"Basic" horse body language would be super helpful (eg. being able to associate a common physical reaction with an emotion), as would something like key aspects of horse care one might mention if one were traveling by horse (eg. common procedure when preparing horse for the day's travel, or after the day's travel is done)
A battle-trained horse would be extra sensitive to leg pressure, as they were trained to be ridden by legs alone. The rider needed their hands for swords and shields. :P Flapping the reins is only used for horses pulling wagons I believe. Unless they have a whip. To sort of, tap them on their backs with them, right? Swapping horses - couriers used to do that when carrying news about say, wars and such. They had a horse that they rode like crazy, but only for a short distance, then they came to a place where they could change to a fresh horse, and repeat until they were at their destination. they usually had special roads where the horses were set up specifically for this purpose.
Your knowledge and feelings about horses really came through in Pistol Daisy. That was probably one of my favorite aspects of your novel because it's not something I'd really seen before. This was super helpful and I anticipate this will be applicable for me in the near future. You gave a lot of great insights and places to start with research. A video on horse body language would be super helpful and relevant.
As a fellow horse person and writer, this was wonderful. Well done. My head is bobbing and my foot is scraping! I could binge some more, but I want to go give Kisses and Dolly some love now. Blessings!
This was fun to listen to. My mare was bomb proof. And a Tennessee walking horse. One of the most fun rides ever. Their run walk gaits are so fun and smooth, your butt never comes off the saddle. Your hips move side to side from their pattern of walking. Making for a smooth sailing ride.
This is such perfect timing! I plan to have horses prominently featured in one of my next books. Thank you so much for all your writing videos. They’re so helpful! 🙏✍🏻
Horse happy voice is deep, unhappy voice is high. Standing tall, ears forward, is happy; but if a momma puts her head down and ears back and marches toward her offspring (or anyone, if she's the herd matriarch) that one had better toe the line! That move is called "snaking." Ears to the side/back and backing/sidestepping away is called "shying" because it's fear. There's a lot more, obviously. Watch the PBS documentary on Cloud, the white mustang. Or read my book, called Lift Up My Eyes, published under my maiden name, Lammers. Good luck!
One caveat and apology: if you do go for my book (thank you) the publisher mucked it up, still trying to work it out, they removed ALL of the italics and every POV break. Sorry.
When you started talking about the horse/human bond, the first thing that came to mind was Arthur and his horse. Then you showed the clip and i got all emotional again.
This is awesome thank you! In one of my stories it’s set in the old west and it’s about a former saddlebag preacher turned farrier who’s kept his horse through it all because he’s intensely shy but the horse (a mare that’s starting to get swayback) is super friendly and gives him choke holds and cuddles all the time. A video on horse behavior and horse care would be good too!
Anything you've got on horses would be amazing! I see so many of these beta reading for people who haven't been around horses before and point them out, but to have a series would be amazing! It's been a couple years since I've been able to ride and refreshers are always nice for me too!
Just discovered your videos. I edit and proofread for a living, and I also love horses and have experience with them. I thought this was great advice for those totally unfamiliar with horses, whether writing, believing TV and movies, or visiting a friend’s barn for the first time.
Great job on this! Absolutely agreed on all points. At the special bond comment, I teared up. I will always remember the horses I had. They were my best friends. Writers need to know what it's like to be around horses, and that's why I have always written characters who ride. When I can, I think I will film something about this as well.
Thank you for this! I used to ride horses as a kid but it's been well over ten years so I can't remember a lot of it. I'm currently writing a story with a horse as a prominent feature who becomes a very close friend for a character and has a *huge* impact on them.
Love adding horses in my books whenever I can and this video was great! I'd love a video on horses body language Natalia ^_^ ...and let's be real now... I've made one and a half mistakes out of these tips. The first one is injury, a character had to stop someone following them so they threw a knife that grazed the leg of a horse. I didn't specify where, and that's a cool tip so I will rectify that next time I edit. The second one is the stallion one. Sure I haven't put an inexperienced rider onto one, but I haven't added touches of their behavior. This I think will add realism so thank you for that! Other than that, I do have a mixed variety of horses and genders. This was a fun and helpful video, thank you!
Horses and writing, add cats to that conversation, and you've got me all day. You touched on some of my pet peeves when reading books with horses. The stallion thing is huge. Yes, some stallions are giant pussycats, but the majority are not. Please leave the stallions for the skilled horse men and women, unless you want someone seriously injured or dead. That could be a plot thing. I once read a book where the same horse was referred to as a mare, and then later a gelding. I thought maybe it was a mistake the writer forgot to fix, until it was done several different times. The horses as vehicles thing too. In some books the horses never get to rest and never get to eat. Horses need to eat, a lot. One little bucket of oats isn't going to do it. Horses have a complex digestive system and need to eat small amounts almost constantly. (Not oats, preferably grass, oats are fine, but grass or hay needs to be the bulk of the diet.) Pastured horses spend anywhere from 10 to 17 hours a day grazing. So when characters are resting, their horses need to be grazing, not tied and standing quietly. Those horses are going to be hungry, and if not allowed to eat, they will be pawing and fretting. And if they're in a desert or someplace without vegetation, well that's a problem that the characters need to solve. Can they carry enough food for the horses and themselves? How wide is the desert? Will they find anything for the animals to eat on the way? Will they make it across before the horses starve? Lots of logistical problems here. But I think one of my biggest issues is not realizing that horses have personalities. Horses are sensitive, intelligent animals, and each one is different, and they don't always act the way you want them to. The bombproof horse that goes through everything without flinching is the exception not the rule. Horses aren't push button robots. They have minds of their own. That could be used to add extra problems for the characters when the horses do something unexpected, because often in real life, they will. Oh, and one more. Someone who has never ridden before jumps up on a horse and blasts away at a full gallop. Not realistic. What will likely happen is that they will fall in the dust. And if they do stay on, they'll be hanging on for dear life and bouncing everywhere, and when the ride is over, they'll be a beat up mess of bruises. And, like you, I could go on, so I'll stop now. I think a series like this would be great. Writers don't have to know every detail, and like you said, we'll never stop learning, but more realistic depictions of horses would make me happy.
