Subtitled The Magical Bond Between Humans and Horses, this charming, practical and inspiring study of equine and human relationships gets off to a great start. In THE ELEMENTS OF HORSE SPIRIT Debra Deangelo explains how she was gently nudged by a horsey pal Sara into visiting a horse barn although she had neither time nor money for a horse. She started bonding with a lonely horse retired from top class dressage work. His owner had a new horse which required all her time and energy, but could not bear to part with her faithful friend Pendragon. All Debra’s riding love returned and she managed to forge a new kind of partnership with Penn, one which involved building up her inner strengths.

Debra takes us on a journey from the dim and distant past, known to us through cave paintings and fossils, through myths and history of horses as watchers, helpers and tools of humans. She urges us to understand and accept a horse’s nature, which is not to be worked day after day and forgotten in between. Horses are social animals, appreciating company and grooming, who seek to boss others or else accept being bossed. They each have an element of prey animal but some are more fearless than others, through age and wisdom or nature of the breed.

As well as practical horsemanship activities, and choosing the right horse for your needs, Debra discusses the four elements of the physical world – earth, water, air and fire – and memorably describes the kind of horse embodied by each. She suggests when we meditate or need courage or feel strong emotion, we can draw on aspects of these horses. We can just visualise their strengths and be inspired, or if we want to spend more time on the metaphysical, can look on them as spirit guides. Current studies tell us that a visual image is instantly processed by the brain but a sentence takes longer. In particular, Debra urges us to change our thinking from “I wish I had a horse” to “I will have a horse someday.”

Back to the author’s own experiences – as a mature woman with early sad experiences, and a newspaper editor’s job she didn’t particularly love, Debra was stuck in a rut. She tells us how a change of management, a friend’s wise persuasion, a wonderful but bossy horse and her own willingness to be open to the new, have helped her. I commend THE ELEMENTS OF HORSE SPIRIT to horse lovers everywhere. You may not own a horse right now, but you can always have Horse as your friend and inspiration.