Natural Horsemanship

[makoiyi]

invalidsync's post below got me thinking about this whole issue of 'Natural Horsemanship' vs 'regular' horsemanship. I don't want to argue about it but my own opinion on the matter is it isn't about 'control'. It's about communication and, quite honestly, like people, every horse is different. I use a combination of both 'natural' and 'regular'. In

Comments

[glenatron]

Having done most of my learning with people who would be thought of as "Natural Horsemanship" trainers, I've basically come to agree with Tom Moates on that one. The whole "natural horsemanship" idea is kind of a bit meaningless really because so many of the people who use it to describe what they are doing are using totally different techniques. And so many of the guys who are using the name are not only doing totally different things but have a gadget or two they want you to buy which makes something that theoretically should be about getting rid of the need for extra stuff and just getting things down to you and your horse into another marketing scheme for bits, pressure halters and whatever else.

The thing is, that all puts people off and it makes me a bit sad because there are some amazing trainers around and I see a lot of riders who could be getting so much more out of their relationship with their horse, be safer on horseback and probably have more fun as well but they just don't know what is out there and they don't want to

[vayshedruvon]

Well said. I agree; I'd rather use a mix of techniques described as 'natural' as well as the 'regular'. Ultimately, I think it just feels more 'natural' to use training that most conveniently makes my horse and myself happy, instead of subscribing to any one specific trainer's view on The Best Way to Do Everything.

[kittylevin]

WORD is all I can say. I love you for this; you are so utterly correct.

[suraineko]

I've looked into some "natural horsemanship" techniques to give me ideas for working with my TB's groundwork. He's a very sensitive guy who has a tendency to get worked up when you get after him. Studying NH gave me some tools and ideas to systematically train my horse on the ground to have better manners but it ended at that.

Onto mounted work I felt the NH ideas work absolutely worthless for my situation if not detremental. I didn't see how slouching around with my hands bracing against my green horse's withers as he trotted around willy nilly was going to improve him in the slightest and I abandoned further study.

Am I a NH person? No. But having taken some valuable ideas from them I can't say they're entirely worthless. Perhaps another horse and rider combo would've benifited from the mounted work and found the groundwork useless. I don't think it's fair to point at something and label it in black and white, good or bad. Study your options, take home whats good for you.

[invalidsync]

Completely agree.