Natural Horsemanship
Imagine… a horse training style from the unique perspective of the horse and the herd mentality.  Instead of the pervasive Master/Animal framework, a school of thought that puts all the focus on relating to the horse in the manner they relate among themselves in the wild.  Sound a little fuzzy?  Picture a true partnership with your horse based on trust and commitment instead of performance based on fear of retribution.  Are you smiling yet?  If you are and this has secretly been your dream for you and your horse then welcome to Natural Horsemanship!

The Theory

We’ve all seen it to some degree: The common old-school belief among horse trainers is that a horse should be broken through pain and submission into an animal that will do whatever, whenever, simply out of fear of the consequence of what would happen if they didn’t do as they were told. The horse is never supposed to hesitate but blindly follow his master's orders. A horse is typically bucked-out the first time the rider got on it and the cowboy would ride the bronc until it was too tired to keep going. This type of colt starting is in sharp contrast to the main philosophy of Natural Horsemanship which strives to build a partnership between trainer and horse. With Natural Horsemanship the horse is trained at a more natural pace to make it completely comfortable before it is mounted. Rather than forcing the horse to act, the Natural Horseman guides her horse, by letting her horse try to figure out things on her own and instead of suppressing his horse’s will; he encourages him to the point that his horse anticipates the desired response.

The History
The idea of Natural Horsemanship is believed to have roots all the way back to ancient Greece when Xenophon (444bc-357bc) in his book, De Re Equestri, explains how horse trainers can utilize the natural behavior of a horse in their training, instead of using force .In modern horsemanship history brothers Bill and Tom Dorrance are believed to be some of the earliest influences and developers of the theory of Natural Horsemanship. Tom Dorrance (1910-2003) developed the theory of True Unity and Willing Communication in which the trainer guides a horse in an exercise and gives the horse time to try on its own without using force. Dorrance studied horses both in herds in the wild, and by themselves as domesticated animals to learn as much about their behavior as he possibly could.  Since Tom started the trend again there are many trainers that have followed him, seeing the lasting results and the communication that happens as a result of it.  Some of those trainers include Monty Roberts, Gwani Pony Boy, Clinton Anderson, Jon Lyons, Pat Parelli, Glen Stewart and many others…many of which I have had the privilege to see work their magic personally.  In fact, I spent three weeks in Cody, Wyoming with Ken McNabb, a Jon Lyons certified trainer, three weeks in B.C. with well known trainer (former Parelli) Glen Stewart.  I have achieved some of the Parelli levels and continue to study under Glen as often as possible. 

My Proposal to You:  Let me show you how!

  Ok, let me level with you:  My goal is to keep learning what makes horses tick and how I can tap into their habits and behaviours to bring out the best in them.  I’ve also committed to continue learning from the amazing trainers mentioned above that practice this discipline on a day-to-day basis.  Now as part of my personal development,  I will make myself available to you for private consultations; training sessions, or day long clinics…whatever it takes to teach you as much or as little of this technique as you want.  But I’ll warn you:  Once you start getting that relationship with your horse, you will be hooked!  Please contact me for more information, or if you would like references from present or past students and their horses I would be more than happy to share that information with you.