Natural Horsemanship
How to form a bond with your horse
What is Natural Horsemanship?
Natural Horsemanship is a way of asking horses to perform tasks in a way that is more natural, and comfortable to them. Natural horsemanship can be used for everything in your horse’s life: from picking up feet, to loading in trailers, to stopping a bolting horse.
Why use Natural Horsemanship?
Many horses find it easier to understand simple direction when it is asked in a natural way. Such as picking up your horse’s feet, if you think like a horse what does someone hauling on your ankle mean? Humans naturally do so many things that make no sense to our horses we really are lucky that they understand as much as they do, Natural Horsemanship can help you correct problems and make life easier for you and your horse.
Before you start…
All you need to be successful in natural horsemanship is a good understanding of horses, and a good sense of what your horse is thinking. You need to be able to tell when your horse is trying, when he/she is being disobedient, when they don’t understand, when they’re thinking about something, etc. This is very important as you do not want to confuse confusion with disobedience, or trying with not trying, as you would not want to be punished for being confused!
In natural horsemanship it is also helpful (but not necessary) to have a rope halter as it applies pressure in certain areas which can be very helpful when you are asking your horse to do something (however, a normal halter will also work).
The Phases and Zones
Almost everything in natural horsemanship is categorized as either Phases or zones. An example would be: the amounts of pressure that you put on your horse when you are asking them to do something.
When you are asking your horse to do something begin by asking as gently as possible then if he/she doesn't respond, you up your phase. In typical tasks such as backing up the phases are as follows:
1) give them the look (look firm and mean)
2) send them some pressure, this could be in the form of gently bouncing your lead rope, or flicking your finger or wrist
3) you up the pressure, this could mean waving your lower arm (hand to elbow), or twirling your lead rope
4) up the pressure again, wave your whole arm, or whip your rope around in the air
5) Bite them (not literally – this simply means you tell them “enough I have asked you the nice way now move!) a bite could be in the form of smacking them hard on their hindquarters to tell them to pay attention – this is what a horse in the wild would do if they asked their buddy to move over and they didn’t move.
Remember to always reward your horse, the second they try to do something stop what ever pressure that you are putting on them, then if they do not fully complete the task begin to ask them again from phase one.
The Back up
One of the easiest ways to ask your horse to do something naturally is the back-up
To get you horse to back up:
- Give them the look (continue to give them the look as you move through the phases)
- Holding your lead rope wave you finger then, wiggle the rope by flicking your wrist
- Wave you lower arm (wrist to elbow) while holding the rope
- Wave your entire arm while holding the rope
- Do what ever you have to do to get them to go backwards(jump around, wave both arms etc,)
- The second your horse lifts a foot (a try) phrase them by stopping what ever phase you were doing and smiling.
Solving simple problems with Natural Horsemanship
Your horse runs away when you try to catch it:
If your horse runs away when you try and catch think to you self “fine run around then!” and make your horse run around (waving your arms etc). When they get tired and want to stop make them keep going until you want them to stop (make their idea your idea) When they are stopped go up to them and try again to catch them. If they run away repeat the process until they have learned that you won’t give up.
You can’t get your horse to stand still when you mount:
If you’re horse starts walking around the second you put your foot in the stirrup, then make them walk around! Circle them around you until they stop moving. Then try to get on again. Repeat this until they have learned that if they start to move you’re going to make them move!
Try it and see how Natural Horsemanship can help you and your horse!
Written By Devan Wiebe, VPC 2008
Primary Resources and Information—Lee-Anne Smith