Bringing Back Horsemanship!
I have been a qualified equestrian coach for almost three decades (yup I’m starting to feel old!) In the last ten years I’ve noticed a decline in horsemanship amongst horse riders and owners. A lot in the performance horse world and especially amongst the more wealthy who can afford full time grooms. I think the fact there has been an increase in people entering the sport as adults, with little to no prior experience around horses has also contributed to this issue. I have been breaking in horses on and off for over 25 years. Back when I started, I was always breaking in horses for experienced horse people. It was just common knowledge that you didn’t own and ride a breaker or young green horse unless you were experienced enough to do so. Move forwards 20 years, into Covid and I found myself returning to breaking and training full time to financially survive. The majority of the clients I was breaking or training horses for had very little experience as riders and experienced their own anxieties, fears or confusion about handling/riding their young horse. I think the main reason for this is a quality broken in horse has a price tag beyond a lot of horse owners budgets. They still want the quality horse and buy it unbroken to save money.
One of my clients with her 3 year old warmblood. Two things are happening here… 1) The horse is learning the tarp is not scary and 2) His owner/rider is learning how to build trust, by training him to believe her when she reassures him the tarp is nothing to be scared of.
I would always try to get the owner to participate in three hand over rides before the horse went home but I discovered that for some owners, this just wasn’t enough. They needed more help!! However there are only so many hours in a day and I simply can’t get to everyone who needs my help. So I started running horsemanship clinics from my property in Macclesfield. I would start by getting each owner to demonstrate how they lead their horse. Why? I wanted to assess the connection and type of relationship each person had with their horse before continuing.
Some would grip the lead firmly under the horses chin and pull the horses head along. Some would walk in front and just let their horse follow. Some had little to no control with their horse leaping, rearing and trying to rip away from them. It was really interesting for me to watch how such a simple skill of leading a horse had been lost.
Another client kicking massive goals in learning how to be the leader her horse needs her to be. This mare is a dominant mare who often takes over the leadership role until recently. She has been a pigrooting, bolting, rearing opinionated little horse until her owner learnt how to own her space. Riding over a tarp one handed while holding an umbrella is not something they could have done until her owner/rider learnt how to be the leader her horse needed her to be. This particular owner fell into the ‘fun friend’ category but she has now fully stepped into her role as the leader.
I think there’s a few different types of horse owners which consist of the dictator (uses force and fear to scare the horse into submitting), the soft mummy (who spoils the horse), the fun friend (the horse is comfortable with them but wont follow direction) and the leader (who is the horses teacher providing a positive learning environment with set boundaries). Anyone reading this is going to recognise themselves in those analogies above.
However, as we are talking about Horsmanship lets focus on the “Leader”. Now… I have also noticed there is a large contingency of horse owners who seem to confuse the term ‘leadership’ with ‘dicatorship’ and kind horsemanship with being a ‘mummy’ type of horse owner. If you want a mummy type of relationship with your horse, great, you do you, but don’t expect your horse to participate in any form of ridden activity because you asked it nicely and gave it a licorice. IF you want to have a safe, positive, friendly relationship with your horse that allows you to progress and improve both yours and your horses skillset, then you need to become the leader THEY need you to be. “A great leader has the ability to influence and guide others towards a common goal or vision.” Horsemanship is having the ability to positively influence and guide your horse towards the training goals you have set. Individuals with great horsemanship skills are not only very self aware but they possess a great deal of intuitive feel. And yes… you can learn to be more intuitive. If you want to connect on the deepest level of understanding with your horse then strengthening your intuition is a must.
“Jane” .. one of the legends who has been around horses forever, breaking and training her own. Has more horsemanship skills in her little finger than a large collective of others. Also one of the most humble, modest, kind and giving humans you could meet… yet her horses would follow her through fire. No dictatorship here!
