Holistic Horsemanship

HOLISTIC HORSEMANSHIP

Relationship Based Horsemanship

Relationship based horsemanship means working with both the horse and human as a whole. It incorporates the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of the horse and human partnership to create the ultimate relationship. A good relationship is based on mutual trust and respect, which is achieved by appropriate communication and leadership. A good relationship is not achieved by aggression, force or fear.

Horses are prey animals and are natural followers. They crave a good leader in order to feel safe. Humans are more like Predators and need to adjust their own behavior and energy in order to communicate more effectively with the horse. A good leader to a horse is Calm, Consistent, Confident, Compassionate and Communicates in a way that is understood by the horse. This means learning and having a good understanding of horse behavior. It means creating boundaries and respect in a gentle, yet assertive way and not through aggression and force.

Humans ask horses to do many unnatural things such as riding them, taking them away from their herds, making them live in stalls, eat highly processed food and we expect them to understand our predator type behavior. The least we can do for them is for us to incorporate their natural herd instincts into how we communicate with them.

I believe that you can tell when a good relationship has been established when those that we work with do so because they "want" to not because they "have" to. Situations are "allowed" to happen and not "made" to happen. When we make things happen it sets us up with the intention of forcing, which in turn can easily turn into more aggressive type methods. If we set situations up for the ultimate success, we then can allow learning to happen because it is wanted. 
Good leadership is established through Confidence, Calmness, Compassion, and Consistency.

Using these things in conjunction with each other will allow good communication between people and their horses. Good leadership is not established through aggression, coercion or force, though these methods are commonly used. It's about creating assertive boundaries by being confident, consistent and calm and having empathy for every situation. Having empathy does not mean, as a good leader, you cannot be assertive. It means you approach situations with understanding and confidence. 


CONFIDENCE comes through knowledge and being open to all knowledge. To be truly confident you need to believe in yourself and others. But you don't need approval, attention or acceptance from others.

CONSISTENCY comes through focus and to be attentive to everything ALL the time. Not just when it suits you, especially when working with animals. It's either black or white with no grey. 


CALMNESS comes from being in the present moment and self- healing. It comes from being able to just "BE". Calmness allows us to respond to situations rather than react too situations. 

COMPASSION comes from empathy. Put yourself in your horse’s shoes and think about what it would feel like to be a prey animal. 
To be good, all of the time, at all of these things can be challenging and gets us to really look with in ourselves. To see great leaders at work that incorporate the three C's and that have Compassion and gratitude for what they do is truly amazing!!!
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