'The Body Language of Horses'

[sealord]

I just found a used copy of this book written by Tom Ainsle and Bonnie Ledbetter and picked it up for 10 bucks or so. I enjoyed it, and also found it useful. I studied it up a bit, then went down to AP to give it a shot and lo and behold found myself a winner. I actually did a last minute exchange of horses I had planned to box in a trifecta after seeing them in the paddock and surprisingly hit with the new horse in the box. Granted this may or may not be the reason the other horse ran poorly, but I found it inspiring nevertheless.
I was wondering what you other cappers thought about the book, or prerace body langauge in general.

[46zilzal]

I just found a used copy of this book written by Tom Ainsle and Bonnie Ledbetter and picked it up for 10 bucks or so. I enjoyed it, and also found it useful. I studied it up a bit, then went down to AP to give it a shot and lo and behold found myself a winner. I actually did a last minute exchange of horses I had planned to box in a trifecta after seeing them in the paddock and surprisingly hit with the new horse in the box. Granted this may or may not be the reason the other horse ran poorly, but I found it inspiring nevertheless.
I was wondering what you other cappers thought about the book, or prerace body langauge in general.
only really works when one see comparisons of the same horses over time. Some look crappy and still do well.

[Jeff P]

posted by sealord - I just found a used copy of this book written by Tom Ainsle and Bonnie Ledbetter and picked it up for 10 bucks or so. I enjoyed it, and also found it useful. I studied it up a bit, then went down to AP to give it a shot and lo and behold found myself a winner. I actually did a last minute exchange of horses I had planned to box in a trifecta after seeing them in the paddock and surprisingly hit with the new horse in the box. Granted this may or may not be the reason the other horse ran poorly, but I found it inspiring nevertheless.
I was wondering what you other cappers thought about the book, or prerace body langauge in general.

I had a similar experience myself about six years ago. I was browsing through the handicapping section at a Barnes and Noble and stumbled across a copy, I started thumbing through it and found that I could not put it down. I really enjoyed the section describing the fit and ready horse. A couple of days later at Turf Paradise I was watching a post parade and noticed a first time starter displaying quite a few of the exact same signs as described in the book. A $2.00 win ticket on that horse brought back over $50.00. Needless to say I've been hooked ever since.

There was an almost instant connection for me - a genuine desire from deep within to get a real understanding of horses and what they are constantly telling the world with their body language. I was fortunate enough to understand right away that I was a complete NewBTard when it came to this. So I started forcing myself into handicapping and playing at least one full card each week using body analysis alone with no past performances whatsoever. One full card. No past performances. $2.00 across the board on the single horse in each race that I thought best exemplified condition. And I discovered something. Not only was it a really enjoyable endeavor but almost right away I was profitable more often than not. And another thing. The more I watched horses the better I became at being able to spot a horse in condition at a glance. I've been at it almost six years now. I won't claim to be an expert at it because I'm not. But I will say that the more I work on improving at it the more accurate my reads on a horse's condition have become.

Horses go through cycles - from being fit and ready and being in condition to being out of condition and back again. When a horse is fit and ready, when it is IN CONDITION, it looks and acts very different from a horse that's not in condition. When a horse is in condition it will almost always outrun its odds. I'm convinced that this part of the game explains why the best horse on paper loses almost two races out of three.

It's not necessary at all to know what an individual horse looks like day in and day out. What's really necessary in order to put the simple concepts in the book to good use when looking at horses in post parades and pre race warmups is to have taken the time beforehand - to have made an effort - to have studied so that you know at a glance when a horse is either in or out of condition.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And I've been recommending it as required reading for anybody into horses who will listen to me. But you can't just read it and then go to a racetrack and expect to start cashing tickets left and right. Because that's not what's going to happen. You have to spend a lot of time watching horses beforehand in order to develop the talent for spotting a horse in condition consistently.

If I have one regret about reading this book it's that Bonnie Ledbetter is no longer with us. I would LOVE to have had the chance meet her - to go to a farm and get inside her head for a few days - to get pointers from her about what that horse over there is trying to say with its body language.

Buy this book. You will not be disappointed.


-jp

.

[sealord]

Nice post Jeff. By the way, I heard there was a Bonnie Ledbetter tape made but haven't done any research to see if it exists or not.

[Hosshead]

Nice post Jeff. By the way, I heard there was a Bonnie Ledbetter tape made but haven't done any research to see if it exists or not.She made the video with Chris McCarron.
here's a link:
http://www.americanturf.com/scripts/item.cfm?cat=&itemid=10&itmcnt=4&secid=2&eflag=0&catalogname=wincommerce

[Free Bird]

I bought the book when it came out, I think in the late 70s, and it made me a much better player. Sometimes you can get so caught up in numbers that you forget what you are dealing with. Joe Takach also has some good ideas about what he calls "physicality". It would be nice if HRTV and TVG showed more post parades and focused less on the talking heads pick 4 selections and inane comments. When you follow one circuit closely you get a good idea of how each horse should look.

[Tom]

Trillis Parker also has one out about body language - Horses Talk, It Pays to Listen. I think she is associated with Jim Selvidge somehow.

[cratman]

I think they are married.

[Dan Montilion]

That's one nasty association.

[Bruddah]

and watchit every few years as a refresher. Iy is very informative and the next best thing to being able to visit her while she was still alive. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

[so.cal.fan]

I love that tape. It is great.
Like Bruddah I try to watch it every few years.
The segment on identifying turf strides is priceless.
Takes a good eye and some work.......like a set of good DVD tapes to review, but it is well worth your efforts.
Bonnie Ledbetter was great, I was lucky enough to have met her on a few occassions at Santa Anita. Nice lady, but she sadly smoked and drank too much and she passed away very young.
She was so enthusiastic about looking at horses......you got energy just being around her.

[kitts]

The book is great. I was able to see Bonnie at a live seminar at the track. Her "tootsie roll" angle caught me some nice winners.