Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q	Why should I be interested in Natural Horsemanship?
A	Natural Horsemanship offers everyone the opportunity to improve their communications skills and thus their relationship with their horse.  The result is a more confident rider and a more well-adjusted equine partner, and this translates into an improved riding experience!
Q	OK, but can’t I achieve this without Natural Horsemanship?
A	For years horsemen have trained horses through Fear and Intimidation, and for the most part these techniques can work with most horses.  However, natural horsemen feel that trust and understanding through improved communication can not only accomplish the same goals, but also offer the opportunity to far exceed them, and thus offer an opportunity to maximize your riding experience by building a relationship and partnership with your horse.
Q	OK, but doesn’t Natural Horsemanship still force the horse to do what I want?
A	Yes, but if you watch horses in the wild, you will notice that they are constantly asked to do things by their herd leaders.  At times the leaders will resort to force, but only after asking the herd member nicely.  You may even notice that the leader asks several times, and each time they ask they use more and more force.  Obviously, if the herd member does as he/she is asked with the first request then force isn’t necessary and isn’t used.  Natural Horsemanship is based on the same principal with the goal of achieving the end result with little to no force.
Q	OK, but doesn’t it take much longer to train a horse like this?
A	Actually the answer to this question is NO!  However, it does take much longer the first time we try using Natural Horseman techniques, because these techniques and the communication skill associated with them don’t come naturally to us humans.  Horses on the other hand are taught using these techniques from the day they are born!  From the time they first hit the ground, their mother uses these communication skills to protect her young, and the herd leaders use these techniques to keep the herd safe and out of harm’s way.  Communications through body language comes naturally to our equine friends, but is usually very foreign to their human owners.  Learning communications through body language can be an extremely frustrating experience for us humans, and this is usually what takes so much time the first time we use them!
Q	Interesting, but I all I ever see Natural Horsemen do is groundwork?  Why so much groundwork?
A	Actually most Natural Horsemen usually prefer to call this groundwork, play…  But, you are right that this play is essential in building a relationship with your horse.  In any relationship there is a leader and a follower, and we want to make sure that the human is the leader in any relationship between horse and man!  Horses are much better at training humans than most humans are at training horses.  If a horse can make you move your feet first then he has won the game!  The human needs to learn these games to gain the respect of their equine partner!  Horses are also natural followers, and are more than willing to follow anyone they respect.  By playing with your horse and winning these games, you can win their respect!  Additionally, we will communicate with our horse and ask them to do things when we are in the saddle, and it is much safer to ensure that this communications is effective while we are on the ground!  Or, we may end up on the ground whether we like it or not!!!
Q	Wait a second…  How does this groundwork relate to riding?
A	Everything the Natural Horseman does on the ground is directly related to his time in the saddle!  We reinforce every riding queue with the same queue on the ground!  For example, if we want our horse to move his forehand to the left, we will ask him to move in this direction by applying steady pressure to his right side with our leg moved slightly ahead of our normal leg position.  We do the same thing on the ground by applying steady pressure with our hand just behind his right shoulder.  Thus we are reinforcing our communications in the saddle while working or playing on the ground.  Additionally, we will use obstacles on the ground to acquaint our horse with them before we encounter them in the saddle.  This not only allows us to improve our communications, but also provides a much safer environment for us and our horse!  For example, if our horse is reluctant to cross a water hazard, we may want to get on the ground and ask him to cross the same water hazard.  In this way, we allow him more freedom to become acquainted with the hazard, and at the same time provide a much safer environment for ourselves!
Q	Ok, but beyond safety, how does groundwork improve my riding experience?
A	Obviously playing on the ground allows us to mimic our riding queues, but it also allows us to refine these queues!  As we said before, we want to achieve the desired response to our riding queues with the least amount of pressure possible.  To do this, we must introduce the concept of “Phases of Pressure”.  By always beginning our requests with the lightest pressure possible, and slowly increasing this pressure, we offer our equine partner the opportunity to respond to the queue long before we are ever forced to exert the highest phase of pressure.  Through repeating these play exercises, and always starting at the least amount of pressure, we will soon find that we achieve the desired response with lighter and lighter queues.  So, if you are currently forced to use a spur to move your horses in one direction or another, before long you will find that you no longer require spurs, and ultimately it will seem that all you have to do is think about a move and your horse will anticipate and move in that direction with no pressure at all.  Horses are masters at perception, and can read our body language long before we start to apply pressure!
Q	OK, so how long does it take to master these new communications skills?
A	The short answer to this question is possibly a “Life Time!”  I don’t mean to scare you, but you can compare learning Natural Horsemanship to learning the English language.  Obviously you have not mastered English on completion of grade school, or even middle school, or even high school, or even college.  However, with the completion of each of level of education you master new communication skills and competence.  You can compare this education with the Levels Program in Parelli Natural Horsemanship.  With the completion of each level you will also learn new communication skills and competence in communicating with your horse!  It is up to each individual to determine which level of competence they need to achieve to realize their goals with their horse.  For example, the casual trail rider may feel that attaining Level 2 is sufficient to meet their needs; however, the competitive rider may feel Level 3 or beyond is required to be successful in their sport.  And, there will be some individuals who want to continue their education past the Parelli Levels Program, and thus you can see how Natural Horsemanship can easily become a life-long passion for them…
Q	OK, why do you prefer Parelli Natural Horsemanship to other programs?
A	In my opinion, Pat and Linda Parelli have put together a program that is easy to learn and very well documented.  Their DVDs and other instructional materials lay out a step-by step method of learning that offers an opportunity for each student to access their abilities at each step before moving to the next.  Additionally, the PNH program provides well trained instructors who are reasonably accessible.   While some other Natural Horsemen do offer DVDs and other instructional materials, I have found most to be difficult to follow and when you do have a problem there is limited to no help available.  I am not suggesting that you ignore these other Natural Horsemen, but rather follow the PNH Program until you have a base understanding (probably Level 2) before studying other methods.  Additional, you will find many similarities between the PNH Program and others, so it is much easier to understand these other instructional materials once you have a base understanding of the PNH Program.

This page is not and will probably never be complete!  It is intended to answer most of your questions, and as more questions are asked they will be added to the page.  If you have a question that has not been addressed on this page, please send Mickey an email at Mickey@Smalldreams.com.  You will get an individual response to your question, and it will most likely be added to this page for future students...