The Ultimate Guide To Horse
Training
5
Keys to Natural Horsemanship
Eric Bravo
Horse Training Videos
In the old days
people used to "break" horses. But now, most of us don't have the old
time cowboy skills or the desire to jump on a green horse and most of
us don't want to use force in our horse training either. That's why
natural horsemanship resonates with so many people.
The fundamental idea of natural horsemanship is to learn to think like the horse does. When you speak to a horse in his own language, your training can be effective without being forceful. More importantly you can develop a strong connection with your horse that will develop into a bond that lasts a lifetime. On a practical level you can train your horse to be light and responsive and above all, safe.
While the old cowboys would just jump on and ride, natural horsemanship takes a different approach. It starts with ground training. While some see that as a waste of time, its actually like an investment in the future.
Think about setting up a retirement fund. If you had $10,000, you could spend it now. Or you could stuff it in your mattress and let it sit there, so down the road you'd still have $10,000. Or you could invest it in an IRA so that in the future you'd have a much larger sum of money.
Just jumping on and riding is kind of like spending the money now. It feels good and most people are anxious to just get on with horseback riding. After all that's the point isn't it?
It is the point but avoiding problems down the road is just as important, and that's where ground training comes in. The ground training that natural horsemanship is famous for is more like taking your money and investing it in an IRA-its about planning for the future. Its not about avoiding riding, its about riding your horse after you've built a solid training foundation on the ground (Eric incorporates riding quickly into his training-see his riding videos here).
Ground training lets you get to know your horse, establish a connection with your horse, and gain his trust and acceptance, which leads to safety. Ground training is also safer to do compared to riding a horse you're not sure of.
The 5 keys to natural horsemanship are what a natural horsemanship training system like Eric Bravo's will help you achieve.
1. Establish Yourself as a Leader
A horse is a herd animal. Herds are not communes, they have a distinct hierarchy and a lead stallion and alpha mare. Just like a military unit, everyone has rank and the horses know their place within the rank. The more alpha horses eat first and get the other horses to move around. This is how a horse naturally sees the world. A horse will readily accept a leader.
We can use this fact to our advantage. Yes you can form a connection with your horse and be his best friend-but your horse is also looking for leadership. If you don't provide it then your horse is going to have to assume the leadership role. Is that something you want when say, riding on the trail and a coyote comes out from behind a bush? Probably not-because a horse will do what horses do-spook and run off. You want to be the one making the decisions.
Using natural horsemanship training there are several ways that you can use to establish leadership. Simply leading your horse properly is one good way to do it. Round-pen training is also instrumental in establishing leadership, and good round-pen training lets you establish leadership without using any force whatsoever.
2. Earn Respect, and Gain Trust
All 5 keys are inter-related. If you demonstrate leadership, you will naturally earn the respect and trust of your horse. If your horse doesn't respect and trust you, its pretty clear he can't really bond with you. A horse that doesn't respect you is one likely to engage in bad horse behavior like bucking.
3. Get and Keep the Attention of Your Horse
If your horse isn't paying attention to you, can you trust him enough to sit on his back? Its better to start building that attention with groundwork exercises first instead of sitting on his back squeezing out of fear and pulling hard on the reins trying to get him to listen, hoping he wont' buck you off. Eric Bravo has developed an easy-to-follow system of movements that not only help with establishing leadership with your horse and teach your horse to respond to cues, but also get and keep his attention.
4. Build Communication
A lot of successful horsemanship rests on simply having your horse know what you want him to do. Before you get on his back, you should establish an effective communication system with your horse. This can be done with a circling training routine that turns lunging from a mindless exercise to wear out the horse into a training system that builds an unbreakable communication link with your horse. Then when you get on to ride, your ride will be light and easy, and safe.
5. Patience is the final key to success
As humans we want everything right now. But that won't necessarily work with horse training. Horses learn in slow motion and to have a safe riding experience, you want to make sure you have a solid training foundation on the ground. That means letting your horse make small gains. If you want your horse to go forward ten inches or have him let you hold his hoof for 30 seconds, don't try to get it all at once. Let him move one inch for today and praise him for it, ask for two inches tomorrow. If he lets you hold his foot for 3 seconds, put it down and praise him, go for 4 seconds tomorrow. By building in small steps, that add up, you'll train your horse for a lifetime. Its just like investing in that IRA instead of spending your cash now.
Learn more about Eric Bravo Natural Horsemanship Training Videos.
