What natural horsemanship means to me

I have been involved with or around horses for as long as I can remember…. Having some sort of involvement or ‘’nearness’’ to horses is as essential to me as the air that I breathe, and, like a lot of people who are bitten by the horse ‘bug’, horses feed my soul. 

I had always ‘fancied’ myself as somewhat competent and knowledgeable with horses, and had heard about and ‘’seen’’ natural horsemanship at clinics, at events and in magazines, but I also thought along more conventional lines and that it was some sort of ‘’American trick thing‘’. Secretly, I admired it, but didn’t think I could do it, so dismissed it as something I would never do. … …

So how did I get to be a ‘’born again’’ believer in natural horsemanship?

I am one of those very strange people that show horses.. … yep, Its nuts and not very ‘’natural’’ at all, but I love it!!! I do other things with my horses, but my first love is showing. I bred a lovely little buckskin Arabian riding pony gelding called ‘’Austin’’ who is my absolute pride and joy. He is now rising three years of age and has been loved and adored since the day he hit the ground. He has also been very successful in the show ring and has won many supreme led classes and won and placed at both Sydney and Canberra Royals despite his tender years!! As a result of much adoration, Austin thinks he’s ‘’all that’’ and much much more!! 

At shows, well meaning people would give me advice about how to ‘’fix’’ him pushing on me, and how to get him out of my space. A lot of this well meaning advice involved acts of what I would call violence and cruelty, and there was NO way I could ever do that to my beautiful lad. 

Around the showing and hacking world, you see many different things and a lot of things I’ve seen really started me to question what we do, and how we treat horses. So I decided to sit back for a bit and watched with interest, and see how people were interacting with their horses and what they did, and I wondered . … “Why do some people have a really good relationship with their horses and why do their horses not crowd them? Why do other people continually belt their horses and ‘jam’ them up and then use whips and spurs on these poor animals to beat them into submission?” 

Why is it seen as perfectly acceptable to threaten to whip, or actually whip a horse around its front legs to make it stand up??? Why do people constantly jerk their horses around their poor heads and then hit them when they move??? The more I watched and saw, the less I liked. I would rather not have anything to do with horses than be part of that way of thinking and doing.

Well, I finally got up the courage to email a lady who’s website I came across and really liked, Camilla Davidson, and I explained to her what was happening, and asked for her help. Fortunately Camilla was holding a natural horsemanship clinic near us fairly soon and so I booked in with my pony. 

I’m ashamed to admit, I was actually quite skeptical about the whole thing but in the back of my mind, I thought I had nothing to lose and if nothing else, it was a weekend of meeting new people and playing with Austin. I couldn’t see how a ‘’carrot stick’’ wasn’t just some ‘sales gimmick’ and I didn’t like all those American phrases like ‘’savvy’’!! I honestly couldn’t see what ‘’playing seven games’’ with my pony would do to improve my relationship with him or help me in the show ring. (yep, that’s how narrow minded I was!), but I tried to keep an open mind as we started the course with Camilla, and began to learn those games I didn’t want to do. 

As that first morning unfolded, it became apparent that despite my hours in the saddle and miles on the ground with horses that I actually knew very little about them, how they think and why they do the things they do. 

I can honestly recall with total clarity, the moment when the ’penny dropped’ for me during that first morning, and it was a pretty sad moment for me. In fact a big chunk of reality came hurtling towards me holding a giant placard that said in capital letters .. .. .. how little I knew, how wrong I was and how little insight I had about horses from their perspective. 

HOW could I have spent almost fifty years of my life being so insensitive and ignorant about the horses that I professed to love so much???

So, once I got over feeling like a failure, which Camilla really helped me with,  I set about trying to put things right with Austin. Even after the first session in the morning, I couldn’t believe the difference with him - from being pushy and bolshie to being respectful and considerate… .. NO raising of voices, no force or emotion, just asking in his language. 

It really was like a miracle for me, and I think at one point, I cried with relief, as I couldn’t believe how I was communicating with Austin and how he was responding, I tried to tell this to Camilla, she just smiled at me and said ‘’I know, Maree, its just good horsemanship”. 

By the end of that first weekend course both Austin and I were very tired, but I was elated and I had a pony that I could FINALLY talk to in a language he could understand. .. . .. And he’s SOOO clever!!!!! Well of course he is, it was me that was the dummy!!! We knew how to watch each other and ‘’tune in’’ , how to go backwards, sideways, up and down, not to mention walking through plastic curtains and over barrels and climbing on platforms…. It was only me that couldn’t think outside the square! 

Because someone like Camilla Davidson took the time and the patience to teach me the language of the horse, my horses’ lives have completely changed forever. 

Austin is still a cheeky pony with a huge personality, who plays with squeaky toys, eats his lead rope and pulls rugs off the stable door, but now I know how to treat him with respect and he treats me the same. I understand him so much better and why he does the things he (and all horses) do.

I have recently purchased another little buckskin Arabian riding pony, but a little filly this time, the very first thing I did when I got this very frightened and stressed little weanling filly home was ‘’holler for some help’’, from both Camilla and some dear friends I made during the courses I have done so far. 

Within days of starting the ‘games’ with her (especially the driving game!!), she went from being timid and frightened and thinking with her feet, to thinking with her head and seeking companionship with us. We still have a long way to go with our newest arrival, but to be able to talk to her in her language, has given her confidence and eased the way for her, and she is coming along in leaps and bounds.

So where to from here, I hear you ask??

Do I want to go through all the levels? I don’t know if I can, or even if I want to, but I do know that I will continue to play the games with my horses and work on getting them ‘light’. I will continue to build on their trust and confidence and give them parameters and consistency. I will give them a life with understanding and fairness, which is all they really ask for. . … well .. …that and a bucket of feed!!

My darling boy Austin the magnificent (as he is known!!) will be started under saddle in the spring. He won’t be ‘broken’ but we will build on the foundations of the groundwork we have learnt. He will not be bitted until he is soft and responsive, the way he is on the ground. He will hopefully go on to have a long and successful show career under saddle, but he will do it ‘’naturally’’ and I wouldn‘t have it any other way.

Natural horsemanship is so simple and effective I cannot understand why its not the only way, rather than an alternative when all else fails, or when something needs fixing. 

To feel the harmony when you get it ‘’right’’ is the best feeling in the world and I’m very glad I opened my eyes and my way of thinking and doing to take those first step towards learning the ‘natural’ way… as Camilla said to me ‘’Natural horsemanship is Good horsemanship’’ and you cannot put it any plainer than that.

Maree Garrett

Sussex Inlet

NSW

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