A term used by many people who either take it too far (ie. Parelli, Anderson, ect), or who don’t actually realize that they do it themselves on a regular basis. Many horsemen/women worth their merit prefer to not use the term, because there’s nothing natural about a human mimicking horse behavior. It is, however, natural to the horse and the horse’s instinct. Though I suppose that’s a bit of a slippery slope, because it varies from person to person, horse to horse.
Do you let your horse walk all over you, drag you around, ect? Probably not. If you correct them, that’s technically “natural horsemanship”. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes you need to give the lead line a jerk and tell them “hey!” It’s like raising children. Manners are not innate. They are taught. Although that would just open the way for parenting arguments, so I’ll just stop it right there.
For some people and horses, the right amount of pressure and release works. For some, not so much. And that’s okay. Not every person is the same. Not every horse is the same. What is the right amount of pressure? Whatever is just enough. Just enough to start getting the reaction, and then immediately take it off. Increase the heat as needed, but never, ever too much. Too much would be Parelli, or to the limited extent that I’ve seen, Anderson. The horse was already moving in the direction you asked for… take off the heat. It’s that simple. Pressure and release. You create a kind of draw. Just like with dogs. Unless you consider Caesar Millan to be abusive… then I can see why you’d think “NH” was as well. But then in that case, you must only ever have happy-go-lucky horses and dogs. Try reading one of Caesar’s books some time. The basis is literally the exact same thing. Sure herds are supposedly based more on trust than packs, which are more dominance ruled, but you don’t see the sweetest, quietest mare leading the herd either. The lead mare has to keep everyone in line. She keeps the herd equilibrium.
Tell me, which is better?
1. A horse placed under a mountain of restraining gear, spurs, pelham bit or the like, tongue presses, flashes, high head, ect…. But it’s so shiny and omg look at that tail, and that scope! This horse totally loves his job and is very relaxed an attentive.
2. A horse with a calm, low set head (not taught, but something it did on it’s own), no bit and sometimes no headgear or even a strap at all, going around listening to the rider’s quiet seat. No kicking, spurs, crops/whips, ect…. But omg that horse is totally shut down, he’s so stressed, they’re so mean omg horrible.
Most people, at least on this site, I find will choose horse #1 as being the happier and healthier. Which to me doesn’t make any sense. I’ve actually had someone suggest using a Mikmar bit on my horse, because he was mouth and side dead (caused by the very same kind of people who would prefer Horse #1). That thing isn’t even a bit. It’s a torture device. I’ll stick to nuances of body language and a riding halter, thanks.
I myself do not follow one horseman or the other on a strict basis, but rather I’ve looked around, tested things, and found what works best for my horse and I. Tidbits here and there from Rick Gore (ThinkLikeAHorse) and Warwick Schiller (who is one of the people that doesn’t like using the term natural horsemanship), sprouting from the basis ingrained from childhood by an old school european grandfather. Quite the odd mix. But it works for us. However, just because it works for us, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll work for someone else and their horse. I think that’s what most people tend to forget. Pro-NH, Anti-NH, or otherwise.
Drag NH all you want. That won’t change the fact that you more than likely do real “natural” horsemanship without even realizing it, yourself.
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