Saturday, March 28, 2015

Natural Horsemanship in many forms

I'm a big believer in natural horsemanship style training.  Provided it's done right.  I think that every trainer has a stick with a rope on the end, a stick with a bag on the end, and a round pen.  The difference, to me, is the intent.

Some NH style trainers train via dominance and submission.  The horse learns that he must do what the human says because the human is meaner, stronger, smarter and faster.  They get well behaved horses.

Some NH style trainers train via respect and trust.  The horse learns that the person has a lot of knowledge without a lot of aggression and the person will never put him in danger.  The horse respects that person's authority without being afraid.  They get well behaved horses.

For me, it will always be the second type of trainer.  Horses are thinking living things and a horse that trusts me  and does things because of that is a partner and a horse that fears me is a horse that is a machine.

Here are two different types of NH trainers, both dealing with dangerous and aggressive horses.

The first is Warwick Schiller.




The second is Clinton Anderson.


Do you notice a difference between the training styles even though they all involve an aggressive horse, a round pen, and a stick with a string?

3 comments:

  1. I definitely prefer the Warwick Schiller videos. However, I can see why a more direct approach with a horse that has become as aggressive at Clinton Anderson video would be needed.

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  2. I think what was significant to me was the tone in CA's voice. He didn't want the horse to respect him, he wanted the horse to think he was crazy. He wasn't concerned about letting the horse rest, where Warwick said several times how he wanted to give the horse time to breathe and relax.

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  3. so now you have me hooked on those Warwick Schiller videos!

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March has jokes

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