By: Matthew M. Brendal
The term that is descriptive of moderm horse training techniques, "Natural Horsemanship" was first coined by Mr. Pat Parelli. This horse sense moniker was not contrived as a sales gimmick, but rather a brilliant marketing brand label. Calling Natural Horsemanship a sales gimmick would be like calling gasoline a sales gimmick to sell cars.
Many high profile Natural Horsemanship style trainers have somewhat cult status and following. This is not to say their systems of horsemanship don't work. I have studied many, many hours under numerous "Natural" and "Old Style" trainers. The natural horsemanship method works ten times better than the old cowboy way without a doubt. I once shod horses for a guy with 40 plus years experience with horses. He was amazed that I could give paste dewormer to an untrained yearling of his in just a few minutes, with no big drama. His cowboy style was to rope them, throw them around and force the dewormer in their mouths. I guess I gonna go with natural every time in that case. I have had old timer pay me fifty dollars to put one of his horse in a horse trailer.
When I was a student at horseshoeing school many years ago it was acceptable and the standard practice to manhandle rank horses. The problem with man handling horses is they are stronger by far than any man. But humans should have larger brains, so I decided to go with my strength, my mind. I began to study Natural Horsemanship methods and I haven't been kicked since. I never have to hit a horse or do much of anything, just a few "natural" things. My clients love how I can get very rank troublesome horses to stand quietly when no other farrier could. I also get side jobs helping people with their "unnatural" horses. You would be amazed at how many people just don't know how to properly handle a horse.
Because I shoe horses I get to have the unique position of seeing many different horses with many different people. Never once has the natural horsemanship method way not worked. Plus I can show my clients techniques to help the horse behave better. You see most problem horses are taught to be problems by their owners. Most horse aren't naturally problems.
Oh yeah, natural horsemanship has been around for hundreds of years. The old Spanish and Greeks used it. Look up these names when you get a chance, Xenophon, Dr William Key, Jesse Beery, J.S. Rarey, Tom and Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Ronnie Willis. It's just that only some people used the natural methods because it was a lot harder for the human to learn the proper way to handle a horse. Most people just wanted a quick mechanical fix. You know, bigger bit, bigger spurs and bigger ego. A lot of "old timers" have very little understanding of how to train a horse properly.
Pat Parelli and similar trainers should be hailed for bringing common sense to horsemanship, and not be labeled as some kind of snake oil salesman. Natural horsemanship helps horses and people develop partnership. What could be greater than that?
With all that said, if natural horsemanship is a sales gimmick then my horse and the hundreds of horses I have worked with are all in on the scam. Or maybe I just have an open mind to see a better way of doing things. Plus a lot people are just lazy and don't want to learn anything new. It's much easier to say something is just a sales gimmick, instead of trying something new. Keep the TLC flowing using the fundamentals buckaroos!
