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Natural Horsemanship?
Natural horsemanship is exactly what it implies. -That which is natural for the horse. But there is nothing natural about keeping horses in captivity. And man & horse are not natural together - man is a predator - the horse is a prey animal. In nature, man will eat the horse! The horse is always well aware of this dilemma because we smell differently, but we try to confince the horse that we can be friends,- and horses are generous enough to give us the benefit of the doubt. That is until the horse becomes too afraid, - then he will leave us. Unlike the dog who will stay with us in times of fear because he knows that man & dog are a hunting pack. So when we deal with the horse in our artificial world we have found that keeping the horse 'as natural as possble' is beneficial to the horse. So - "Natural Horsemanship". -is being kind and thoughful for the horse. This extends to absolutely everything we do with horses. Horses communicate and control each other very easily and efficiently. In fact they can do it quicker than we can communicate with each other - by using their natural "body language". When we learn their 'body language' we too can control them without even touching them. This is a big part of "Natural Horsemanshp". There is nothing magical about this! You can learn the basics in one afternoon if you have the correct tutor. When you try to communicate with horses using the spoken word or pulling or squeezing or kicking, they have difficulty, : they are confused,: it is not a natural communication for a horse. But if you utilize the horses 'body language' and their sense's of sight, smell, sound, touch just as they do with each other, they respond in a flash.
As we are the intelligent ones, then it makes sense for us to to learn the horses 'silent language'. It is simple and
easy. Although what we do with horses is not natural, we try to make the horse as comfortable and relaxed as we can whilst we are using the horse to our advanage.
Natural horsemanship is exactly what it implies. -That which is natural for the horse. But there is nothing natural about keeping horses in captivity. And man & horse are not natural together - man is a predator - the horse is a prey animal. In nature, man will eat the horse! The horse is always well aware of this dilemma because we smell differently, but we try to confince the horse that we can be friends,- and horses are generous enough to give us the benefit of the doubt. That is until the horse becomes too afraid, - then he will leave us. Unlike the dog who will stay with us in times of fear because he knows that man & dog are a hunting pack. So when we deal with the horse in our artificial world we have found that keeping the horse 'as natural as possble' is beneficial to the horse. So - "Natural Horsemanship". -is being kind and thoughful for the horse. This extends to absolutely everything we do with horses. Horses communicate and control each other very easily and efficiently. In fact they can do it quicker than we can communicate with each other - by using their natural "body language". When we learn their 'body language' we too can control them without even touching them. This is a big part of "Natural Horsemanshp". There is nothing magical about this! You can learn the basics in one afternoon if you have the correct tutor. When you try to communicate with horses using the spoken word or pulling or squeezing or kicking, they have difficulty, : they are confused,: it is not a natural communication for a horse. But if you utilize the horses 'body language' and their sense's of sight, smell, sound, touch just as they do with each other, they respond in a flash.
As we are the intelligent ones, then it makes sense for us to to learn the horses 'silent language'. It is simple and
easy. Although what we do with horses is not natural, we try to make the horse as comfortable and relaxed as we can whilst we are using the horse to our advanage.French - much as your post was very informative and interesting, can you actually say what the difference is between IH and NH?
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Kate&TheHerd
Guest
Given in 5 replies noone has given a definative answer I am going to take it that know one actually knows and assume it's just Kelly Marks deciding she's important enough to have her own abbreviation?
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Kate&TheHerd
Guest
bit then if you've never properly looked into kelly marks, your no better off with knowing...ie me!
I think people tend to get too hooked up on 'methods'.
With Intelligent Horsemanship you work to get the horse to see you as an effective leader in whom it can have confidence and trust. This is done by setting boundaries, being calm and consistent, gaining control of every direction (forwards/backwards/lateral), looking at things from the horses point of view, not resorting to anger and frustration, helping the horse through things he finds difficult. With IH there is not a strict structure of levels, you are encouraged to think for yourself, to find ways to best help your horse to understand what is being asked.
