“When you ask your horse to do something it should be his idea he wants to do it, he likes to do it, he understands how to do it, and he does it.” These words are typical of the way Ray Hunt expresses his philosophy of the ideal relationship between man and horse.
That philosophy is discussed in this book, in a manner that makes the reader feel as if he is listening to Ray talk. It is persuasive talk— gently persuasive; this man’s ideas make a lot of sense, and the success he has achieved with those ideas is impressive.
Ray Hunt travels around the country working with groups of riders who are interested in his philosophy of harmony with horses.
As Gene Lewis says in his Foreword to the book, Ray’s theory is “to unite the horse and rider into one working unit of both mind and body. He has developed a language that most western people can understand and has become a wonderful teacher [and] demonstrator.”
Included in the book is an interpretation of the “Ray Hunt method of schooling a horse,” written by Vincent W. Carpenter, who attended one of Ray’s clinics. He tells amazing stories that Ray might not tell about himself and summarizes the whole philosophy in a clear and objective way.
Also included is a question and answer section, in which a number of the most commonly asked questions are answered in detail. And throughout the entire book runs the simple, basic idea: think harmony.
