time the horse learns that when the hand comes closer to the body they have to move. At the end they will read your body language and yield to the pressure of your look. The release is not to do anything or by looking away or not waving your hands anymore. Another very obvious factor was the horses sensing your so called aura or whatever she called it. Horses can hear your heartbeat and smell if your sweating or releasing any other body sent. So yes they learn to read humans by "reading your mental state" but it's actually just physical/chemical things. The reason behind this is that horses are heard animals and even being individual horses in a group but sense when another one especially the lead mare or stallion get worried aka. Their heartbeat rises. To avoid danger and potential predators. Horses are neophobic (scared of everything new/unfamiliar). Horses that have been out on the field since birth are reacting like mustangs would. They tend to be "spooky" which is very normal. These horses are domesticated and trained and familiar with everything around them, so of course they are very calm. Also because non of the people in the documentary weren't really anything else but calm. I wouldn't consider crying as a thread from a horses point of view. Last but not least I wanted to point out that horses always tend to do things that give comfort. Visually beautiful and nice sound editing! Otherwise quite boring and too much spiritual/religious nonsense. 2/5 stars.