By Larissa Cox
You e-met Geoff Tucker, DVM a year ago on Tack and Talk discussing equine dentistry without drama. Geoff Tucker is a different kind of Equine Dentist. He has floated over 40,000 horse’s teeth using only hand tools and rarely uses sedatives. He uses good horsemanship and principles of respect to have the horse allow him to run his hands inside their mouths to feel each and every tooth.
Using his years of equine dentistry experience, his horsemanship knowledge and his principles of respect, Dr. Tucker has now written and published an e-book “The Ten Irrefutable Laws of Horsemanship” which is now available and encouraged for everyone working with horses to read.
According to Dr. Tucker, this book was important to develop because “our relationship with the horse has changed. For the majority of people in the US, horses are recreational vehicles parked in the garage and pulled out on weekends or maybe an hour at the end of the work day. No longer are horses an integral part of life where 12 hours a day were spent with horses. Many owners show up just to ride while a hired hand does all the work.” Dr. Tucker believes that the connection between man and horse is rarely made which makes these ten rules even more important as they may save your life or your horse’s life.
Dr. Tucker’s experience with horses dates back to 1973, and he has seen many people make the same avoidable mistakes much too often. Some of these rules may seem to be common sense, while others may seem to be the extreme, but anyone that has worked with over 3500 different horses a year, knows the value of following a set procedure when dealing with a 1000 pound animal.
His no holds barred approach to writing is refreshing while he explains each and every rule in detail. His explanations are crisp and factual which makes each rule easy to remember and to apply.
Rule #10 – A Horse is a Horse.
“Your horse is not a surrogate child, a surrogate spouse, therapy for your problems at work, the friend you cannot find in the people world, a cow, dog, cat, or any other animal. Take the horse for what he is – an individual living being with certain needs and desires unique to that horse…Remember though that they are still a horse. Understand that they have similar personalities, that they have a language, they have agendas, they have “horse rules”, and they are kept by humans but are not humans.”
I encourage everyone to take the time and read Geoff Tucker’s “Ten Irrefutable Laws of Horsemanship”. Anyone knowing a youngster entering into the equestrian arena, should also take the time to read Tucker’s Laws of Horsemanship. As a coach and trainer, much too often I see people treating their 1000 pound horse as their companion thinking that they wouldn’t dream of hurting them and not understanding why the horse barreled over them. This e-book is worth the time to read.
Larissa 🙂
Tack n' Talk 
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