quarta-feira, 11 de novembro de 2009

What is Natural Horsemanship About?

Horses are social herd animals evolved for social interaction and the ability to escape predators. They have a highly developed communication system practiced principally through body language and are tuned to read the behavior of predatory species. They understand how to frustrate potential predators in order to survive, both physically and emotionally. Human Beings are a predatory species. We instinctively behave in ways that make even tame domesticated horses wary of us and feel the need to protect themselves sometimes.

The practice of Natural Horsemanship is about bridging that divide so that we can learn how to read the horse and his body language in order to understand his feelings and intentions. We can learn how to convince the horse that we are not a threat to him by understanding how not to behave like a predator. Learn how to mimic horse behavior so that the horse recognises the language and then you will have good communication. When you can give a horse confidence and trust in you his innate desire for social interaction can be used to create a true partnership. A calm horse with confidence learns much more quickly to live in the human world and become accustomed to the situations we wish him to enter into. He is much safer to be with and to ride and becomes a willing participant in our endeavors. His health is also improved by eliminating fear and stress. Stable vices and behavioral problems can disappear very quickly when a more Natural approach is taken to a horses training and welfare.

Natural Horsemanship seeks to treat the horse with respect and preserve his dignity and nobility without the use of fear, violence or coercion. It has teaching methods that are simple, fair and transparent and can be learned by anyone. It is primarily a system for training people how to read and train horses. Horses already know how to be horses...it is us who do not yet know how to be horsemen!

Janet Hakeney

Natural Horsemansip

The natural horsemanship is the balance of understanding between horses and man, is the acceptance by the established communication, so rather than ride a horse is to share a moment with the closest between the horse and his human friend.
Whatever the style of riding the reality of the relationship between you and your horse can change for the better with the introduction of the natural method of riding, all that you don’t understand about your horse or even what the horse does not understand about you, can be turned into communication and understanding by generating confidence and peace necessary for best results, creating customer satisfaction and harmony in a day's work or a simple leisurely walk.

Rui Pedro Arruda