ABSTRACT
It was more than 50 years ago that as a candidate in a doctoral psychology programme I heard a student ask the director how to choose a personal analyst. I remember his reply: “Take the analyst to a stable and see how the horses react to him.” This was impractical advice even at that time, and more so now that there are no longer any stables in Manhattan. But the import was clear: training qualifications, reputation, and the number of books written were less important than some affective personal quality to which horses were more sensitive because their minds were presumably not distracted by cognitive considerations.
