No One Can Learn For You

No one can do the learning for you.

My biggest fear of delving into the world of a being an educator of horse people, is that I am then relied on as the fountain of knowledge and the one that solely helps you progress.

I see myself as ONE avenue on a persons path to being the best they can be with horses. I encourage people to do their own research, critically analyse current philosophies and expose themselves to as many different ways of thinking about horses as possible. Too often I hear people say, "oh no I cannot do that with my horse because 'anonymous' said so", or, "'anonymous' has all I will ever need in a method". All power to these people, I really do hope that way of thinking does provide them with every opportunity they could possibly imagine.

For those that are not happy to just accept current theories and subject their horses to them, please read on :)

In the world we live in today ANYBODY could learn to train a horse. There is SOOOO much information on websites, facebook, youtube, the library and in world renowned clinicians 'clubs' (eg NWC Club, Savvy Club, Ride the Journey). What people need to do now is learn to break down what makes a good horse, horseman and partnership, to be the best they can be with EVERY horse they interact with.

For example a talented horsewoman recently said to me that her horse was worried about one corner of the arena. I asked her what strategies she used to try to help 'fix' this. She replied that her first strategy was to push the horse forward, and forward, and forward etc until the horse would get to that corner. When she discovered this was not really getting the desired result (horse was less willing, losing confidence and she was not feeling good about doing it to her horse), she chose a new strategy. 

The new strategy was to walk her horse towards the spooky area, as soon as she felt her horse about to brace, she made it her idea to walk the other way, then she turned back around and did the same thing, attempting to get closer and closer and not putting herself in a position where she was fighting the horse or where the horse felt a need to get defensive and develop a brace. She felt much better about the 2nd strategy as she didn't feel like she was fighting the horse so much, felt like her horse had more of an understanding and was getting a bit more confident. 

So I said to her: what was your thinking about doing it that way? What psychology of the horse did you apply there? What gave you that idea? She thought about it for a moment and had some ideas but was not 100% clear. 

In my eyes what happened was that this fantastic lady saw innately, that her horse is a prey animal. She showed she understood the concept of pressure and release and that retreat builds confidence. She could see that at that particular moment the horse was not being naughty or nappy, it was simply doing what mother nature told it to do- GET TO safety! In thinking of another option she was not pig-headedly blundering though at the expense of the relationship she has with her horse. I felt it was a fantastic display of horsemanship.

So any way.... when I work with horses I do not just do something with/to my horse because someone said so or I have seen it done before. Instead I look at the situation from many different angles and choose the option that is best for ME and for my HORSE, in that PARTICULAR moment in time. It might not be the way a horseman better than I may do it, it might not be the way I do it tomorrow, but I KNOW that I have given the concept thoughtful consideration, which in my eyes will always be right for my horse. If on reflection down the line it wasn't, I will log it in my memory to add to my 'analysis pool' to draw on next time I have a similar thing to consider.

I feel I have this awareness because I do not just 'accept theory', I research widely, watch and assess many different trainers and listen to what my horse is telling me. I am fascinated in the way horses and people think and learn.

So when people come to my clinics I am not there to teach them 'how to do things', I am there to teach them how to think about things, how to be effective learners and how to reflect on things to grow as horse people. Yes you will come away with a whole raft of different activities, techniques and methods to use, but at the end of the day it is up to the person to take what is relevant to them, in that particular stage of their horsemanship journeys.

I hope this makes sense, it really is a bit of a novel I am sorry! I would love to have a discussion with like minded people, firstly so I know I am not crazy and secondly as I believe I can learn something from each and every one of you!