A guide to the benefits and dangers of natural horsemanship

Hey, and welcome to my short guide on natural horsemanship.

In this guide I will try to give you a good idea about what natural horsemanship is.

I will also try to discuss some of its benefits and dangers.

So without further ado, let's dive right in.

What is natural horsemanship?

Natural horsemanship is a way of stabling, training and interacting with horses that resembles the natural lives of wild horses in a herd as closely as possible.

Which brings us right to the main difference between natural horsemanship and traditional ways:

The natural horsemanship training methods strictly avoid the use of force, or any training devices that can cause undue stress or pain for the horse.

Instead, natural horsemanship focuses on living in harmony with horses and developing a strong bond with them.

This brings us to the next logical question.

Is natural horsemanship better than other methods?

Natural horsemanship is a recent development and the training methods are so different from mainstream horsemanship, that a needless conflict arose between the two "camps".

Personally, I don't care about taking sides.

All I care about are training methods that are the most beneficial for both the horse and the owner.

In other words, I don't care about ideologies and who is better than whom, I just care about what works best to delivers real-life results.

And after 15 years of studying any horse training method that I could get my hands on, I can honestly say this:

No single horse training method can deliver the best possible results for every horse, for all situations, and under all circumstances.

But if you can stay open minded and learn how to combine the best of everything, you can definitely get better and faster results than any horse owner who strictly follows a single approach to training horses.

The benefits of natural horsemanship

The main benefit of natural horsemanship is the development of a much closer relationship with your horse.

In practice, this means that you can train your horse to focus on you and respond to your body language alone.

That's when the horse is not saddled or even unbridled with you standing in front of him or next to him.

At higher levels of training, you can also ride your horse without a bridle or a halter.

The dangers of natural horsemanship

One of the main dangers for horse owners who give natural horsemanship a shot, can be their own impatience.

You see, building a relationship with a horse the natural horsemanship way, begins on the ground.

This means that there will be many exercises you have to work your way through before you, as a horse owner, even gets to ride.

But if an impatient horse owner tries to rush the process through or cuts corners when progressing, he may actually end up confusing the horse or even build some new bad habits with him.

In my experience, natural horsemanship can do wonders, but the one practicing it, really has to be thorough and consistent with this way of training.

Conclusion

Natural horsemanship is a relatively recent and disruptive method of training horses.

Because of this, it has also come in conflict with conventional horsemanship.

But when done right, natural horsemanship can really provide a way to build an awesome relationship with your horse.

So, if you want to see some natural horsemanship methods in action, then you're welcome to sign up for a free preview of my Mind Body Horsemanship Academy.