My horsemanship gurus; Monty Roberts, Buck Brannaman, Ray Hunt

I got into riding when I was only a kid. Back at those times we just enjoyed riding and mucking out at the local stables. I have to say that I didn’t really think about anything else when it came to horses, it was just riding. And riding we did according to what we were told by the teacher. Luckily we had good instructors and I learned to sit well on horses and treat them with fairness without really thinking that it was anything extraordinary.

I was lucky enough to have good self esteem with natural leadership qualities concerning horses. I also did not know that at the time, this I have actually realised only quite recently. It was just a natural way for me to handle the slightly tricky horses that they had at the stables; I wouldn’t take their intimidation even as a child, I just bravely marched to them with confidence and they would listen to me. I was attracted to the more difficult horses, they somehow presented me with a challenge and I loved working through the difficulties.

Only a lot later on, perhaps 20 years later, with our first own horse I started to think more about how does one handle the horse from the ground and communicate with it other than by riding it? We were lucky back then to live nearby one of the places Monty Roberts frequents in his yearly tours. I cannot quite remember how I came to read about him and the Intelligent Horsemanship, it may just have been one of those chance events of buying a book… In any case, I was determined to get to his next demo at Gleneagles! And there our journey into real horsemanship started.

It’s a never-ending journey that. Every new horse you come across is a new relationship that you have to figure out and work at. Some horses are sensitive and require ‘whispering’ with impeccable timing, others are robust and self assured that need more of a ‘shout’ and while timing is always important, it is not as crucial… I have come across both types; although my own ones have been more the latter type. 

Reading about Monty’s methods and seeing them close by in action year after year was a great education. At one point in my life I had the opportunity to go and train myself with Kelly Marks, but I decided that I wanted to keep horses as my hobby, not my profession. How I now regret that decision! As they say; you always regret the things you did not try or do in life! And how true it is! I did not have to become a professional trainer at that point, but that course would have given me more options. I guess I was afraid of the new and unknown, as so many of us are. If I just had let go and thought at that time ‘why not! Lets go for it!’…

But I (and my husband too) started to use those methods with our horse with success. And I have continued with the same attitude ever since. If I handle other people’s horses I always make sure that they know that I’m the leader and that they can relax and trust me. It is a matter of just checking them out and having a small ‘conversation’ with the horse before you take them out or in. Nothing to do with force or aggressive actions. Calm firmness with consistency. If a horse plays up on you or acts up naughty, there is no use getting upset or angry, it is far more useful to remain non-aggressive, calm and consistent at how you react and what you do.

So, ever since seeing him in that first demo, I’ve been an advocate of Monty’s methods. I believe this is why our two horses are calm and happy, without losing their personalities, by the way! And perhaps we have been also lucky with the choice of our horses, but we have never come across a problem with them that couldn’t be solved in a calm and consistent manner. But I would attribute a big chunk of our ‘luck’ with our horses to the way we handle them. In other hands, these two fellows may have been quite different – especially our lovely Mr Big Pony Finnhorse.

 

Mr Big Pony got his nickname naturally because he looks like a pony, but in a much larger frame. And he also has a clever mind of a pony. He is in fact a typical smart Finnhorse. They learn immensely quickly. If you let him get away with something once, he will make a habit out of it! So, we had to learn to be very observant and correct any unwanted behaviour either from the ground or while ridden immediately when it occurs. If we miss the moment, we have to work twice as hard and long to get rid of this behaviour; Finnhorses can be stubborn as well!  

However, another trait of a Finnhorse is, that they are incredibly willing to work for you if you ask properly. They can also be very calm, kind and curious once they feel settled and confident within themselves. This is our horse. He is confident and happy within himself, and I’m hoping that he is mirroring our qualities.

During the past year I happened to watch the documentary ‘Buck’ from the telly. Well! What an amazing horseman! Never realised (even though have been a Monty follower for a long time) that cowboys could be that sensitive and in tune with their horses. To me the working cowboys had always been the sort you see in a Western movie… Naïve, I know, but one doesn’t really think about these things that happen so far away from one’s own existence… Mind you, one of the best ever riding experiences was with a cowboy in South Dakota. Andy had some fabulous horses and we went on a trail for one afternoon crisscross meadows and up and down steep hills where no paths are apparent. We loped with our hands stretched out on our sides like imitating an aeroplane and standing on the stirrups, galloped across prairie. It was a joy and such a feeling of pure freedom. 

Well, I simply had to know more about Buck, so on I went reading his books and watching the documentary a couple more times. He seems an unbelievable horseman, so calm and present all the time. He has a fabulous connection with horses – and people – that one can only aspire to emulate. I think I will try though. Maybe one day I could take a trip across the pond and watch one of his clinics live.

One of Buck’s words of wisdom is that what ever happens in life to you, it is the attitude that you have that determines your happiness. This is actually shared by a Finnish positivity movement; their slogan is:’Attitude determines everything’. It means that even if you don't have any control over the things that happen to you, you can choose how you react to them, you choose your attitude. You can choose to be negative and unhappy, but at the same time you can also choose to be positive and happy. I know myself that this is not as easy as it sounds. I have had to struggle with negativity and self doubt. But these words are true; you choose. It may be (and at first will be!) hard to change and choose to be positive, but with practice it will become eventually automatic and your life will be happier no matter what happens in it.

So, Buck is a true horseman, but he is also a great person, who has a lot to teach us about ourselves.

What Buck and Monty have in common is their connection to Ray Hunt and Tom & Bill Dorrance. Now there were three fabulous horsemen as well.

I’ve recently read Ray’s book, and was in awe of the message that he had put across in it. It is a small book, but almost every sentence is heavy with deep meaning. It is more of a philosophical book than a quick fix ‘how-to’ manual, just to warn anyone, who is looking for the latter type of advice. Here're some snippets and some of the central things in his book:

“Feel, timing and balance.” Now, there it is in a nutshell. The whole art or riding. In every imaginable discipline. But it takes a lifetime to perfect that art, although I think these gurus mentioned here are pretty close to perfection in my opinion.

“Think. Be aware and alert, visualize what you want.” It’s a good reminder for us all that riding is not just tricks and performing certain movements, it is a process where you have to think. You have to be aware of your horse, his movement, mood and attitude. You have to be alert at all times so that you will stay in tune with your horse and know where his attention lies. Lastly visualising what you want will help you immensely to get the right message across to your horse; to make it his idea to do the thing you want. "Your idea should become his idea..."

“Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy.” Yea, this is also what Buck teaches. The horse will learn that your way is the easy way, and he will make it his idea to do it for you. With this, you will have to allow the process to take as long as it is necessary to sink into the horse’s head. I spent one day quite a while with our Big Pony going in small circles when returning from a hack he thought he wanted to spurt the final bit. From the first hint of alert movement from him, I turned him calmly into a small circle. And round we went, after a couple loops I would ask if he would like to stand for me, if not, round and round we went again. After maybe 15 min of this he finally decided that stopping and even going away from home is actually easier than wanting to rush home. And then we could walk home in a relaxed manner.

These horsemen have all improved my relationship with horses and with life in general. Go on, get into Youtube, buy some of their books or borrow them from library, go and watch the documentaries and learn from their DVDs or better still; sign up for a clinic or a demo if at all possible. You won’t regret it. You know what you will regret…