Centaur
The centaur
portrays something significant about our horsemanship desires. That primal
mythological being displays the metaphoric equestrian ideal; head, arms, and
torso of a horseperson blending gracefully into the body and legs of horse; Equus sapien. Those who ride horses
understand this conceit clearly; become the horse. Sophisticated Thessalonian
Greek tribesman imagined and mythologized this man/horse creature, a cultural
reflection of man’s emotional and physical blending with the species Equus caballus. The centaur image expresses
pastoral man’s exalted and cherished blending with the horse. The centaur
defines the willing partnership many of today’s horsemen seek.
A current
expression of the centaur is what some term natural
horsemanship, a renewal of the manifestation of our desire to connect with
horses in a willing and conciliatory fashion. Ethical horsemanship...training that is a good deal for the horse, including the husbandry and essential social development and enrichment. More than ever, as mankind has drifted ever so far from nature,
people seek true unity with their horses, harmonious partnerships based on
understanding and mutual confidence rather than force or coercion. Horsemen
hope their horse allows total control willingly and readily—dependably,
consistently, and reliably—wherever
and whenever they ride together. The connection horsefolk seek is empowerment
from the horse, a controlled extension of their self. The ideal connection is a
pairing achieved willingly, a partnership that becomes something much more than
the sum of man and horse.
Man continues to
renew and refine the relationship that has bonded him to horses for millennia.
Horsemen continue to seek a connectivity of their minds to the horse’s body as
horsemen always have. The horsemanship ideal remains the same through time:
that a rider’s thought becomes horse’s action, the centaur effect. Indeed,
modern horsemen report that horse/man relationships approach this ideal with
regularity. The nature of the horse, however, is such that the regularity
remains uncertain.
Consistent
blending of man’s thought to the horse’s physique requires a thorough and
multifaceted understanding of the horse’s nature. Subsequently, the development
of an ability to communicate physically with horses is required to connect with
horses in a positive fashion. Kinetic empathy, or understanding through
movement, describes the gesture language used between horses, and between
horses and humans. The language of horsemanship is the language of kinetic
empathy. An acceptance of the time it takes to refine relationships with horses
remains an important aspect of communicating with horses. Horsemanship involves
more than training. Horses form strong pair bonds in a herd to develop fluent
communication between horses to facilitate group survival. Group survival is
the horse’s nature, and the horseperson needs to take the time to develop a
familiarity with horses, both on an individual and general basis. Horses need
to know how those in their group move, and respond to their movements, and as well the horseperson
needs to know equine locomotion on many levels. Understanding and comprehending
the kinetic empathy that horses utilize involves appreciating the gaits of
horses. Horsemanship involves bonding, becoming familiar with one another, as
is the horse’s nature. Much of this bonding is the blending of a physical
connection. Pleasing matches take time spent together.
The connection
between horse and man is subconscious and conscious, inherent and acquired.
Advanced horsemen and horsewomen communicate to and with horses on many levels,
much as horses communicate with one another. Awareness in both species becomes comprehensive
as the relationship develops, with both man and horse knowing the movements of
the other, as well as the other’s expected responses to their movements.
Man’s relationship
with the horse has been pressing for some time. Mary Leakey discovered early
African man’s footprints fossilized next to the hoof-prints of an early African
horse. These hoof and foot prints next to one another dated 3.6 million years
into the past. That is a long time ago. Man and horse have spent a long time
coevolving. Before merging together in the dance of domestication, man and
horse developed group survival strategies that involved sophisticated social
interaction and communication. Much of the early communication in mankind
involved gestures. The majority of horse communication involves gestures and
body language, acknowledgements and responses to movements. Horse and man’s
ability to communicate merged in the domestication process. Mankind has spent a
long time coevolving with horses, and here we continue to refine our
interspecies communication and understanding of one another.
Imagine 3 million
years ago, pedestrian man, fleet horse; footprints fossilized together on the
same ancient plain. Three million years ago man and horse gazed at one another,
watching the others movements, coming to understand the other’s intent by the
other’s movements, the beginnings of the sharing of the language scientists
today term kinetic empathy. The contiguous footprints of man and horse do not
prove any sort of close relationship so long ago in Africa, but the shared
ecosystem implies that the two species have been aware and observant of one
another for at least three million years. Horses have been vulnerable to the
many of the same predators as man over time. In response to predation, each
species developed a safety in numbers survival structure, becoming social in
nature. Later, in Asia, man and horse converged in a socially communicative
regard that had independently developed over time. The awareness and contact between
man and horse ebbed and flowed until the right combination of horses, folk, and
resources allowed the connection to develop, allowing the species to merge. By
six thousand years ago, horses had merged with people both physically and
socially. Horses were stabled, milked, trained, and likely ridden, as the Botai
archeology suggests. The shared social structure between man and horse quickly
flourished as the language between the species became refined with close and
continuous contact. The new relationship between these two social species
facilitated the eventual development of inland civilizations. The combination
of the two species soon exceeded the sum of man and horse before their social
merger.
