All natural horse care in the west of Ireland

We (that's me and my horses) put on our first demo today of how horses can behave and perform tasks if treated naturally. I don't use the word 'trained' as I don't believe we can train horses to be horses. We can communicate with them our wishes once we have learned their language and hopefully if we have the bond with them they will perform the tasks asked of them. 

What started out to be a demonstration for 2 friends turned out to be ademo for 14 friends new and old. All of whom had an interest in naturalhorsemanship, or if they didn't they were curious and hopefully theywill have an interest after today's demonstration.  

It all started when a friend of mine went to the Parelli Celebration in August. She asked if I would show her some 'stuff' when we got back with my horses. Since then I mentioned it to a few friends and some people I have gotten to know through this website and they expressed an interest in coming along and having a look.

I do hope to be a 'natural' horsemanship trainer (a trainer for people on how to handle horses naturally) at some point in the future and what better way to get started on my communication skills with people!

I am a long way off being qualified to teach as I still have so much to learn myself. I understand what I am doing with my own horses but have never had the confidence to explain what I practice to people who asked.

I am fairly new to horses. Magpie came to me in 2002 after I took riding lessons. She was a very difficult horse to get close to first of all and I had her adverstised to sell three times before I decided to stick with it. I am so glad I did. Now we are best buddies!

I have gone through the stages of using stronger and stronger bits to control Magpie. Gadget after gadget to mould her, to hold her back, to get her going forward and to stop her running off. How confusing?

I was, in my opinion, trying my best to be natural with her on the ground but as soon as I put a saddle on her back it was a different story! I listened to, and put into practice, all the advise on the types of restraints I could use, the whips I must carry in order to get this mare under control when I was riding her. I needed her to do as I asked and I believed at that time that what I was doing was the only way!!  

I got fed up with this way of riding and I think if I had carried on I would not have horses now. So I am glad I have found another, easier way, to be with my horses not just on the ground but also when we go out riding.

Horses are so forgiving. I now get the feeling that since we started practising natural horsemanship she enjoys the time we spend together. She hasn't held a grudge for all the things I have put her through in the past.

I went to my first Parelli Conference last year and since started doingcourses on Positive Horsemanship with Vanessa Bee in April this year soI am fairly new to this 'Natural Horsemanship' stuff myself. It isworking for me and I am finding it is the easiest way to communicate with myhorses what tasks I am asking them to perform. So when I was askedto do a small demo for a couple of friends I agreed.

So to the demo

It all kicked off about 1 o'clock and I decided to start with Magpie. I explained to everyone that the idea behind what I was trying to demonstrate was developing a communication with your horse so they understood what task you were asking them to perform. Horses are very willing and forgiving partners and in the main always try to please by doing what you ask.

One of the first questions I was asked is 'where does metalfreehorse come from?'. I tried to explain that where possible I try to avoid using metal on my horses. They are all barefoot and in the main we do ride without a bit. It is a choice that I have made and it works for me and my horses but it may not suit everyone or their horses so they would need to do research and decide for themselves.

I then went on to highlight what I understand to be 'natural horsemanship' and what I practice with my horses:

I explained that there was four different degrees of pressure to apply when communicating the task to be performed depending on where you were with your horse in terms of them understanding 'what' you were asking them to do:

Thought: Think about what you want to do

Suggest: By a small cue

Ask: By a slightly stronger cue/direction

Tell: By the strongest of cue/direction

The strongest cue I would ever use is a 'bump'. A bump being a bump on the line sending a cue to the horse that you were asking it to do something and it either wasn't listening or it was in-appropriate with it's response.

Initially, you always try and ignore inappropriate responses as long as you are in a safe situation and it is safe to ignore the inapropriate behaviour. It may be the horse is just offering you the answer to the question he 'thinks' you are asking.

If a horse is running at you, that is inappropriate behaviour that you cannot ignore. Make yourself as big as possible and do everything you need to do to stay out of danger!

I tried to explain asking cues the following way:

You are asking your horse to walk with you and you would like your horse to stop when you stop. So you think about stopping (Thought), then stop walking but your horse keeps walking. Tighten your hand on the lead rope (Suggest). Only have enough rope in your hand for the horse to just pass your shoulder so as he goes past there in tension in the rope (Ask). Your horse keeps walking, bump on the rope (Tell). This tells the horse that he has gone too far and you expected him to stop before that. 

The next time you walk and ask the horse to walk you will find in most cases when you stop he will stop before you get to the 'tell' stage. Should your horse go too far again, bump and maintain the hold on the rope until he/she takes a step back so he is standing at your shoulder. 

Again you will find that the next time he will stop again before the bump. So eventually when you stop your horse will know that you want him to stop at your shoulder and he should not pass or go in front of you.

This generally works after only a couple of times. But take the time it takes and don't get frustrated or annoyed with your horse. He just doesn't understand the question yet but when he does he will give you the right answer.

This can also be likened to the Parelli porcupine game where you use the four different types of pressure to get your horse to move around.

Hair: Just enough pressure to touch the hair on your horse: Think

Skin: Enough pressure to touch the skin: Suggest

Muscle: Slightly more pressure so you can feel muscle: Ask

Bone: The strongest of cues (your are not actually touching bone but it its the strongest pressure you can put on the horse with your hand and imagine touching bone: Tell

I started by just walking with Magpie and she walked with me. I stopped, she stopped with me. 

