Discussion Questions
  The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd

• Describe how you felt when Cash's whiskers tickled the back of Joe's neck, when Cash made the choice to accept Joe?

• In what way is Joe's phrase "look at things from the other side of the lead rope" similar to, yet different from "walk a mile in the other person's shoes?"  

• The book describes how horses accept, and in fact need, their hierarchical structure in order to survive.   In what ways do humans accept a hierarchical structure in their relationships?   In what ways do humans resist hierarchical structure?

• The Camp's learned to communicate with their horses by observing how the horses communicate within the herd.   Could humans apply this to better communicate with their loved ones?   Their friends?   Their co-workers?   If so, how?

• Learning to communicate with their horses in the manner that horses communicate with each other was the foundation to the horses accepting Joe and Kathleen as leaders.   How could this be applied to your relationships.   Could this be applied to larger leadership roles such as in business or government?

• Did you identify with Kathleen's fear of horses?   In what way?  

• Joe's style of writing breaks all "manuals of style."   Did you find the writing style enjoyable or distracting?  

• The editor of the book described it as a love story between Joe and Kathleen.   Did you find elements of a human love story along with the horse story?

• Question everything, especially the self proclaimed "experts" is a significant theme of the book.   Did you feel a sense of empowerment from two neophytes taking on the well established horse industry "this is how it's always been done" mentality?   In what ways could you apply that theme to areas of your life?  

• We humans are taking great efforts, as we should, to provide zoo animals with as natural a habitat as possible for their physical and emotional well being.   Why do we accept horses confined in small stalls, isolated from any herd or ability to move freely?

• The Camp's journey began with asking why horses have metal shoes nailed onto their feet.   When the answers did not add up, they tried to find the answer and were stunned by the complex nature of the hoof mechanism and how the movement of the hoof is essential for good health.   Has there been some accepted way of doing something that you've questioned and changed upon learning the answer?

• Has there been an accepted way of doing something that, while not making sense to you, you kept doing the accepted way?   Why?  

• Do you see a similarity between the plight of the Native American and the American Mustang?

• The book was born when Joe mentioned that someone should write a comprehensive book on all the "natural" horsemanship information he had been learning.   "Oh, like the Naked Chef, only for horses?"   The original title was "The Naked Horse" but was changed due to obvious problems created for internet searches.   Which title more accurately describes how you felt about it after reading?  

• The sub-title is Life Lessons from the Herd.   Did you learn any life lessons from the book?

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