Since publishing a recent post about our decision to think seriously about getting a horse to work alongside us on our smallholding we've been contacted by quite a few people with information and advice. One of the things that has captured our attention (and our hearts) has been an approach called natural and positive horsemanship.
Rather than relying on just the traditional method which often involves dominating the horse, sometimes with harsh and heavy handed methods, a more gentle approach is used combining a range of techniques. A trust is built up between handler and horse until eventually they are so in tune with each other that often merely thinking an instruction results in the horse obliging. Natural methods of care are also often favoured ; keeping horses in the field as nature intended rather than stables and keeping horses barefoot rather than shod. Barefoot doesn't mean simply not shoeing the horse, specialist care and trimming is still required but the method mimics that of horse hoofs in the wild.
At the weekend we were invited to a positive horsemanship demonstration offered by Liz of Metal Free Horse. Liz spoke of the struggle she had when she first took on her horse Magpie and how using ever more stringent equipment and methods were resulting in her horse becoming more and more unmanageable. That is until she stumbled across positive horsemanship. Pictures speak louder than words so just look at the trust and fun that beams out of this image! The demo and the people we spoke to afterwards was amazing.
To find out more about this gentle approach to horses visit Metal Free Horse or the eye opening Gaia's Horse in Ireland and Positive Horsemanship in the UK hosted by Vanessa Bee. Vanessa comes to Ireland on a regular basis to work with the ISPCA and also to teach courses, one of which I intend to go to myself. For a listing of courses coming up visit the Sallygardens Forum here.
This is fantastic and should be promoted more. I have always cringed with feelings of pain when I see a horse having metal shoes nailed to its poor hoofs. My Mum use to say the hoofs are only like nails they dont hurt but the thought of metal nails in my toe nails would be concidered tortore.
Good luck with your horsey project!
PS think I have found a cure for all my silly allergys. I was doing back excercises and something went crack I could suddenly hear better and stopped being allergic to animals. look after your backs.
Posted by: Eloise | September 05, 2008 at 12:29 AM
I'm glad you're looking into working with horses! Please be careful, though, and use common sense - the horse world has some overly permissive trainers as well as some overly harsh ones. Like with dogs, misbehavior can be firmly corrected in a way that the horse understands and respects. A 1200+ lb animal that is permitted to walk all over its handlers is a bad situation for everyone involved.
And good luck, I'm curious to see how it works out. Best of wishes to you, your family, and your smallholding!
Posted by: Melissa | September 05, 2008 at 04:43 AM