Chris Irwin - Equine translator
Forget 'horse whispering.' Chris Irwin straight up talks to them.
Many of you might not have heard of him, as he is a canadian trainer, but man, this guy is a hidden jewel. As we all know, horses have an intricate body language, but Chris demonstrates that - though differently equipped - we can still learn to speak that language relatively well, and that, surprisingly, horses have no problem understanding.
I attended a clinic with Chris on Thursday. I didn't know much about him before going, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm pretty leery of Natural Horsemanship™ but I figured it would hurt to go and expand my horizons, or at the very least gain more ground for criticism, if need be.
I left feeling both impressed and validated. His school of thought in riding flows along the same river as the main coach I learned from. My ground training/round penning-type knowledge was always what I considered to be the bare basics, so I learned an awful lot in that regard.
I already posted a huge entry about it in my own journal, so I will direct those interested to read about the clinic there.
If you ever have the opportunity to go to one of his clinics, I highly recommend it. There are no tricks, no miracle training toys, no secrets, just straight up "horse immersion" - learn the language, and how you're speaking it. In fact, the more you already know about equine communication, the more you'll likely get out of his clinic!
Many of you might not have heard of him, as he is a canadian trainer, but man, this guy is a hidden jewel. As we all know, horses have an intricate body language, but Chris demonstrates that - though differently equipped - we can still learn to speak that language relatively well, and that, surprisingly, horses have no problem understanding.
I attended a clinic with Chris on Thursday. I didn't know much about him before going, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm pretty leery of Natural Horsemanship™ but I figured it would hurt to go and expand my horizons, or at the very least gain more ground for criticism, if need be.
I left feeling both impressed and validated. His school of thought in riding flows along the same river as the main coach I learned from. My ground training/round penning-type knowledge was always what I considered to be the bare basics, so I learned an awful lot in that regard.
I already posted a huge entry about it in my own journal, so I will direct those interested to read about the clinic there.
If you ever have the opportunity to go to one of his clinics, I highly recommend it. There are no tricks, no miracle training toys, no secrets, just straight up "horse immersion" - learn the language, and how you're speaking it. In fact, the more you already know about equine communication, the more you'll likely get out of his clinic!