Janow Podlaski write up.

Here is a great little write up from my clinic in Janow Podlaski. Pride of Poland!!

http://skjanow.pl/szkolenie-joe-turnerem-sk-janow-podlaski/

Thank you, everyone, for an incredible time, can't wait to be back.

When did Natural Horsemanship stop being so Natural?

When did Natural Horsemanship stop being so Natural?

While we may be doing some good we are still failing the horses by going from one extreme to the other with our approaches and training methods. While there has always been great Horsemanship as long as people have been working with horses the majority of the general horse population has only known "forceful and cohesive" methods. In modern equine training we usually come from a stereotypical background of "Cowboy" methods (Western world) or "Classical” training (English world) where the horses were started quick and fast because they were just another tool, there wasn't much thought or regard or concerns about the emotions, mannerisms and behaviors of the horse. Training was pushed on the horses regardless of the thought process of how frightened confused, scared and unsure they were. Until they were "broke" essentially they were forced into becoming a partner.

Knowledge started to change the process when came the ability to communicate to large audiences through mass media. The few who truly understood the horse and could work with the horse in a way that seemed natural to the horse's psyche and born bred behaviors then were able to spread their version of Horsemanship. People like the Dorrance brothers, Ray Hunt, Nuno Oliveira and a few others became sought out by those who understood the horse but needed a little translation and a guide to a better, softer, kinder, more understanding way of working with the horse. We were on the right track with ‘empathy’ but then, silly us, we let ‘sympathy’ get in the way.

Now we have a new generation of "feels good to us" trainers and methods. I like to call it, as my wife dubbed it, “Holistic” horse training, as that seems to be the most fitting. In this practice, we have completely thrown out the horse’s idea of what feels good, safe and secure. Instead, we have interjected our own thoughts and ideas of what feels safe, secure and soft. This is just as bad as the forceful training methods!

The forceful methods will create a horse lacking personality and personal drive, there is no passion and a true partnership with the human counterpart will never exist. The most common problem we see with this type of horse is a soon as the trainer is no longer involved with the picture then the horse has no leader and

On the other hand, the holistic methods of today create a horse who never views us a part of the herd and truly only tolerates us as long as we don’t “upset” them.

Using alternative techniques like the softer methods of using treats or clicker methods for training (what we call positive reinforcement) will simply create a flawed relationship when placed in the environment of stress and fight or flight. Using the softer methods of what people misinterpret to be natural horsemanship we create often unmanageable or difficult horses that we are just stealing rides from because we lack true partnership and more importantly true leadership with our horses. When we create these pocket ponies we typically create two different types of potentially dangerous horses.

For instance, let’s take two horses and observe when they a

re then presented with a scary stimulus and the horse's brain kicks into fight or flight mode. Horse A might see that the only way to safety is on the other side of you and therefore runs you over out of lack of respect to get to a safe area all knowing that they don’t have to be the fastest horse just not the last horse. Whereas Horse B might see you as safety and might want to place you between the scary object and themselves and therefore runs you over in hopes that you'll protect them and allow them to jump into your back pocket for safe keeping (hence the name “Pocket Pony”).

Fortunately the answer is still right in front of us and the horses are telling us everyday what is correct. The fact of the matter is there is no set way to train a horse because each horse is as individual as you and I and we all learn differently but we can look to Nature to see what is most Natural and most Humane according to the horse and not the human viewpoint. We can fill our toolbox with good useful and kind tools that are Natural to the horse’s perception. Good horse training gathers and assimilates information from Nature and then utilizes it. This practice includes knowledge of Wild Horse Behavior, workings of the Equine Brains including design, hormones and chemical releases & uses, knowledge of horse psychology & Herd Dynamics to be able to work in a way that will most make sense to the horse as well as keep our safety as the number one priority. Just remember when your safe your having fun and so is the horse!