The Ultimate Guide To Horse
Training
What
Is
Natural Horsemanship?
by Eric Bravo
Horse Training Videos
Introduction
If you're new to the
concept you're probably wondering what "natural horsemanship" really
is. No doubt you've seen the "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Milan on television
and maybe you've seen the movie "Horse Whisperer". Is it all some kind
of magic? Do you have to be some kindf of special, gifted individual to
apply and use natural horsemanship?
If that were the case the only hope of the average horse owner would be to hire out some expert at $200 an hour and attend an endless array of classes. But it turns out that there isn't anything really magical about natural horsemanship, and the fact is anyone can learn how to use it and how to apply it to train any horse. Just like anything else, the more you study it and the more experience you gain the better you'll be at handling horses.
To understand what natural horsemanship is let's start with what might be called "traditional" training methods. These methods might work by using dominance and even force, and a reward-punishment system to shape behavior. If an animal does something wrong you might smack him with a stick. If it does something right, you give the animal a food treat.
Natural horsemanship takes a different approach. Instead of trying to force a horse into behaving the way we want to, why not think about how horses live and communicate in the natural world and then build a training method based on what we learn? That's where the term "natural" comes from in natural horsemanship. It simply means observing how horses interact with each other in the wild (or even just a herd in your pasture) and then communicating with the horse in the same way. Natural horsemanship is really as much about training humans as it is about training horses-you're learning to communicate with your horse in a way he intuitively understands.
In this article, we'll talk about four aspects of natural horsemanship:
More "dominant" horses will move less dominant horses around. You don't have to go out into the wild to see this, you can spend some time observing your own "herd" if you have one or go find one at a boarding facility to watch. If the hores all eat at a communal hay stack, you'll see that the lower ranking horses will move out of the way when a dominant horse approaches. If you put out grain in feed bowls, the more dominant horse will eat first, or he/she will make the less dominant horse move away from the feed bowl when he approaches.
From these observations we can see that a horse will naturally accept a leader. Its very important for you to become a leader for your horse. In the two-member "herd", you and your horse, from the point of view of the horse someone is going to assume the leadership role. If you don't the horse will, and that isn't a safe situation, now is it? If the horse is the leader, he is more apt to decide what to do in a scary situation on the trail, for example.
Now here is a key idea that comes from our observations of horse behavior among groups of horses. Leadership can be established without brute force. Yes horses get into scuffles and bite and kick each other-but the fundamental show of dominance is by controlling movement. Instead of beating a horse into submission, we can control the horse by controlling his movement-something he already knows by instinct.
It's this control of movement that is the basis of round-pen exercises that look magical. Letting a horse loose in a round pen ("at liberty", with not leadline or halter on the horse), having him run around a few times, and then follow the handler around without the handler having to use a lead rope. This technique was made famous by Monty Roberts who calls it "join-up" and its been promoted by others like John Lyons. It looks mysterious-but now that you know about how movement is used by horses to establish leadership-there is no mystery about it. Join-up is simply an exercise that involves controlling the movement of the horse-his direction, speed, and when and where to stop. When you control the movement of the horse in this way, you tap into his instincts and he sees you as his leader. Thus he follows you and a leadline is not necessary.
Here is a video clip of Eric Bravo demonstrating the technique, Eric refers to at liberty round pen training as "hook-on".
At liberty round-pen training is a vital aspect of natural horsemanship. You can use it to help establish your leadership without so much as touching the horse, and it will help you in other aspects of your interactions with the horse such as catching.
Leadership also helps you earn the respect of your horse. If a horse respects you, he is going to be safer to handle. Less likely to kick and bite, and less likely to crowd your personal space. A horse that crowds your personal space might knock you down. Or if he disrespects you, he could crowd you when you bring his feed. Respect is important for safety and establishing respect is another vital aspect of natural horsemanship.
A very easy way to establish respect is leading your horse properly. This taps into a second aspect of natural horsemanship, which is the simple observation that horses often communicate through body language.
Unfortunately people make all kinds of mistakes when simply leading their horses around the pasture. They let the horse pull on the rope, drag on the rope, or maybe the horse is stubborn and won't move. You see people with their hand right on the halter knot thinking they are controlling the horse by holding him tight. Of course nothing could be further from the truth, a horse is a thousand pound (or more) animal and you're not going to control him by holding on tight. The only way to control him is through body language he intuitively understands.
In this video clip, horse trainer Eric Bravo demonstrates how get a good lead with your horse.
Leading is one simple way to control the movement of your horse, establish leadership and gain respect. And notice how you can do it all gently-without using any force whatsoever.
Now many people think natural horsemanship is about ground training and nothing else. They envision the practitioners of natural horsemanship playing the "Parelli games" and never getting on their horses. Well nothing could be further from the truth! The purpose of groundwork is to safely prepare your horse for riding. When you do ride you want your horse to be light, responsive, and safe.
