Why Go Natural?
Have you ever watched the drama of horse-intimidators trying to load a horse onto a trailer? It’s unforgettable. Very often in the horse world you will see people cracking a whip at a horse or beating a crop against a horse’s shoulder. But you seldom notice the savvy of the horse handler who uses communication and leadership to complete the same tasks because their methods are done in a much calmer and more successful way.
When people witness the relationship that savvy horse handlers have with their horses, they usually think the handlers just got lucky, and managed to buy horses that came with perfect manners. Don’t believe it - you can do what they do, and have the relationship with your horse that they have, if you follow natural horsemanship and the principle of communication and leadership rather than fear and intimidation.

The horse-intimidator uses fear and intimidation to force a horse to submit. This leaves horses to guess at the direction and task they are being asked to perform. A horse handler practicing natural horsemanship, using communication and leadership, is able to ask a horse to complete tasks easily and more quickly because the handler understands horse body language and can use this to ‘talk’ to the horse. The horse in turn understands what is being asked of him and because the leadership that the handler demonstrates is fair, the dignity of the horse is preserved. A horse will willingly follow and accept this kind of handler as a leader. Not only that, the handler will recognize what the horse is saying to them when the horse “disobeys” a task, and react more appropriately.

Horses may disobey a task for many reasons; the most common of which is lack of confidence. Being a fair and trustworthy leader will increase confidence in the horse. Rewarding a horse for trying and asking questions will also increase confidence in the horse. Contrarily, a horse that is often punished will get nervous about trying new things and offering new things to a rider in fear of being punished for the wrong attempt.

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