The Heart of a Horse: Life lessons from horses and other animals

by Candida Baker

When author Candida left behind a city lifestyle and a high-profile job as editor of Weekend Australian Magazine , to live in the hills behind Byron Bay, little did she realise this was a first step on a journey of self-discovery - through her natural horsemanship, photography, writing and journalism - to an enhanced sense of spiritual and psychic connection with the animal world. Told through a series of true stories, each illustrating a life lesson, at its essence, The Heart of a Horse is about learning to 'listen', with all our senses. Using her lifelong love of horses as the main vehicle for bridging the gap between our thought processes and intuition, Candida describes the magic that happens when we keep an open mind about the idea of communication from the animal world.

320 pages, Paperback

Published July 6, 2021

Reviews

[Angelique Simonsen]

I enjoyed this, but thought it would be mostly horses but there are a few other animals chucked in there too

[Julie Parmax]

What a beautiful insight into the life of an inspiring woman who not only understand animals on a deeper level but tries so hard to save them. Every chapter was an emotional one. So truly moving and vulnerable. Loved the book but so hard to read it quickly as it really pulled at your heart strings.

[Rachel]

This was such a wonderful, heart-warming and relaxing read. I really enjoyed each story and found them comforting in some way. I would highly recommend this anthology.

[Emmaby Barton Grace]

enjoyed this one but not as much as i was expecting to. some of the horses talking to her stuff was a bit woo woo lol and i skimmed a lot of the non-horsey ones and i think overall just a little less profound than i expected? but still really loved it and seeing how much horses give us <3

things i loved - aussie!, lots of cool ideas for places to ride horses/horsey travel ideas, learning lots about horsemanship (horses want and need a leader) and types of horses (przewalski’s horse, the tarpan, brumbies, the water)

“nothing ventured, nothing gained”
“what a precious feeling it was to have an animal ‘choose’ to make friends with you.”
“sometimes in this rich and varied life i’ve chosen for myself, things are not easy” - we pay a price for everything. not always easy but worth it.
tThe gifts will keep on coming. i won’t understand what they are until they arrive. some of them will be welcome, some of them will be hard to accept, but the more i drop into the flow of uncertainty, the more i can fully embrace each moment as it arrives.”

[Christy]

This is a nice biography of a woman who understands animals and in particular, Horses.
Her experience with looking after them in a natural and healing way giving thought to their needs in a humane way was a joy to discover. The author had a special invisible connection between herself and horses, even those that had a huge mistrust of people- being an animal lover, this gave me a new perspective on horses (even though I knew they were special)....The author's understanding of birds also came into play, her observations and care with both wildlife and the horse were unique, this book was lovingly written- again another book I enjoyed thoroughly.

[Madison Lessner]

This is an interesting book but I never got the thrill of it as I do other books. Each chapter is a new story so I could never really get into it. I am a horse girl through and through but had to put it down and on the shelf about 2/3 of the way. The description I really liked but couldn’t bring myself to read more