The thinking behind NH and IH is similar. NH is more closely associated with Parelli I belive which has a much more structered approach, which works for some people but not others. It's a case of choosing what works for you and your horse
With Intelligent Horsemanship you work to get the horse to see you as an effective leader in whom it can have confidence and trust. This is done by setting boundaries, being calm and consistent, gaining control of every direction (forwards/backwards/lateral), looking at things from the horses point of view, not resorting to anger and frustration, helping the horse through things he finds difficult. With IH there is not a strict structure of levels, you are encouraged to think for yourself, to find ways to best help your horse to understand what is being asked.
The thinking behind NH and IH is similar. NH is more closely associated with Parelli I belive which has a much more structered approach, which works for some people but not others. It's a case of choosing what works for you and your horse
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Yann
Guest
What Winterwood said - if by NH you mean Parelli et al then IH (which is the name of Kelly Mark's organisation, not some self bestowed title) is more of a philosophy and general approach than a strict set of methods or a step by step training course. There are 'IH' ways of tackling certain issues, but nothing is ruled out if it is kind and humane and fits the ethos. You can be 'IH' and into stuff like clicker and classical riding, and a lot of IH people will also take an interest in and follow other training styles such as Mark Rashid or Richard Maxwell for example.
You don't end up with an 'IH'd horse in the same way that a horse becomes 'Parellied' for example, it should just end up polite, confident and easy to handle and ride, whatever your chosen activity.
You don't end up with an 'IH'd horse in the same way that a horse becomes 'Parellied' for example, it should just end up polite, confident and easy to handle and ride, whatever your chosen activity.
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Kate&TheHerd
Guest
gosh well i dont know if i now do NH or IH! I dont follow anyones methods in particular. I learn off another lady who has this website www.horsewyse.co.uk actually it says on there she is: my name is Karen Thursfield, I am a Positive Horsemanship trainer. oh no, another one to add into the mix!!
I dont do clicker training, or join up, for example.
I do boundries with mine, ground work, this is my area, i walk around with them, when i stop they stop, no pressure at all on rope. i walk into their head, they turn. I had loading issues and i did the squeeze game, if my yearling is not nice to me i send her away...i do lots! i dont know what it is, but it works whatever i am doing, far too much to describe
I dont do clicker training, or join up, for example.
I do boundries with mine, ground work, this is my area, i walk around with them, when i stop they stop, no pressure at all on rope. i walk into their head, they turn. I had loading issues and i did the squeeze game, if my yearling is not nice to me i send her away...i do lots! i dont know what it is, but it works whatever i am doing, far too much to describe
Cool, thank you for your answer. I now take back my reply because someone didn't pussyfoot around the question.
I'm in a very stroppy mood tonight, I think I need to get out more.
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Yann
Guest
Well strictly speaking you're not doing IH, as your trainer is following a slightly different style, but it's all 'NH' anyway if you define that as working with the horse's nature and innate behaviours
It doesn't do to get too stuck on labels I don't think
Not all IH people do either.
All sounds remarkably similar
!
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Kate&TheHerd
Guest
At the end of the day does it really matter what you train as long as you are training the horse in something!
Who really cares about labels, the horse doesn't label us so why do we do it.
There are so many names for it, intelligent, positive, pnh, anh, it doesn't really matter. You shouldn't really get stuck in one area, instead look at everyone as they all have something to offer.
I can get bit fed up when people assume jack is just a parelli pony, this i'm guessing is because they've not heard of anyone else. Yes i do some of it, but i also follow a lot more than this.
Who really cares about labels, the horse doesn't label us so why do we do it.
There are so many names for it, intelligent, positive, pnh, anh, it doesn't really matter. You shouldn't really get stuck in one area, instead look at everyone as they all have something to offer.
I can get bit fed up when people assume jack is just a parelli pony, this i'm guessing is because they've not heard of anyone else. Yes i do some of it, but i also follow a lot more than this.
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Yann
Guest
I would beg to differ, because it's not all the same, and what one person might be fine with and deem suitable for their horse might not be fine for someone else. Although the basic principles are the same, the way in which they're applied and interpreted does vary widely.
I would agree with that though, and that is one of the reasons I like IH as it does tend to take this view.
The main difference I notice between IH and NH is one tends to use mechanical training devices while the other doesn't.
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