We prepare the horse for riding and responding to our cues by once again controlling movement on the ground. This is done by moving the forehand, hinquarter and mid-section of the horse.
Communication established on the ground continues into riding:
Since a horse is a prey animal, he is always on alert for danger. Not only that, but if danger rears its ugly head-its better to run now and ask questions later. Why sit around and wait to be eaten?
So much of horse training revolves around getting a horse to overcome this instinct which is so vital to his very survival. Call it "de-spooking". We've already touched on this when we discussed leadership. By becoming a leader for your horse, you're not only developing a gentle way to control the horse, you're establishing yourself in a position where he can look to for guidance through the psychology of a prey animal. As his leader you will decide when danger is real and when response is needed. Otherwise your horse will bolt at the slightest stimulus.
We'll talk about this aspect of natural horsemanship in more detail in a future article. But for now, let's look at one practical way you can be more successful with horses by understanding how prey animals think. I can't know what a horse really feels like inside when he thinks about being eaten, but it might be like those butterflies you felt in your stomach as a kid when jumping off a diving board at the deep end of a swimming pool. If you simply force a horse into a situation where he's not entirely comfortable, its kind of like that.
Predators are food motivated. What would a pack of dogs like better than a pound of meat?
Prey animals are motivated by the removal of fear. Yes they like to eat, but for them security and comfort are more important. By getting rid of that "butterflies in the stomach" feeling with your horse, you will get alot further than you would by offering treats.
Instead, we want to back off the pressure. This is called "Approach and Retreat". In this sample video, Eric demonstrates using approach and retreat when walking up to a horse that's hard to catch. First of all, don't walk straight on to the horse. A predator that's going to attack is going to take a straight line approach. You can help ease the fear of the horse by approaching in a lateral "zig-zag" pattern instead. And rather than simply going right up to the horse, you "retreat" and take off the pressure by stopping when the horse appears ready to take off. Here is a video to clarify these concepts:
Eric Bravo horse training videos are available in a software program that's available for instant download. For more information, click here.
To order DVDs, click here.
If that were the case the only hope of the average horse owner would be to hire out some expert at $200 an hour and attend an endless array of classes. But it turns out that there isn't anything really magical about natural horsemanship, and the fact is anyone can learn how to use it and how to apply it to train any horse. Just like anything else, the more you study it and the more experience you gain the better you'll be at handling horses.
To understand what natural horsemanship is let's start with what might be called "traditional" training methods. These methods might work by using dominance and even force, and a reward-punishment system to shape behavior. If an animal does something wrong you might smack him with a stick. If it does something right, you give the animal a food treat.
Natural horsemanship takes a different approach. Instead of trying to force a horse into behaving the way we want to, why not think about how horses live and communicate in the natural world and then build a training method based on what we learn? That's where the term "natural" comes from in natural horsemanship. It simply means observing how horses interact with each other in the wild (or even just a herd in your pasture) and then communicating with the horse in the same way. Natural horsemanship is really as much about training humans as it is about training horses-you're learning to communicate with your horse in a way he intuitively understands.
In this article, we'll talk about four aspects of natural horsemanship:
- Becoming a leader for your horse and gaining respect
- Controlling movement
- Horses are prey animals
- Building communication
Horses Are Herd Animals
The first thing to realize about horses is that they are herd animals. Not only that, they don't live in communes-horses live in a herd with a distinct hierarchy. Each herd has a leader or "alpha" horse that decides where the herd is going to go, when and what they are going to eat and so on. Other horses have their respective ranks within the herd, which of course could change with time.More "dominant" horses will move less dominant horses around. You don't have to go out into the wild to see this, you can spend some time observing your own "herd" if you have one or go find one at a boarding facility to watch. If the hores all eat at a communal hay stack, you'll see that the lower ranking horses will move out of the way when a dominant horse approaches. If you put out grain in feed bowls, the more dominant horse will eat first, or he/she will make the less dominant horse move away from the feed bowl when he approaches.
From these observations we can see that a horse will naturally accept a leader. Its very important for you to become a leader for your horse. In the two-member "herd", you and your horse, from the point of view of the horse someone is going to assume the leadership role. If you don't the horse will, and that isn't a safe situation, now is it? If the horse is the leader, he is more apt to decide what to do in a scary situation on the trail, for example.
Now here is a key idea that comes from our observations of horse behavior among groups of horses. Leadership can be established without brute force. Yes horses get into scuffles and bite and kick each other-but the fundamental show of dominance is by controlling movement. Instead of beating a horse into submission, we can control the horse by controlling his movement-something he already knows by instinct.
