Caution! Strong Opinions! The Natural Horsemanship Movement

Caution! Strong Opinions!  "Bucking the System"!

(My Reply to someone's opinion of, and thoughts about, Natural Horsemanship):

"Thank you so tremendously much Fran, for your bravery in voicing your thoughts and opinion on this very important subject.

I was so relieved to read the rest of the comments supporting your opinions here on your page.

I thank goodness that the thinking about NH is finally changing.

I have written numerous articles in support of your thinking.

I called it: "Bucking the System".

I was always concerned about presenting these writings, because of the backlash from the NH Community.

However, I agree that enough time has passed from the movement, and the tide is turning, so I also think it is safe for me to voice my thoughts about what was the NH "hay day".

I have been a trainer for 45 years. I have never accepted Natural Horsemanship. I’ve always considered it bogus and ridiculous, and often negative and dangerous for the horses. I was writing articles against natural horsemanship all the way back in the 2000s, when it was “all the rage“. Of course, I called my articles: "bucking the system," and was always fearful of the backlash that my speaking out would create and entail. Natural horsemanship was the new “thing", created, I believe, mostly for adult amateur women who were unsure of their horse handling abilities. I think that uncertainty was capitalized on by the natural horsemanship leaders. I found much of NH brutal and grotesque and horrific. I believe the natural horsemanship people were primarily rodeo cowboys in sheep’s clothing. They were the same people that previously were bucking the horses out to train them. They found a way to make lots of money from the adult amateur women in this new form of “training“ a horse. But really it was more like they were training dogs. Rarely did the women ever actually ride their horses. And it was obvious everyone was afraid of the horses. I wrote an article about the “wands". How ridiculous was that? Touching a horse with wands and flags instead of your hands? To me that was the epitome of the stupidity. And the barbarism was awful! The horses were miserable. And the trainers spent all their time trying to “dummy down“ the horses, so the horses became more like large dogs. More like circus animals. So sad! I cannot express how delighted I am that the tide is turning and horse handling/training is becoming more what I call "common sense". For me, it’s always been about the health and happiness of the horse. So my training has always resolved around the health and the happiness of the horse. I’m glad that this new wave of thinking is emerging and evolving. Thank you so tremendously much to all of you Trailblazers, who are paving the way for better treatment and handling of horses in general.

Sincerely, Clare of Clarity Performance Horse Sales and The Clarity Horse Blog, formerly Clarity Dressage, and The Clarity Performance Horse Training Center

Clare is motivated by her pure, simple and true love of horses.

Clare's approach towards her training is based upon creating and building 

boundaries;  while nourishing, encouraging and celebrating the horse's inherent joy of life. 

Her enormous success comes from experience, dedication and love.