A filter that always helps me in my approach to horsemanship is the question of the horse having confidence in what he is being asked, or is just tolerating what is happening to him.
In my opinion, there is a big difference between the two. If we put a bit of extra time into studying how to read horses better, we can develop a better understanding of how they think and feel. It also helps us understand how to help them move correctly with softness and with flexion through their body. This allows us to change our approach to each individual horse and over time develop confidence in each individual thing they are asked to do. Because of the horse’s natural instincts of flight or fight and their high sense of self preservation, learning to understand them better is a very important part of the process of teaching them.
Horses show a great amount of faith by putting their trust in people. Over time, if you approach things in the correct way, you can earn this trust and develop confidence. The trouble is that a lot of people dominate their horses and end up with what might look to them like the same result as gaining confidence but in actual fact horses have just learned to tolerate what has been asked of them. It can be sad to see a horse’s dignity being diminished like this and the life that they once had, being dulled down to ‘behave’ the way the human expects them to. The same can be said for humans who have been guided through life in the same manner.
In my experience, a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to this until the horse has ‘enough’ and starts to express himself by showing behaviours that are less appealing to the person. The other occasions that this is most prominent is with young horses and green riders or very sensitive horses that will not give in to dominance. Examples of this are horses that refuse to do anything and Nap, Rear and/or Buck etc and the horse that Bolts away and Shy/Spook at every ‘little’ thing. There are lots of variables in between, but these are examples of the most common behaviours. A lot of the time in these cases, horses are sent off to be ‘Trained’ and hopefully come back ‘Fixed’ by various trainers. Usually this does not work out too well, or it works in the short term. It’s not long before the undesirable behaviour returns and the pattern continues or the horse is sold on to continue this pattern. This is very difficult and stressful for horses. ‘There is NO QUICK FIX’ to these problems. The only way to help horses is to improve yourself and your knowledge by seeking information from Mentors that you can trust and can help guide you towards being a better human for your horse.
It is my belief that 99% of horse owners have good intentions. The key is to take responsibility and back up these good intentions with good behaviours. Again, this is often not the case. It’s easy to excuse undesirable behaviours when your ‘intentions’ are good. The hard part is becoming focused and aware enough to change your behaviour to match up with your intentions. Horses can really pick up on this change in Energy and they also improve a lot by gaining confidence from you. It’s a win/win situation that helps in all other areas of life as well.
It is one of my life goals to help horses and people as much as I possibly can. It does not matter what level rider or horse. From happy hacker to Professional Equestrian, I feel I have a lot to offer. I want to play my part in expelling the picture that in some cases has been created that horsemanship is a fad or does not fit in the Equestrian world. As with all professions, there are the desirable and less desirable instructors and professionals. My advice is to try out a few different approaches and see if one of them fits in with your own system or beliefs. I only seek out high level Mentors who have vast knowledge and experience of horses and also understand the high levels of riding required to help horse’s to develop in all different disciplines. I look forward to being of service once again in 2019.
In my opinion, there is a big difference between the two. If we put a bit of extra time into studying how to read horses better, we can develop a better understanding of how they think and feel. It also helps us understand how to help them move correctly with softness and with flexion through their body. This allows us to change our approach to each individual horse and over time develop confidence in each individual thing they are asked to do. Because of the horse’s natural instincts of flight or fight and their high sense of self preservation, learning to understand them better is a very important part of the process of teaching them.
Horses show a great amount of faith by putting their trust in people. Over time, if you approach things in the correct way, you can earn this trust and develop confidence. The trouble is that a lot of people dominate their horses and end up with what might look to them like the same result as gaining confidence but in actual fact horses have just learned to tolerate what has been asked of them. It can be sad to see a horse’s dignity being diminished like this and the life that they once had, being dulled down to ‘behave’ the way the human expects them to. The same can be said for humans who have been guided through life in the same manner.
In my experience, a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to this until the horse has ‘enough’ and starts to express himself by showing behaviours that are less appealing to the person. The other occasions that this is most prominent is with young horses and green riders or very sensitive horses that will not give in to dominance. Examples of this are horses that refuse to do anything and Nap, Rear and/or Buck etc and the horse that Bolts away and Shy/Spook at every ‘little’ thing. There are lots of variables in between, but these are examples of the most common behaviours. A lot of the time in these cases, horses are sent off to be ‘Trained’ and hopefully come back ‘Fixed’ by various trainers. Usually this does not work out too well, or it works in the short term. It’s not long before the undesirable behaviour returns and the pattern continues or the horse is sold on to continue this pattern. This is very difficult and stressful for horses. ‘There is NO QUICK FIX’ to these problems. The only way to help horses is to improve yourself and your knowledge by seeking information from Mentors that you can trust and can help guide you towards being a better human for your horse.
It is my belief that 99% of horse owners have good intentions. The key is to take responsibility and back up these good intentions with good behaviours. Again, this is often not the case. It’s easy to excuse undesirable behaviours when your ‘intentions’ are good. The hard part is becoming focused and aware enough to change your behaviour to match up with your intentions. Horses can really pick up on this change in Energy and they also improve a lot by gaining confidence from you. It’s a win/win situation that helps in all other areas of life as well.
It is one of my life goals to help horses and people as much as I possibly can. It does not matter what level rider or horse. From happy hacker to Professional Equestrian, I feel I have a lot to offer. I want to play my part in expelling the picture that in some cases has been created that horsemanship is a fad or does not fit in the Equestrian world. As with all professions, there are the desirable and less desirable instructors and professionals. My advice is to try out a few different approaches and see if one of them fits in with your own system or beliefs. I only seek out high level Mentors who have vast knowledge and experience of horses and also understand the high levels of riding required to help horse’s to develop in all different disciplines. I look forward to being of service once again in 2019.
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