It's this control of movement that is the basis of round-pen exercises that look magical. Letting a horse loose in a round pen ("at liberty", with not leadline or halter on the horse), having him run around a few times, and then follow the handler around without the handler having to use a lead rope. This technique was made famous by Monty Roberts who calls it "join-up" and its been promoted by others like John Lyons. It looks mysterious-but now that you know about how movement is used by horses to establish leadership-there is no mystery about it. Join-up is simply an exercise that involves controlling the movement of the horse-his direction, speed, and when and where to stop. When you control the movement of the horse in this way, you tap into his instincts and he sees you as his leader. Thus he follows you and a leadline is not necessary.
Here is a video clip of Eric Bravo demonstrating the technique, Eric refers to at liberty round pen training as "hook-on".
At liberty round-pen training is a vital aspect of natural horsemanship. You can use it to help establish your leadership without so much as touching the horse, and it will help you in other aspects of your interactions with the horse such as catching.
Its All About Movement
Don't think being a leader for your horse is bad. Many of us want a friendship with our horses, and mistakenly believe that by being a leader you're not becoming his friend. Nothing could be further from the truth. Horses naturally look for leadership. When you demonstrate leadership for your horse, you open the door to trust. Become a leader for your horse and he will trust you, and when he trusts you then true bonding can occur.Leadership also helps you earn the respect of your horse. If a horse respects you, he is going to be safer to handle. Less likely to kick and bite, and less likely to crowd your personal space. A horse that crowds your personal space might knock you down. Or if he disrespects you, he could crowd you when you bring his feed. Respect is important for safety and establishing respect is another vital aspect of natural horsemanship.
A very easy way to establish respect is leading your horse properly. This taps into a second aspect of natural horsemanship, which is the simple observation that horses often communicate through body language.
Unfortunately people make all kinds of mistakes when simply leading their horses around the pasture. They let the horse pull on the rope, drag on the rope, or maybe the horse is stubborn and won't move. You see people with their hand right on the halter knot thinking they are controlling the horse by holding him tight. Of course nothing could be further from the truth, a horse is a thousand pound (or more) animal and you're not going to control him by holding on tight. The only way to control him is through body language he intuitively understands.
In this video clip, horse trainer Eric Bravo demonstrates how get a good lead with your horse.
Leading is one simple way to control the movement of your horse, establish leadership and gain respect. And notice how you can do it all gently-without using any force whatsoever.
Now many people think natural horsemanship is about ground training and nothing else. They envision the practitioners of natural horsemanship playing the "Parelli games" and never getting on their horses. Well nothing could be further from the truth! The purpose of groundwork is to safely prepare your horse for riding. When you do ride you want your horse to be light, responsive, and safe.
We prepare the horse for riding and responding to our cues by once again controlling movement on the ground. This is done by moving the forehand, hinquarter and mid-section of the horse.
Communication
Rather than using force and rote learning, natural horsemanship strives to build communication with your horse. The primary method of communication is through body language. In the previous video, we already saw how to start building communication with your horse with basic groundwork, lunging is also a great way to work on communication.Communication established on the ground continues into riding:
Horses Are Prey Animals
Now here is something that is obvious when you think about it, horses are prey animals. While that's obvious, understanding how a prey animal sees the world may not be so obvious, because humans are basically predators. We come from a long line of hunters-so instinctively humans might want to be something a horse would avoid!Since a horse is a prey animal, he is always on alert for danger. Not only that, but if danger rears its ugly head-its better to run now and ask questions later. Why sit around and wait to be eaten?
So much of horse training revolves around getting a horse to overcome this instinct which is so vital to his very survival. Call it "de-spooking". We've already touched on this when we discussed leadership. By becoming a leader for your horse, you're not only developing a gentle way to control the horse, you're establishing yourself in a position where he can look to for guidance through the psychology of a prey animal. As his leader you will decide when danger is real and when response is needed. Otherwise your horse will bolt at the slightest stimulus.
We'll talk about this aspect of natural horsemanship in more detail in a future article. But for now, let's look at one practical way you can be more successful with horses by understanding how prey animals think. I can't know what a horse really feels like inside when he thinks about being eaten, but it might be like those butterflies you felt in your stomach as a kid when jumping off a diving board at the deep end of a swimming pool. If you simply force a horse into a situation where he's not entirely comfortable, its kind of like that.
Predators are food motivated. What would a pack of dogs like better than a pound of meat?
Prey animals are motivated by the removal of fear. Yes they like to eat, but for them security and comfort are more important. By getting rid of that "butterflies in the stomach" feeling with your horse, you will get alot further than you would by offering treats.
Instead, we want to back off the pressure. This is called "Approach and Retreat". In this sample video, Eric demonstrates using approach and retreat when walking up to a horse that's hard to catch. First of all, don't walk straight on to the horse. A predator that's going to attack is going to take a straight line approach. You can help ease the fear of the horse by approaching in a lateral "zig-zag" pattern instead. And rather than simply going right up to the horse, you "retreat" and take off the pressure by stopping when the horse appears ready to take off. Here is a video to clarify these concepts:
Eric Bravo horse training videos are available in a software program that's available for instant download. For more information, click here.
To order DVDs, click here.