You may also be interested in our horse training video software, which lets you view Eric’s horse training videos right on your computer, and its Mac and PC compatible.
For more information about horse training videos software, click here
The fundamental idea of natural horsemanship is to learn to think like the horse does. When you speak to a horse in his own language, your training can be effective without being forceful. More importantly you can develop a strong connection with your horse that will develop into a bond that lasts a lifetime. On a practical level you can train your horse to be light and responsive and above all, safe.
While the old cowboys would just jump on and ride, natural horsemanship takes a different approach. It starts with ground training. While some see that as a waste of time, its actually like an investment in the future.
Think about setting up a retirement fund. If you had $10,000, you could spend it now. Or you could stuff it in your mattress and let it sit there, so down the road you'd still have $10,000. Or you could invest it in an IRA so that in the future you'd have a much larger sum of money.
Just jumping on and riding is kind of like spending the money now. It feels good and most people are anxious to just get on with horseback riding. After all that's the point isn't it?
It is the point but avoiding problems down the road is just as important, and that's where ground training comes in. The ground training that natural horsemanship is famous for is more like taking your money and investing it in an IRA-its about planning for the future. Its not about avoiding riding, its about riding your horse after you've built a solid training foundation on the ground (Eric incorporates riding quickly into his training-see his riding videos here).
Ground training lets you get to know your horse, establish a connection with your horse, and gain his trust and acceptance, which leads to safety. Ground training is also safer to do compared to riding a horse you're not sure of.
The 5 keys to natural horsemanship are what a natural horsemanship training system like Eric Bravo's will help you achieve.
1. Establish Yourself as a Leader
A horse is a herd animal. Herds are not communes, they have a distinct hierarchy and a lead stallion and alpha mare. Just like a military unit, everyone has rank and the horses know their place within the rank. The more alpha horses eat first and get the other horses to move around. This is how a horse naturally sees the world. A horse will readily accept a leader.
We can use this fact to our advantage. Yes you can form a connection with your horse and be his best friend-but your horse is also looking for leadership. If you don't provide it then your horse is going to have to assume the leadership role. Is that something you want when say, riding on the trail and a coyote comes out from behind a bush? Probably not-because a horse will do what horses do-spook and run off. You want to be the one making the decisions.
Using natural horsemanship training there are several ways that you can use to establish leadership. Simply leading your horse properly is one good way to do it. Round-pen training is also instrumental in establishing leadership, and good round-pen training lets you establish leadership without using any force whatsoever.
2. Earn Respect, and Gain Trust
All 5 keys are inter-related. If you demonstrate leadership, you will naturally earn the respect and trust of your horse. If your horse doesn't respect and trust you, its pretty clear he can't really bond with you. A horse that doesn't respect you is one likely to engage in bad horse behavior like bucking.
3. Get and Keep the Attention of Your Horse
If your horse isn't paying attention to you, can you trust him enough to sit on his back? Its better to start building that attention with groundwork exercises first instead of sitting on his back squeezing out of fear and pulling hard on the reins trying to get him to listen, hoping he wont' buck you off. Eric Bravo has developed an easy-to-follow system of movements that not only help with establishing leadership with your horse and teach your horse to respond to cues, but also get and keep his attention.
4. Build Communication
A lot of successful horsemanship rests on simply having your horse know what you want him to do. Before you get on his back, you should establish an effective communication system with your horse. This can be done with a circling training routine that turns lunging from a mindless exercise to wear out the horse into a training system that builds an unbreakable communication link with your horse. Then when you get on to ride, your ride will be light and easy, and safe.
5. Patience is the final key to success
As humans we want everything right now. But that won't necessarily work with horse training. Horses learn in slow motion and to have a safe riding experience, you want to make sure you have a solid training foundation on the ground. That means letting your horse make small gains. If you want your horse to go forward ten inches or have him let you hold his hoof for 30 seconds, don't try to get it all at once. Let him move one inch for today and praise him for it, ask for two inches tomorrow. If he lets you hold his foot for 3 seconds, put it down and praise him, go for 4 seconds tomorrow. By building in small steps, that add up, you'll train your horse for a lifetime. Its just like investing in that IRA instead of spending your cash now.
Learn more about Eric Bravo Natural Horsemanship Training Videos.
You may also be interested in our horse training video software, which lets you view Eric’s horse training videos right on your computer, and its Mac and PC compatible.
For more information about horse training videos software, click here