The past and the future.
A horse trainer in the making !
My first experience with horses was a little "traumatic". I was out on my first ever ride with friends and thought the horse and I had an understanding ? The illusion was all mine, I was merely a passenger and the horse knew it !
When you are on a journey life has a funny way of presenting things for you to learn from, and before I knew it became the proud owner of a 14.1 pony.I loved him to bits but didn't know a great deal about horses - I was consciously incompetent - I didn't realize how much at the time !
Remember what I said about life and its surprises, well my next horse was a 6yr 15.2 gelding that was about to change my life and everything I thought I knew about horses.He was emotionally scattered and downright dangerous.Lots of well meaning advice was given and conventional techniques were tried, but failed at that time.
What was I doing wrong?
As I sat and watched him interact with his current herd,I realized that I wasn't communicating with him in a way he understood,or behaving in the way a leader would.I didn't understand about horse psychology,how their thought processes worked and that they were very much a prey animal.
This was going to be a major learning curve and one I needed to climb quickly, my horse was asking me questions that I didn't know the answers to.I started spending hours researching and studying about Horsemanship (especially Natural Horsemanship) and as I started to put into practice the things I was learning about, a different horse emerged.Or was it ?
The "new" horse had always been there and the other horse had simply been a reaction to the way the unknowing human predators had interacted with him.There were no "quick fixes",my new found skills slowly enabled me to enter into a relationship with my horse,I was able to act as a leader and answer most of his questions.I had a partner and loving every minute of it.
My new found skills were being called upon to help other owners with their communication problems, this prompted me to develop even further and look for a qualification as a horse trainer.
I found Vanessa Bee and Philip Osbourne, who run - Positive Horsemanship , I attended all of their courses and was lucky to be accepted as an applicant for their Trainer program.This I passed, and have now attained Level 2 status.
Part of my journey and development is to research/study other trainers such as Parelli,Monty Roberts,Perry Wood and all forms of horsemanship from conventional to natural.This is a is a good way of filling your "tool box" with concepts,skills and ideas, it helps expand you knowledge and skill base.
Since qualifying as a horse trainer I have given clinics at Chyverton Park, demonstrations at Camborne Show and off line /round pen work at the Royal Cornwall Show.I also travel all over Cornwall helping clients individually or on a group basis with their horse related issues.
I am currently studying Animal Assisted Therapy and NLP at Practitioner level - check out the news page for future updates.
My passion when working with horses and people will never change, for me seeing the changes in their relationship when we implement techniques is a positive step forward.My initial goal to help one horse has expanded beyond all my dreams.
I now run my own business Horsewyse and have just opened an Equine Therapy centre. I am a Positive Horsemanship trainer and a Certified Trainer in the Horse Boy Method and Camp Leader.
No one knows what the future may bring, but there is one thing I am certain of.If we want horses to be part of it, then we need to change how we think and interact with them to get the best out of the partnership !
" You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper" Dagobert D. Runes
When you are on a journey life has a funny way of presenting things for you to learn from, and before I knew it became the proud owner of a 14.1 pony.I loved him to bits but didn't know a great deal about horses - I was consciously incompetent - I didn't realize how much at the time !
Remember what I said about life and its surprises, well my next horse was a 6yr 15.2 gelding that was about to change my life and everything I thought I knew about horses.He was emotionally scattered and downright dangerous.Lots of well meaning advice was given and conventional techniques were tried, but failed at that time.
What was I doing wrong?
As I sat and watched him interact with his current herd,I realized that I wasn't communicating with him in a way he understood,or behaving in the way a leader would.I didn't understand about horse psychology,how their thought processes worked and that they were very much a prey animal.
This was going to be a major learning curve and one I needed to climb quickly, my horse was asking me questions that I didn't know the answers to.I started spending hours researching and studying about Horsemanship (especially Natural Horsemanship) and as I started to put into practice the things I was learning about, a different horse emerged.Or was it ?
The "new" horse had always been there and the other horse had simply been a reaction to the way the unknowing human predators had interacted with him.There were no "quick fixes",my new found skills slowly enabled me to enter into a relationship with my horse,I was able to act as a leader and answer most of his questions.I had a partner and loving every minute of it.
My new found skills were being called upon to help other owners with their communication problems, this prompted me to develop even further and look for a qualification as a horse trainer.
I found Vanessa Bee and Philip Osbourne, who run - Positive Horsemanship , I attended all of their courses and was lucky to be accepted as an applicant for their Trainer program.This I passed, and have now attained Level 2 status.
Part of my journey and development is to research/study other trainers such as Parelli,Monty Roberts,Perry Wood and all forms of horsemanship from conventional to natural.This is a is a good way of filling your "tool box" with concepts,skills and ideas, it helps expand you knowledge and skill base.
Since qualifying as a horse trainer I have given clinics at Chyverton Park, demonstrations at Camborne Show and off line /round pen work at the Royal Cornwall Show.I also travel all over Cornwall helping clients individually or on a group basis with their horse related issues.
I am currently studying Animal Assisted Therapy and NLP at Practitioner level - check out the news page for future updates.
My passion when working with horses and people will never change, for me seeing the changes in their relationship when we implement techniques is a positive step forward.My initial goal to help one horse has expanded beyond all my dreams.
I now run my own business Horsewyse and have just opened an Equine Therapy centre. I am a Positive Horsemanship trainer and a Certified Trainer in the Horse Boy Method and Camp Leader.
No one knows what the future may bring, but there is one thing I am certain of.If we want horses to be part of it, then we need to change how we think and interact with them to get the best out of the partnership !
" You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper" Dagobert D. Runes
