Natural Horse Article by Bob Jeffreys

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Natural Horsemanship by Bob Jeffreys

Bob Jefferys Horse Training

"To me natural horsemanship means knowing and using some of the horse's natural characteristics to teach him."

What is natural horsemanship? Well, I suppose you'd get as many different answers to this question as the number of people you asked. I believe, as in all horse training, there is no single right answer. only individual opinions. That said, I will now give you my own opinion and attempt to explain my rationale.

When we are riding or handling a horse, there are many things that wouldcause the horse to act in a way that is natural to the horse but very unpleasant or even dangerous to us. These types of incidents include bucking when they feel good, spooking at frightening or strange objects, bolting at perceived dangers, etc.

To me natural horsemanship means knowing and using some of the horse's natural characteristics to teach him, such as the pecking order, fear and laziness. We need to condition him to respond to our requests rather than having him do what comes naturally.

We can teach the horse in a round pen or on a longe line to move forward on command, turn right or left, stop, etc. This will establish us as being higher in the pecking order because the horse knows we are controlling his movements.When we teach the basics of "spook training" we teach the horse that when he becomes afraid he should stop his feet and look at what is scaring him.

We can't really make a horse stop, we can only request that he stop . If the horse continues to move after we've asked for a stop, we must work on something else that requires movement for 20 minutes or so, then offer him another chance to stop. Pretty soon he'll catch on and his laziness will motivate him to stop. We'll have avoided a fight and gained 20 minutes training time on something else.

We must teach our horses to respond to our rein or our lead rope every time we ask . If the horse will do this as a conditioned response to our request, we can alter their "natural" behavior and have them respond instead in a manner acceptable to us. Hopefully a properly trained horse will stop his feet and stare at the deer that just jumped out of the brush instead of spinning around and bolting away. He will "go" when we ask him to and stop on request. We become the proactive partner in the relationship because we, the leader in the pecking order we have established, have made a request and the horse has been conditioned to respond.

The way we teach our horses must make sense to the horse: we must be clear in our requests and consistent with our rewards. And example might be the simple act of asking the horse to turn his head to the right. We slowly start to take the slack out of the right rein and as soon as the horse moves his head in that direction, we release the rein.

Anger and the use of force only serve to frustrate both the rider and the horse. Students who are frightened cannot learn. So be patient, trustworthy and consistent in dealing with your horse and he will regard you as a "natural" partner.

About the author...
Bob Jeffreys Horse Training
Bob Jeffreys had a successful career as an international oil trader, but his lifelong love of horses prompted him to build his ranch in 1991 and start his Horse Training and Riding facility. After successfully completing the John Lyons Certification Program, Bob started his own "Bob Jeffreys' Clinics"™ at his ranch. Due to the overwhelming popularity of his clinics and in response to participants' requests, "Bob Jeffreys' Clinics"™ are now held all over the country. Bob is one of those rare trainers who can intelligently and clearly articulate the conditioned response training method. His primary goal is to train the rider to train the horse. Rider-focused training teaches the rider how to communicate with his horse,, enabling horse and rider to continue the dialogue at home. Both return home enthusiastic and with a much deeper knowledge and appreciation of what they can accomplish together. (Select the photo to view more information)
Contact: Suzanne Sheppard
168 Tamms Road
Middletown, New York 10941
Phone: 845- 692-7478
Email: bob@bobjeffreys.com
Website bobjeffreys.com

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