Hi Nathan,

On Barnmice look up the group Body Language, http://www.barnmice.com/group/bodylanguage.  Ellen Ofsted who started it has an uncanny ability to relate to a horse and she has LOTS of short videos of her working with horses here.  You might also want to look up Carolyn Resnick on Barnmice, she has good stuff too.  There is a lot of good stuff here, I just can't think of it all.

There is another site on the internet that you might find interesting.  Charlie Hicks, who runs it, does around 3 e-mails a week containing information he's learned from the Western trainers whose videos he makes and sells, http://www.horsetrainingresources.com.  He has made videos of a lot of different Western trainers showing and explaining how they train, and if you like Western riding and training this would be a good site.  He has a special price to get all his videos as a group.  I don't ride or train Western, but I have learned things from his e-mails and I read each one!

I am an ex-foreign service brat, I spent grade school in Chile and Uruguay over 50 years ago.  I was born in DC, lived in Fairfax co. Va., and now live in NC near Charlotte.  I've always been an amateur horseman, hunt seat, just riding for myself.  Most of the horses I've owned have been Arab or part-Arab, though I did own a Puerto Rican bred Paso Fino mare from weaning.  Not typical horses for hunt seat!

I admire what you are doing.  I know it can be difficult to adapt to a new culture, I had an advantage being only 6 when we moved to Chile, it is easier for kids to adapt.  It was a wonderful experience and it gave me a deep appreciation for what we have in the USA. 

We like giving advice here!  Of course we may not agree on everything anybody says. 

I admire you for trying to change the Latin macho culture as to work horses.  It used to be just as abusive in England and the USA until the end of the 1800's, then the book "Black Beauty" caused a wide cultural change.  Abuse did not end here, it just became less acceptable and anti-abuse laws were passed.  It is easier to get the culture to change in wealthy countries, but it is still very, very difficult.

Are you Honduran?  I never got to visit Honduras and I don't know much about your coutry.  Up here in the USA there are not many pack horses, mostly they are used out West and there still is a pack horse culture out there.  On the East coast I've only run into pack horses used in the National Parks and Forests.  Some ranches out West they still work cattle with horses but even this is getting rarer since the ranchers discovered all-terrain vehicles.  In the USA the only large group that still uses cart horses are the Amish, and their light horses pull mostly buggies to transport people, though in some large cities there are carriage rides for the tourist trade.  The Amish also use the big draft horses and mules for farm work, the Amish are just about the only reason that there still is a horse culture for farmwork.  Some drafter horses are also used for logging.  Most American horses are pasture ornaments or pleasure horses used for trail riding and there are a lot of show horses, Americans are VERY competitive, and often the show horses suffer because of this.  The main reason that there is less abuse here is that here on the East coast the media will broadcast the worst cases that the humane associations and other caring people find. 

Keep up the good work Nathan!       

Hi Nathan glad to have your here.  I'm not real familiar with horses in Honduras, I lived in South America and got to see criollos but it was far away in Chile and Uruguay. 

Who are you teaching Natural Horsemanship to? 

Are there a lot of cart horses in Honduras?

I am all for low stress animal handling though I don't do Natural Horsemanship, I do more old fashioned low stress riding!

There is a LOT of horse information on this site.  I alone have written 112 blogs, mostly about riding as a handicapped rider (Multiple sclerosis.)

Let me know if I can help you. .