I stood by her side and asked her to bring her head around to me, perfect. She is still not at the stage of doing it by thought but pretty close to the suggestion stage. This was followed be me asking her to yield her hind quarters. She done this when my hand was nearly a foot from her rump. It was nearly on thought but still closer to suggestion.

We practised the Yo-Yo game: Go away and come back to me.

I asked Magpie to stand on a tarpaulin. Until last week Magpie hadnever seen a tarpaulin. I bought it with the demo in mind and onlyintroduced the horses to it for a short while last Saturday. We went tothe tarpaulin and Magpie followed me over it without batting an eyelid.It got a bit crumpled so whilst she was standing on it I gave it ashake, without thinking, to straighten it out. Again she didn't bat aneyelid. It wasn't until I walked away that I realised what I had justdone and how Magpie could have reacted to me shaking the tarpaulin. 

We went over to some plastic cones that I had set out in the arena and I asked her to to approach each one and to reach and lift the cone up to me so that I could take the cone from her. Each time she 'handed' me a cone I gave her a treat. Magpie used to be very 'mouthy' so this is 'trick' we learned to use this mouthiness in a constructive manner. There were six cones and on the fifth one she lifted and dropped the cone. I did not treat her because this was not what I was asking. A voice from one of the people attending said that I should give her the treat as she had already given me four cones. I explained that if I treated her for only thinking of giving me the cone and dropping it that that's is all she would do the next time. Within seconds Magpie realised that to get her treat she would have to give me the cone, which she done, with that and the sixth cone.

I use treats with two of my three horses and only as reward for performing a task not as a bribe to perform a task. I don't use treats with Harley as he is too mouthy and if I gave him a treat at anytime I was asking him to work then he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything I was asking him as he would be totally focused on where I was hiding the treats!!

We had some hoola-hoops that I asked Magpie to put her front feet into, which she did. I tried to get her to back into another hoop and put both her back feet into but we only got one foot in and that was it. I didn't push it any further.

To finish off with Magpie I asked her to put her two front feet on makeshift podium (a wooden pallet) which she happily done. I think she really was enjoying showing off what she can do.

Next came Harley. 

I was hoping to show Harley 'at liberty' as that is where he really shines when we play on our own but he was too distracted by the audience. Every time I asked him to trot round he would go off for a few seconds but head back to the fence where his audience was.  

After a few minutes I put his halter and line on again and asked him to circle and jump a couple of barrels. He was successful to a degree. He got over the barrels. Not very elegantly but over. I said I didn't mind how he got over just that he understood that I was asking him to go over. 

Next I parked him on the tarpaulin, again this was quite a new 'toy' for him. He was very good. He stood and I let the line drop and walked about 14ft away from him asking him to remain on the tarp. He obliged.

I then showed how we had been practising leading by the tail. I took hold of Harley's tail and asked him to follow my feel. I later found out that someone watching had said 'is that not cruel to pull a horse by the tail?' A friend of mine who had overheard explained that if the horse had objected to me pulling him by the tail he would have reacted, either by pulling away or possibly by kicking me.

I had no idea why I started asking the horses to lead by the tail so I decided to look up a few of my books on natural horsemanship to see if anyone was suggesting why you would possibly lead a horse by the tail. I found it in 'True Horsemanshio by Feel' by Bill Dorrance. And there it was: Teach Him to Back up by Pulling on His Tail! Page 253 (Second Edition) Can be useful in asking a horse to back out of a trailer. Of course, you would not do this with a horse you did not know or who was inclined to kick you!

That was enough for Harley as he is still only very young and his concentration is still quite short.

Finally it was Polly's turn. Polly is my big, slow reliable horse whose main motivation is food. I explained to our audience that she does have energy and can canter and gallop when we go out hacking. But given the choice Pollly, although a very willing partner, likes conserve energy.

Polly hooked up straight away. I walked, she walked. I stopped, she stopped. I stood by her side and bent forward slightly, still standing at her shoulder, and focused my energy backwards and she walked backwards. She was another shining star.

One of my friends asked how I got her to put her head down to walk backwards. I hadn't thought about it before but I explained that I thought it was a natural position for the horses head to be if it was walking backwards so it could see where it was going and also that it was using it's front end to push itself backwards. I hope I am right in this explanation as it made sense to me. When a horse is going forward it is engaging it's back end to push so therefore it's head carraige would be higher than if it was going backward and engaging it's front end where its head would be lower. I will have to research that one in case I am asked again and I may have given the wrong explanation.

I also explained that you could ask the horse to lower its head by putting pressure on its head just behind the ears and the horse would then teach you to release the pressure by lowering its head.

Finally I introduced Polly to the makeshift podium. Polly have never stood on any type of podium before so I was keen to see her reaction. She stood in front of the pallet, pawed the mat off the top with one foot and proceeded to stand on the pallet without too much encouragement! Polly is so connected with me and understands very quickly what I am asking her.

We ended the demonstration there. 

There were lots of questions afterwards over tea and homemade cake which was baked by a friend attending the demo. 

On the way back to their field the horses gave pony rides to three of the children who were here for the day. 

Thanks to all my friends who contributed to a very enjoyable day and to my three lovely horses who put on a wonderful demonstration.