| The fundamental difference between what has come | | | | submits to the bathing. |
| to be generically called "natural horsemanship" and | | | | Another "traditional" method of dealing with this |
| what has been accepted over time as traditional | | | | problem might be to twitch or sedate the animal. Both |
| training techniques comes down to one question: | | | | of these methods are focused on dominating or |
| When you look at your horse, what do you see? | | | | "breaking" the horse, and neither of these methods |
| Many people see the horse as a creature to be | | | | addresses the "why" of the problem. |
| controlled and dominated through a process commonly | | | | Now, let's say you want to apply the principles of |
| known as "breaking." .. In fact, many people who | | | | natural horsemanship to this problem. Would a horse in |
| practice traditional training techniques are sincere horse | | | | the wild ever take a bath? What does a horse do |
| lovers, and treat their horses to the best when it | | | | when he is caught in the rain? And a more basic |
| comes to food and overall care. | | | | question, why would a horse fear water? If you can |
| However, those who practice natural horsemanship | | | | think like a horse, you can solve this problem without |
| see the horse a little bit differently. It's true that horses | | | | causing major stress to either you or your horse. |
| are animals, and as such, they do not share the human | | | | There are lots of great resources out there on why |
| capacity for complex reasoning and logic. But that | | | | horses might fear water in general, and lots of advice |
| doesn't mean they are simply "dumb" animals. People | | | | on how to proceed, but the natural horsemanship |
| who practice natural horsemanship (in any of its many | | | | solution to this problem is fairly consistent: slow and |
| forms) share a core belief that we must see horses | | | | steady wins the race. Think like a horse. When would |
| as they see themselves, that is, through the eyes of | | | | you most like to be sprayed with cool water? On a |
| another horse. | | | | hot day, right? |
| Wikipedia defines natural horsemanship as "the | | | | The first step, then, is to pick a hot day when your |
| philosophy of working with horses by appealing to their | | | | horse will more likely welcome the feel of water. Start |
| instincts and herd mentality." When a horse behaves in | | | | with a trickle of water on his feet and legs, and slowly |
| a way that seems unreasonable or illogical when | | | | work your way up his body. If you have to do this |
| looked at through the lens of human behavior, it's easy | | | | over several days, so be it. Don't push your horse too |
| to pass judgment and pronounce the horse "dumb." | | | | far. It takes a long time to build up trust, and only |
| But when you take the time to see a horse's behavior | | | | seconds to shatter it. If you're in a big hurry, your horse |
| the way another horse would see it, most of the time | | | | will know it, and his stress level will go up because of it. |
| you can make perfect sense of its reaction. | | | | The bottom line is, that although the example of |
| To really illustrate the difference between natural | | | | bathing your horse is a specific one, the lessons |
| horsemanship and traditional training techniques, let's | | | | learned from it can be applied to many facets of |
| say you have a horse who is terrified of being bathed | | | | horse training. When you practice natural horsemanship |
| (i.e., the spray of water is cause for absolute panic). An | | | | instead of traditional training techniques, you will build a |
| old-fashioned cowboy solution might be to tie the | | | | long and satisfying relationship with your horse. You will |
| horse to a pole in the middle of a field, and spray him | | | | both love just being together. |
| with water until he either kills himself or gives up and | | | | |