Natural horsemanship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(April 2008)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Staranzano(Italy), Cona Island. A practitioner of natural horsemanship approaching a semi-wild horse.
Staranzano(Italy), Cona Island. A practitioner of natural horsemanship approaching a semi-wild horse.
The horse responds
The horse responds

Natural Horsemanship is the philosophy of working with horses by appealing to their instincts and herd mentality. It involves communication techniques derived from wild horse observation in order to build a partnership that closely resembles the relationships that exist between horses.

Contents

[edit] Basic ideas

There are countless "schools" or theories of natural horsemanship but the following ideas are common to most of them:

  • Horses are social herd animals, evolved for social interaction and the ability to escape predators. The horse has a highly developed communication system practiced primarily through body language. It is possible for humans to learn to use body language to communicate with the horse. Horses use ear position, head position, speed of movement, threatening gestures, showing of teeth and swinging of hips, and many other gestures to communicate. They are quick to escalate a behavior if early warnings are not heeded. Similarly, in natural horsemanship, the handler or trainer uses body language along with other forms of gentle pressure with increasing escalation to get the horse to respond. Horses are quick to form a relationship of respect with humans who treat them in this fashion; "firm but fair" is a motto.[1]
  • Most natural horsemanship practitioners agree that teaching through pain and fear do not result in the type of relationship that benefits both horse and handler. [2] The object is for the horse to be calm and feel safe throughout the training process. A horse that feels calm and safe with his handler is quick to bond with that person, and the results can be remarkable.
  • The human must be knowledgeable of the horse's natural instincts and communication system, and use this knowledge in their work with the horse.
  • Like many other forms of horse training, operant conditioning through pressure and release are core concepts. The basic technique is to apply a pressure of some kind to the horse as a "cue" for an action and then release the pressure as soon as the horse responds, either by doing what was asked for, or by doing something that could be understood as a step towards the requested action, a "try". Timing is everything, as the horse learns not from the pressure itself, but rather from the release of that pressure. These techniques are based on the principle of reinforcement, rather than physical force, which most Natural Horsemanship practitioners avoid using whenever possible.[3]
  • Most Natural Horsemanship approaches emphasize the use of groundwork to establish boundaries and set up communication with the horse. This can include leading exercises, long reining and liberty work.
  • As with all successful animal training methods, there is an emphasis on timing, feel and consistency from the handler.[4]

Natural horsemanship has become very popular in the past two decades and there are many books, videos, tapes, and websites available to interested equestrians. This philosophy has capitalized on the use of behavioral reinforcement to replace inhumane practices used in some methods of training, the ultimate goal of which is a calmer, happier and more willing partner in the horse. [5]

Natural Horsemanship avoids fear- and pain-based training methods.[6] While natural and gentle methods of training have been around for millennia, dating to the advocacy of gentle methods by Xenophon in Ancient Greece,[7] there have also been any number of techniques over the years that attempted to train a horse by breaking the horse's spirit, often forcing it to fight back and then be dominated or defeated.[8] Natural Horsemanship advocates point out that by removing fear an individual gains trust from the horse. By not scaring and hurting the horse, the horse learns to work with people in a partnership verses as an adversary. [9]

Some well-known trainers considered to be practitioners of natural horsemanship in the late twentieth century include: Tom and Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt, John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, Buck Brannaman, Monty Roberts, and Pat Parelli.

[edit] History

Many of the techniques used by Natural Horsemanship practitioners have ancient roots. The idea of working sympathetically with the horse's nature goes back at least to Xenophon and his treatise On Horsemanship, which has influenced humane practitioners of horse training in many disciplines, including both natural horsemanship and dressage.

However, gentle training methods have always had to compete with harsher methods, which often appear to obtain faster, but less predictable results.[citation needed] In particular, the cowboy tradition of the American west, where the economics of needing to break large numbers of semi-feral horses to saddle in a short period of time led to the development of a number of harsh training methods that the Natural Horsemanship movement specifically has set out to replace. However, most of the original Natural Horsemanship practitioners acknowledge their own roots are in the gentler methods of some cowboy traditions, particularly those most closely associated with the "California" or vaquero horseman.[citation needed]

The modern Natural Horsemanship movement developed primarily in the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountain states, where the "Buckaroo" or vaquero cowboy tradition was the strongest. Early modern practitioners were brothers, Tom and Bill Dorrance, who had background in the Great Basin "Buckaroo" tradition. They had a particularly strong influence on Ray Hunt and Hunt's disciple, Buck Brannaman. Many later practitioners claim influence from the Dorrance brothers, including Pat Parelli and others.

Other trainers who developed from slightly different influences include John Lyons, who espouses a simple, easy to understand system for communicating effectively with horses; Monty Roberts, who claims to trace his work back to that of John Solomon Rarey, with additions from his own observations of horses. Mark Rashid, also a product of traditional humane principles of western training, mostly credits his teacher and mentor, a horseman well-versed in methods of gentle-breaking young horses. Several other practitioners derive inspiration from concepts used by Native American horse trainers.

In Europe, a variant is practiced by Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, who developed a "natural" method independent of the American model, influenced directly by the Spanish horsemanship tradition and by the teachings of Classical dressage.[citation needed]

There is also an alternative natural dressage method called The Art of Natural Dressage, also known as AND. As initiative of the horse is the key in AND, and the horse dictates his own training, this means that the horse shall start to explore his own boundaries and skills. He will find out how he can express himself and soon he will grow in to a very proud and happy individual.

The term "Natural Horsemanship" has only been widely used since the 1990s, and obtained a significant boost from the popularity of Nicholas Evans' book ( and later film ) The Horse Whisperer, which promoted popular awareness of a gentle approach to horse training.

[edit] Quotes

"I've started horses since I was 12 years old and have been bit, kicked, bucked off and [trampled]. I've tried every physical means to contain my horse in an effort to keep from getting myself killed. I started to realize that things would come much easier for me once I learned why a horse does what he does." - Buck Brannaman[10]

"The thing you are trying to help the horse do is to use his own mind. You are trying to present something and then let him figure out how to get there." - Tom Dorrance[11]

"When people think of natural horsemanship that could mean a lot of things. It isn't natural for a horse to be around people, and it's not natural for a person to be sitting on him either. When we use these words we speak about what's natural for the horse to do within his own boundaries" - Bill Dorrance[12]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.sinningtonmanor.co.uk/about.htm
  2. ^ Lyons On Horses, Doubleday, 1991
  3. ^ Lyons On Horses, Doubleday, 1991
  4. ^ True Unity, First Edition, Word Dancer Press, 2003
  5. ^ Lyons On Horses, Doubleday, 1991
  6. ^ Lyons On Horses, Doubleday, 1991
  7. ^ "Art of Horsemanship", J.A. Allen Publishing, 1999
  8. ^ The Man Who Listens To Horses, Monty Roberts, Random House 1996
  9. ^ True Unity, First Edition, Word Dancer Press, 2003
  10. ^ Buck Brannaman's web site
  11. ^ True Unity, First Edition, Word Dancer Press, 2003
  12. ^ True Horsemanship Through Feel, Lyons Press, 2001

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Equidae
Equine science and
management
Equestrianism
and sport
Evolution and history
Breeds and types
List of horse breeds · Horse · Donkey · Zebra · Hybrids (Hinny · Mule · Zebroid · Zonkey · Zony · Zorse) · Extinct (European Ass · Quagga · Syrian Wild Ass · Tarpan · Yukon Wild Ass)
Category