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Julie Goodnight, Horse Trainer & Clinician
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| Understanding Natural Horsemanship |
READER’S QUIZ
Will Natural Horsemanship Help My Horse and Me? Take this quiz to find out.
ANSWER WITH:
- NEVER (N)
- OCCASIONALLY (O)
- FREQUENTLY (F)
1. My horse is hard to catch.
2. My horse turns his rump to me when I go to halter him.
3. My horse pushes me around with his head.
4. My horse tries to put his lips on me.
5. My horse nips or bites.
6. My horse won’t stand still when asked.
7. My horse fidgets while I am grooming.
8. My horse is not cooperative about handling his feet.
9. My horse drags me when I am leading him.
10. My horse bumps me with his shoulder while I am leading him.
11. My horse lags behind me when I am leading him.
12. My horse will not do walk-trot transitions when leading.
13. My horse will drag me to green grass or hay.
14. My horse fidgets while I am saddling.
15. My horse is difficult to bridle.
16. My horse looks for trouble while I am riding him.
17. My horse goes too fast or too slow while I am riding.
18. My horse does not listen to my cues very well.
19. My horse throws his head up.
20. My horse stops at the gate.
21. My horse doesn’t always go where I point him.
22. My horse jigs and prances nervously at times.
23. My horse spooks.
24. My horse calls to other horses while I am working with him.
25. My horse throws a fit if I try to take him away from the barn/herd.
If you answered NEVER to every question, then chances are, you are already using natural horsemanship techniques. If you answered anything other than NEVER, you may want to take a look at what natural horsemanship is, and what tools and techniques are available to help you. If you answered FREQUENTLY on every question, pay very close attention to the information below.
Natural horsemanship (NH) simply means that we know and understand the horse’s instinctive and herd behaviors and that we use that information to develop a willing partnership and communicate with the horse and in a way that he understands.
Although the term ‘natural horsemanship’ is very new, the concepts have been around for centuries, if not millenniums. Brothers Bill and Tom Dorrance of California, spawned the current trend toward NH by influencing subsequent generations of NH trainers, many of whom have become celebrities and commercial successes because of what they learned from these two masters. There are also many lesser-known trainers practicing NH, who are not celebrities, but are fine trainers in their own right.
What unites all brands of NH is an understanding of the horse’s natural behavior and the purpose of helping the horse lead a comfortable, willing and cooperative existence with humans. NH begins with a fundamental understanding of what motivates horses and how horses communicate. It helps to have the right tools too; we’ll get to that later.
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