Does your yard think you're nuts?

Madame_Sarah

Madame_Sarah

Listen and learn
Sep 24, 2008
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University of York, and Lincoln
www.flickr.com
I keep getting some very funny looks when I take Mini to the arena in her headcollar, carrying my saddle in my arms, only for me not to bother using it at all. Unless your lunging session involves a very long line, lots of shouting and constant whip swinging, it seems that you must be a sandwich short of a picnic.

We did some bareback, bitless work today, which provoked some very amusing reactions. I told someone that I'd just come back from riding, bringing Mini back in her headcollar with nothing but a rope in my hands, and they said something to the effect of; "Are you joking? You're stupid or just mad. My horse would never..." It's nice to know that "it's the breed of horse that makes it possible", not the training or the connection. I just tend to say that, "If I can manage it, and my friend can compete and hack her 17.2h Oldenburg & 3yr Andalusian mare (and 2 arabs, and an ex-racehorse) without metal in the mouth, anyone can."

Usually, I just smile and keep my mouth shut as much as possible, especially when their horses run through the arena fencing, or try to chew on their kimblewick but can't because of the chains - it makes me quite upset to see such stress...What do you guys do?

I don't actually think that I'm any better than them, but I'm a bit bored of being told that I'm "mad" or "nuts", or even "stupid", for training my horse differently...

Any thoughts?
 
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I've yet to experience a negative reaction - but I only moved onto yard 3 weeks ago, and we're just recovering from laminitis, so we'll see what happens once I start doing more!
A previous yard I was on was extremely negative towards everything that wasn't traditional BHS way, so I never became brave enough to experiment there.
I have seen a lot of people (on another forum) posting a lot about this sort of problem, so it must be fairly widespread :rolleyes:

Know what you mean about the breed assumptions though, people always assume mine's a nice quiet plod, suitable for beginners...:rolleyes:
 
Since I own my own yard the only things that find me nuts are my horses and myself!!!! But seven years ago, when I lived in London, the Livery Yard we kept our gee gees in didn't bat an eyelid. I think you could have even gone there like the Black Adder guy with pencils sticking out of your ears and they would not have said anything!:rolleyes: Maybe something you could try out for a dare!
 
Not in the least, it's an open minded place and people generally get on with whatever they want to get on with, whether it's 'alternative' or not, so long as the horse isn't made to suffer for it.
 
5.7FB+16.2FC said:
Well i dont do natural horemanship but neither do i shout and scream cracking a whip @ my horse. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You might not, but my lot do...don't take my rant personally - it is regarding the people on my yard, and noone else. Even so, the people who keep their horses at the yard are friendly and sometimes helpful - just not when it comes to my riding and training style.
 
We're a friendly open-minded lot on our yard (lol, am teasing there is only OH and myself!!!) It can be annoying on a yard if you do things a bit differently to others, one yard I was on there was just no way anybody was doing Natural Horsemanship and if you so much as mentioned it you'd get more than strange looks........other yard I was on folk tended to keep themselves to themselves - apart from one smart ass who on my second day told me that I shouldn't be lunging in a cavesson and that it would rub! (Until they saw it was a cracking good fit and made of soft leather)............oooh, the cheek of some folk.........
 
I think it's natural for people to be averse to change - natural and right ! If things have worked well for people, for many generations, they'd be mad to throw every bit of knowledge out, for what might prove to be just a passing fad !

What's really nice for me at the moment, having been doing this for four years consistently, is that it's all really paying off now. People are seeing good results in my horses - and I've been around long enough to start being taken seriously.

I have a friend who is very much into micromanaging her horses' every move. They're stabled, shod, overbitted, tie-downs and martingales ... she catches them and cross-ties them for everything - the horse has literally no say in anything. Well, after a year of living in Tennessee from California, she's beginning to change too. It's not that she's a bad person - she's just never had to think that a horse can behave himself without all these restrictions on him, she just hasn't seen it before. So gradually, over the months she's taken to the idea of barefoot ... and just recently discovered the bitless bridle for herself and loves it. Finally I plucked up courage to have her round to my tiny tumbledown barn, and we were out there brushing the ponies just loose in the paddock, and tacking them up without bothering to catch them or tie them ... she really found it all quite liberating and loved it !

But we couldn't have done that a year or so ago - you have to give people time to adjust to ideas outside of their normality.
 
Yup - all the time! People just believe differently, think Nh is poncy, soft and a waste of time ... it's just communicating to the horse in it's own bleeding language, how is that beign 'soft'?!

x
 
I hear you Kate. The first YO I met here was a control freak, and very much could not handle me groundtying or being with my horse in a pasture with other horses. It has taken 2 years... I hear she is relaxing a bit, but still very stiff in some things.

This barn is so open, people are fascinated by it, and seem to like to watch me and the results I get. They always claim they never have the time to get their horse to do those 'tricks' (eg, standing by the mounting block, standing still to be bathed, coming to me at the gate).

I always wonder what part of standing by the block or coming to you in the pasture is a 'trick'. I have always expected good manners out of my guys, even before I started NH stuff.

Doesn't Pat mention something to the effect of people not having the time to fix the problem, but have lots of time to continue dealing with it? lol.

-I'm very glad to have found an open minded facility!
 
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Yes, there was a funny dynamic around me on my old yard!

It went a bit like this...

New person arrives on yard. See our horses and their training, and want to learn.

Give it two weeks, peer pressure gets the better of them as they feel left out from the whole yard and before you know it they're scowling at you too!

Its funny, those people must prefer people than horses.
 
I have definitely been there! With my last part loan I was lucky in that his mum was quite open minded and was happy to let me play with him whenever I wanted. But at one stage, I was playing the games with him in the menage and I think I had the whole yard standing with hands on hips gossiping about what I was doing, saying what a load of old rubbish! Mind you, they soon changed their minds when I rode him bareback in just his halter and leadrope and he was listening to me (he was notorious for being difficult) ;)

I think it is about acceptance and understanding, and this does seem to be getting better although still a long way to go I think! :D
 
hate to harp back to the "old days",,,,,,but as seen on several threads here,,, things were different back in 60,s / 70,s...
just used to ride my welshy in a halter,,,, did not run to headcollars back then only for best,,,,, and bareback,,,, went all round with just a piece of rope and never thought any thing of it,,,,, gonna try it with Mills,,,, trouble is i,m over 50 now and not as flexible,,,, hell i might not even be able to get on without the aid of stirrups,,, ha ha,,,,
:eek::eek:
 
yep, i have been on my yard since i was about 2 (relatives farm) and knew all the people and got on with them, but soon as i started parelli they passed a lot of judgement 99.9% was negative and the people who knew my mare all of a sudden didnt know how to handle her, when i asked them to hold her when poo picking the school or sorting jumps out, it was as if she was a monster who would attack if they moved and they would say " she is moving what do i do?" yet they could handle any other horse on the yard!!!!!:eek:

i think they didnt actually realise that parelli made her calmer and safer to handle!!!! :rolleyes:
 
Strange is normal:) I head out to lunge with
16.2ISH
disobediant cocker spaniel
disobediant:D 3yr old daughter, chocolate, crisps,juice
We cope fine.......who cares what other people think:eek:
 
I have been practicing NH for 3 years. Initially people were sceptical and a few ran it down. This year lots have joined in and all have lessons too, so bite the bullet and wait until they see your rewards.
 
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