The Benefits of Natural Horsemanship

When people think of natural horsemanship they think of “whisperers” people who can take an otherwise difficult horse and magically transform it into a quiet, willing partner. That is only part of it. There really is no magic involved. Just plain old common sense.

Firstly we need to define what natural horsemanship is. In it’s most basic form it is simply communication between a horse and a human. It is using what we know of horse behavior and psychology so that the horse learns not to see people as a predator, but as a partner and begins to behave accordingly. People learn to act less like predators, and horses learn to manage their emotions to act less like prey animals and we meet somewhere in the middle. It is a partnership, and a foundation upon which horse and human can succeed in whatever direction they choose to venture.

That is perhaps the point of this article. When people see natural horse trainers, (assuming they don’t dismiss it outright as some folks are apt to do) they see the respect between the two parties, they see the communication, but what they can’t see is the potential. Most folks seem to think that natural horsemanship has nothing to do with whatever discipline they’re competing in. Perhaps it is part of our society that says we need to have results immediately that leads us to believe that if you’re not competing and winning ribbons then you’re wasting your time. There is a lack of patience, a lack of awareness, and a lack of understanding in the horse world and that’s where natural horsemanship is so important. People spend thousands of dollars on “breaking” their horses, and on mechanical devices to try to control them, and to me that just doesn’t make any sense. People say that they don’t have time to become partners with their horse, or time to learn why their horses is out of control, yet they seem to have an abundance of time to do everything else they can think of to try to force that “stupid horse” to obey. They also must have an abundance of time and money to spend being laid up with various injuries that are “that damn horse’s fault.” Then when they reach the end of their patience (although one can hardly call it that) with their particular problem horse, they sell it and begin anew with another.

The problem is very rarely the horse. The problem is almost always in the owner/rider.

If more people would spend half the energy in learning what it is to be a horse, and some very basic skills, everyone involved would benefit, and contrary to popular belief, natural horsemanship does not have to cost a lot of money. The essential tools of the trade are a rope halter, a 12’ lead rope, and a stick/whip (usually either of the “carrot stick” variety from the Parelli program which is quite effective, or a simple longe whip will suffice). These tools can be bought at any local tack store and really aren’t all that much money to invest in one’s own safety.

There is so much more to horses than riding and competing.

Personally I think that the horse world has it backwards; People are learning to compete before they can ride, and they learn to ride before they know anything about horses. Just think for a moment about how many problems you’ve seen in the interactions between horse and human, that could be solved by a little more patience, a willingness to seek out more information, and by simply understanding why the horse is doing whatever its doing.

If you don’t know if natural horsemanship is right for you, ask yourself these questions: Does my horse display undesirable behaviors? For example does your horse do any of the following: pawing, unable to stand still, hard to catch, nipping/biting, tail swishing, teeth grinding, hard to bridle, bumping into you while leading/always in one’s personal space, won’t pick up his feet, tries to kick, buck, rear, bolts, is “lazy”, spooks at everything, etc.

Then I want you to ask yourself something else; have you ever wondered why your horse behaves that way? Have you ever stopped to think that your horse doesn’t have these problems when he’s out in the pasture with his buddies… so what is it about my relationship with my horse that causes him to act like he does?

You cannot effectively control the symptom and think you’ve fixed the problem.

What people fail to realize is that undesirable behaviors in horses are the symptoms of bigger problems. You need to know why the horse is behaving in that particular way and if you don’t know what to do about it then you need to seek out some education. Not find a new tool to force him to stop. That is like putting a bandaid over a gaping wound. It’s ineffective and in the case of horses, you’ll be only postponing the inevitable; a situation in which things get so bad that no tool out there can control them, and finally someone gets hurt. Then of course it is the horse’s fault, because they’re so ill-behaved.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

So many people seem to take for granted that horses act in ways that range from mild to dangerous and think nothing of it, as though this is normal horse-human interaction and it should never be this way. For the sake of our safety and well-being, and for the safety and well-being of our horses, we need to find a better way to understand each other.

This is not a new concept. It has been in existence for as long as people have interacted with horses. There is no reason why people should be hurt or killed by horses.

Natural horsemanship isn’t a discipline. It shouldn’t be a minority movement in the horse world either. It is essentially common sense and should be used by all horse people no matter what discipline you ride and compete in. What it will do is give you the tools and techniques to have a true partnership with your horse. So that you’re not doing things to him, but are doing things with him. So you’re both competing, and so that you don’t have force him and fight with him anymore, because he is a willing partner. Horses should be fun, if all you’re doing is forcing, and fighting it doesn’t take long before you lose the love you have for them, and you lose the fun. Once the fun is replaced by fear, and frustration, most people sell the horse and give up their dreams. If we all took a little bit of time to have even a very basic understanding of what it is to be a horse, and why they do the things they do, all people, all horses and all disciplines would greatly improve.

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