Lets go back a step. Horses are fundamentally herd animals. In a herd of horses their is a hierarchy with the matriarchal mare and stallion at the top. In the majority of successful, long lasting wild herds, these two individuals are incredibly intelligent, intuitive and effective in how they maintain peace. Neither will be overly emotional, dramatic creatures. They generally control the herd in a quiet and kind way, leading by example in how to avoid danger, find food and shelter. (Leading others for a common goal) If there is an unruly youngster causing drama, the matriarchal mare will generally quietly and swiftly reprimand them. A bite to the knees or the flank, or hunting them out of the herd to a vulnerable space until they exhibit submission. On the flip side they don’t fuss over their herd with excessive and suffocating affection. Are they affectionate? Yes, but there are boundaries.
Horses can read each others body language from a great distance and it can be the slightest ear flick, blink, breath or step that can mean so much. There’s many studies now on how horses read or sense the energy in other horses, humans and beings around them. It’s an innate part of their survival instinct. If you ever have the chance to watch a herd of horses, even a domesticated herd, try to observe the subtleties in their communication. Watch how the youngsters play, how they are disciplined by their dams, or how the dams will protect their young from other herd members. Watch how they groom each other, the invitation for such affection and the signs of when they have had enough. We can all learn so much from purely sitting in a paddock quietly and watching a herd interact.
Back to how this relates to horsemanship, the human to horse connection. Over time we have domesticated horses and somewhere the art of horsemanship has been lost. Whether its due to the human drive of wanting more and better in the shortest time possible….or the invention of social media causing a savage competitiveness…. or purely the fact there just hasn’t been enough of the older generation of GREAT horsemen and horsewomen to pass on their craft? Whatever the reason, it has saddened me to see so many horses being mishandled due to nothing other than a lack of knowledge. I have noticed though that the tide is turning with more and more trainers advocating and advertising their horsemanship skills. An obvious shift towards a safe, kind and controlled method has been noted. I hope it quickly becomes the norm.
My boy Maverick. Was known on the track to be cold backed but really just had a few physical issues that caused pain. One of the most stoic animals I’ve had. He needs a confident, no rubbish type of energy but would not tolerate anyone too firm with him. Show him kindness, safety and patience… he’ll give his heart!
Horses need leaders. They are a flight animal and they need a leader who keeps them safe, proves they CAN keep them safe and makes learning new things a pleasant experience without causing fear. Horses love to please, they love to know they have done the right thing.
If you have an energy about you that shows you’re questioning your every move, causes you to move mechanically and rigid without flow, then you will struggle to get any horse to trust you as their leader. If you have so much fear your heart races, you tremble, sweat, breathe awkwardly… then you will struggle to get any horse to trust you as their leader. If you are a negative thinker who gets fixated on everything that can go wrong without maintaining clear thought on what you want to achieve or problem solve….you will struggle to get any horse to trust you as their leader! If you don’t understand how to move when around horses, where or how to place your body, hold tension or don’t pay enough attention… you will struggle to get any horse to trust you as their leader.
Horses read human body language far more intensively than most humans read each other. If you are thinking negatively, fearing bad outcomes, unable to control your anxiety, then the horse will know. Even when the person standing right next to you thinks you’re completely fine, the horse will know you’re not. This is where so many horse people get into trouble. They get stuck in their own thoughts instead of being present in the moment and observing how the horse is behaving. When we ditch our mental junk and just ‘be present’ with our horses is when the real connection starts.
Some horses require a very firm presence from the person. These types of horses are usually dominant mares who are leaders in their own right or stallions. With these types the person needs to prove they are stronger, braver and more intelligent. That doesn’t mean the person has to become violent, they just need to make themselves bigger in energy and have impeccable timing. If the person fails for one nano-second, the horse will take over and they can absolutely hurt someone they think is not worthy. On the flip side, if the horse is a flighty, spooky or traumatised horse, then the person’s energy needs to be a lot more gentle. Direction, boundaries and reward still need to be demonstrated but generally the human needs to have a softer energy, moves slower, non-reactive to spooks or fearful behaviour and very very patient.
