Natural Horsemanship
Everyone's into Natural Horsemanship these days. If you're trying to market yourself as a horse trainer, if you want to do clinics and sell videos and books, if you want to see your name and picture in a horse magazine, if you want to be a guru and gain a following, if you want to make money, there's no better way to do it than under the heading of "Natural Horsemanship." There are so many of them out there, and there are so many different methods being marketed that it's hard to define what "Natural Horsemanship" actually is. But after seeing so much of it, I think a good definition is "trying to deal with horses using our interpretations of the same methods horses use to deal with each other."
I was around horses and horse people long before Natural Horsemanship came onto the scene, and I haven't seen how it has helped horses or the people handling them. In other words I haven't seen any better results, as a whole, for horses or horse owners out of Natural Horsemanship than I saw in the older ways. Sure, you go to the clinic and see the clinician perform miracles with a horse using certain methods...but rarely are owners able to duplicate those results with their own horses when they get back home.
It may be interesting to hear different peoples' interpretations of the ways in which horses enforce social order in a herd, which is what Natural Horsemanship is based on. But I haven't seen any consistent results that have convinced me that those interpretations have actually helped people with their horses to a great degree. And when you think of it, why should they? After all, WE are not horses, we're people. Our horse KNOWS we're not a horse, so it's reasonable to conclude that the horse will react differently to us. And, most importantly, the things that we want our horses to do are light years removed from the things that the dominant horse in a herd might want to enforce. What we need a horse to do in order to ride it is totally different from wanting the horse to stay away from the watering hole until after we're had our drink.
But, all that aside, Natural Horsemanship doesn't look at the horse any differently, or at the fundamental level treat the horse any better, than the older methods. Sure, the spurs and whips are not used in Natural Horsemanship like they were in the older methods. But, if you go beyond those surface differences, you'll understand what I mean.
When you think about it, most horse training methods, including Natural Horsemanship, regard the horse as an adversary. They tell you to teach your horse respect, to outsmart your horse, and not to let your horse get by with things. They all tell you how to get your horse to do what you want it to do. They all approach horses with basically the same attitude--horses are lazy, always trying to get one over on you, always looking for a way to get out of doing something, always on the lookout for a way around what you want them to do. In other words, horses are seen as inherently bad characters, and the only way to get them to do what we want is to force them to do it, or, using the phrase that seems to be in vogue now, to make them want to do what we want them to do. Natural Horsemanship and the older whip 'n spur methods all have this same fundamental view of horses as the enemy or adversary to be conquered. The only difference between them is that they disagree on how best to conquer the enemy. Despite some of the smooth talk coming from Natural Horsemanship corners, when you strip away all the marketing stuff about "understanding" and "trust," the horse is still seen as the enemy to be conquered...and don't let your guard down for a minute, or your horse'll take advantage of you!
Natural Horsemanship represents no advance in the fundamental way of viewing the horse. They might not use physical torture, but they use psychological torture. Some of their methods remind me of the stereotypical old maid schoolteacher: cold, unfeeling, sour, and mad at the world.
I like horses, and I refuse to see a horse as an adversary or as an enemy to be conquered. I regard a horse as being a fellow living being with an inherently good character. I see the horse as a fellow creature of Nature who wants to please us, wants to have a relationship with us, and wants to be around us. I see the horse as a fellow creature of Nature who is trying to please us, trying to have a relationship with us, and trying to be around us as a friend...but WE are the ones spoiling those attempts with our insistance on looking at the horse as an adversary. I really believe that this tendency of looking at the horse as an adversary builds a wall between us and our horses.
But how, then, do you get a horse to do what you want it to do? Just as I think we need to stop seeing the horse as an adversary, I also think we need to stop seeing the horse as an object that makes it possible for us to do something. The horse is a living being, not a tool to be used. If we see the horse as a tool that we use, we need to get the horse to do what we want it to do. If we're like most people, we don't have much time to spend with our horse, so we need for it to do it more or less automatically. And that's what the various methods of horse training promise us.
But if you see the horse as a living being, then it's not so critical that you get the horse to do what you want it to do. The important thing for us will not be competing or trail riding this weekend, but our relationship with this fellow living being. We will be willing to spend the time required to develop a friendship and partnership with our horse, and the things we do with our horse will depend on the things that are comfortable between two partners.