Thank you Natalia! i write about Horses too and ride them as well hope u are well i know i say this a lot i would like to book editing services with you i just gotta save up money first:) but as soon as i save up money and finish my gigantic writting project ( it is an epic loong series) i will book you for editing
I said this once and I'll say it again, I'm very appreciative of all your advice you have on your channel. You inspired me to create my own youtube channel detailing the things I found out with my journey to becoming published, to help authortube out. I just wanted to say thank you and I look forward to more videos of you :). PS: your hair is amazing😊
Omg! Thank you so much, Natalia! I was one of the peeps who requested this (more than once, haha). I really enjoyed this, it was so helpful! Anytime you want to talk about horses, please do. I'm sure so many people would love it. I would love to hear (if you know), what are the types of breeds you'd find in typical high fantasy/medieval settings. For example 1000s-1300s era. Would nobility ride differnt breeds to lower class? Thanks again!
oh man sign me up i'll absolutely be an expert for this hahaha. I have been into horses for like 20 years now. i actually brought my horse from my hometown in alaska to california with me when i went to college! the same college where i achieved an entertaining but esoteric degree in Animal Science! talk to me about dressage, a bit about eventing, farrier work, conformation....just let me gush for a minimum of 90 minutes on how amazing and simultaneously fragile horses are!
In _Rite_ _of_ _Passage,_ Alexei Panshin puts his character in riding school. She draws the saddle girth tight and steps back. The saddle sags to one side. Another try, same result. The instructor comes up and knees the horse in the belly, then draws the strap tight. I laughed out loud. To this day, I cannot tell you whether Panshin ever even scraped a bootsole on a fence rail.
Thank you so much for helping people write horses more realistically! I am in no way an expert, but I have seen some very questionable animal behavior in fiction and it's become a pet peeve. Just a (hopefully) quick note on stallions, geldings, and mares. I was doing some research on horses and their use in war throughout history, and I remember reading that there was a preference, since ancient times, for stallions in war. I'm not sure if it was a pride thing on the part of the warriors, or if people just thought the stallion was more capable/aggressive/brave, but apparently most historical war horses were stallions. It sounded like people didn't switch to using geldings widely in war until the American civil war, because they needed so many horses that they recruited geldings and the soldiers found that they were much easier to handle. Again, I'm no expert, so if this is incorrect feel free to tell me!
I think of Lonesome Dove when Woodrow gives his horse to Newt. Also, the horses raised in the wild were great indicators of nearby danger the human couldn't sense. It goes back to that bond/trust.
I'm a horsey person too! Never got over that horse girl phase I guess lol. I've got a couple vids about this on my channel too! Your horse looks sooooo sweet! 💜
Whenever I come across horses in books or movies, I tend to just go, "Oh no. What mistakes are you going to make this time" XD Yes, you do not have to kick the snot out of a horse to make them go! Westerns are just not good examples of horsemanship XD And yes, the galloping one. It's that way in westerns too. Like, no horse can sustain that pace lol. Oh yes, the stallions. Oh boy. Yeah. That would sure work out well in real life lol. One historical fiction book I read had a horse in it that was special, and for the most part I found it realistic, except for this one thing: The book fast-forwarded 30 years, and the horse was still living XD Like, that's sweet and all, but especially in that time the horse is not going to live 30 years, much less still be rideable lol.
Hey Natalie. I know I'm a latecomer, but I have a problem with the phrases writers use for riding horses. I don't know them because I have no experience with them. I'm talking about phrases such as "rein in" or "cantered," etc. And everywhere I search, I can't find anything related to horse riding verbs and phrases. Any recommendation for an aspiring fellow writer?
A horses color? If I'm writing about a specific breed but I want the color to be not typical for that breed would that be okay to get away with? P.S. I loved this video it was very helpful
One of the funniest things I've read about a horse in a fantasy story was a horse that leaned against a tree when tired, like a person would. XD Also, I pointed out many times to the author that you don't ride them like that (he literally had no clue, so he appreciated the tips). lol. :P
It would be hilarious for a realistic moment where a character who has no experience with horses decides to ride a stallion and has things go wrong because, well of course they realistically might in that situation. Then another character suggests they ride the gelding instead. Edit: this was an amazing video. Thank you for this upload.
I was gonna say, you kick a horse to move him forward, oh, he goin forward, and you are gonna have a sore rear end when you get up. Horses are amazing. I stopped riding with a bit and always use a saddle to distribute my weight. I hate using pain on horses, there are no soft hands when your pulling on anything in a tender mouth.