Irish! My little homebred Warmblood x TB. Extremely noise sensitive so he wears a Hydez hood when training new things so I can keep his focus on me. This little horse has probably taught me more about managing my own body language than any other horse… and to date I have broken in and trained over 200 horses. This little fella was very easy at first but after he suffered a few self inflicted bad injuries, building his trust in new environments has been a challenge. This horse makes me a better person and a better trainer.
On top of all of this, a quiet horse with an experienced rider can become a complete nervous or bucking wreck with an inexperienced rider. This is due to the rider not having clear aids/directions for the horse to understand. If the horse doesn’t understand the task then they start to feel unsafe. Their herd instinct kicks in along with flight instinct and that once quiet horse is now deemed dangerous. I’ve had MANY horses like this sent to me labelled with ‘behavioural’ issues. Usually in the first session I can ascertain its an owner problem and not a horse problem. In my experience, horses misbehave for a few reasons and its never ever because they have nasty souls. It’s always due to being in fear, in pain, fear of pain, confusion, sadness (yes they get sad) or being overfed.
Lets touch on sadness for a moment. In this country, horses are bred, bought and sold for many different purposes. When they no longer fit the purpose they were designed for they get sold or moved on. Horses naturally live in a herd for life. Colts go off to make their own herd but everyone is still connected. Humans create strong bonds with horses, they become that horses ‘herd’. When the human outgrows that horse or no longer needs them, they sell them or move them on. Everything the horse has ever known is changed in one day. That person they loved and trusted is now replaced with a stranger. Horses do mourn for the life they have known. They can also be sad or confused when pulled out of a herd life and sent off to be broken in. These particular horses need lots of time and skillful horseman/women to start their ridden careers in a positive way. Horses from big stables, racing, cutting, showjumping, dressage etc can be very shut down unless they’ve had remarkable grooms who breathe love into them every day. I do however find the horses from big busy stables transition into new homes more easily IF they have been handled and trained expertly from where they came from. So if you buy a new horse, get them home and they don’t behave like the horse you trialled… give them time! Just hang out with no agenda or pressure and let the horse get to know you, trust you, love and respect you.
It never ceases to amaze me how no one would ever dream of taking someone else’s dog just expecting them to fit into their new life seamlessly, but in the horse world, to the majority, this is a given. Its not! Horses are highly emotive animals who we as humans need to give more time to adjust to change.
My PK and me. This horse came to me very neglected, in pain and shut down. He is THE most beautiful soul and softens me. PK requires a quiet, relaxed energy. He can be suspicious and sensitive to anyone who moves too fast or is too loud. PK stays with me forever and is written into my will.
Back to horsemanship. It is primarily about trust. Firstly the horse must believe you are not a threat. They secondly must trust you are of strong enough character to protect them from danger so their flight instinct can dampen a little. A horse must also want to do what you are asking of it. Some will try so hard to do what is asked, even when they are uncomfortable or don’t quite understand, they will still try their best with the least amount of resistance. Some are not so willing. If you want to strengthen your horses willingness then you need to strengthen your body language your own horse understands and trusts. Understanding what motivates the horse, not asking too much too soon and giving reward for every moment they try or get the task right is REALLY important. Its common knowledge that a positive learning environment and method is far more effective than a forceful or negative one. You need to understand where your horses drive line is (they all differ), you need to know how to adjust your energy and body language to the changing behaviour your horse may exhibit in one session or over time as they learn. You need to control your thoughts, be present and exhibit clear intention. If you can improve your own skills then you will progressively build a better relationship with your horse. Most of all you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Horses don’t lie. If you don’t have the courage to admit your weaknesses and want to blame it all on the horse then the horse world is not for you! BUT… if you want to develop your horsemanship skills and can unashamedly admit your own weaknesses… then you have a place in this difficult, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes exhilarating, generally dirty and occasionally magical world of horses.
For anyone in VIC who needs more in person help learning how to improve their horsemanship skills, then please keep an eye on my social media pages and website for my AML Horsemanship Clinics.