“The Footprint
Tuff”[1]
at Laetoli in the eastern rift valley of Kenya, Australopithecus and Hipparon,
must have had wondering what if might take to tame that resource, assessing
the horse’s power; the African horse looking at man, skeptic then as skeptic
now, yet curious, both being chased by the same predators as they emerged from
the forest to the plains. Three million years is a long time for two species to
contemplate one another in increasingly intense fashion. Some people seem born
with an animal understanding or connectivity in their blood, perhaps
biologically relevant to the long developmental association man and horse have
experienced together.
The kinetic language
to effectively connect with horses has been selectively enhanced and
incorporated into man’s genome over time. The ability to communicate with horse
is inborn into man’s central nervous system as it is inborn into the horse’s. The
gesture language has converged. For some individuals the language appears more readily
expressible than for others. Children raised in the presence of horses and
other domestic animals develop an understanding of the language the animals
utilize to communicate with one another, as well as the language the domestic
animals utilize to communicate with the children and others. Children quickly
come to appreciate the nature of horses if they are allowed abundant
opportunities to be taught by horses, which is to grow up around horses, to
live near and with horses, to ride them from a young age. Children often
quickly connect by understanding the gesture language of horses, and by responding
with a gesture language of their own, which facilitates bonding. Bonding is
understanding of the other, predictability of the other, knowing of the other,
and the understanding is that of movement. Bonding and understanding go hand in
hand, as bonding is about becoming familiar with the movements of the other,
the meaning of the movements, the responses to the movements. Harmony of
movement becomes the ideal. Harmony with horses requires experience and
understanding; familiarity. The harmony is a harmony of movement, a harmony of
responses to the others movements, a continuous reciprocity, and rhythmic
togetherness, a staying out of the way of the locomotion of the other. The bond
between man and horse is a bond of mutually appreciated movements. The language
of horsemanship is mutual appreciation of movements. Adults and children alike
over time learn to react to these movements with conditioned subconscious
movements of their own when handling and riding horses. Exceptional communicators develop willing
partnerships with horses. Horses evolved a group survival strategy, and part of
the strategy is to flow with the herd, to appease the group. As horses appease
others in a herd, horses are willing to appease their riders, provided a fluent
language of horsemanship has been comfortably established. As in a herd, horses
are willing to lead, as well. Provided communication is fluent, a horse’s
nature is to both willingly appease and to willingly lead their rider. The
relationship—the bond of mutual appreciation and predictability of the other’s
movement—is best served to be experienced and secure.
Those folk without
an animal sense of kinetic empathy can learn to communicate with horses by
educating themselves regarding the history and nature of the horse. Adults unfamiliar
with horse movement and locomotion often require a more formal conscious
learning process regarding horse’s nature, initially at least. Communication
with horses becomes subconscious with time, provided one takes the time to
become familiar with horse movements, and the language in which horse’s
communicate with both one another and with people. Spending time with horses is
essential. Adults cannot become fluent in the language of horsemanship without
spending lots of time with horses—hours a day, days a week. A variety of
activities facilitate an understanding of horse movements. Grooming and
brushing and rubbing horses is an excellent way to become fluent with horses.
Hanging out with horses in grazing scenarios allows people to become with the
responses of horses to the movement of others, both four-legged and two. A bond
has to be established. For some the bond with a horse can come instantly, for
others bonding takes more time. Some pairings are unable to find balance, and therefore
cannot bond adequately to allow the development of a willing partnership.
Successful
horsemanship depends on the refinement of a fluency of movement between horse
and rider. The accomplishment of fluent human/horse connections requires
understanding of the nature of the horse. Learning theory is important to
appreciate. Learning theory is based on evolutionary processes. Group survival
facilitated socialization. In addition to sharing a language of movement with
horses, man shares the principles of learning with horses. Humans and horses
learn in similar fashion. Mares teach their foals both how and what to learn.
Similar learning allows training. These
connections have been modified and melded with longstanding threads of
horsemanship. Horsemanship has
been developed into schools and methods. Many of these methods are sequential,
explanatory, and formulaic, and many of them help horsemen establish effective
relationships with horses. An understanding of the theory and application of
these methods is necessary to gain full advantage of the techniques and to be
able to apply what is termed natural horsemanship to specific disciplines
effectively.
Finesse,
informality, and variety are equally essential horsemanship virtues, but they
are less often addressed in natural horsemanship programs and will be explored
here. Accomplished horsemen are those who become exposed to a wide variety of
horses in a wide variety of disciplines and applications over extended periods
of time. Individuals remaining buried in specific disciplines have a tendency
to become close-minded to the horsemanship of others, and this can preclude
effective refinement in their chosen discipline. Horsemen seeking improvement
and enhanced performance are wise to view new strategies and thought from a
wide variety of sources with an open mind, and attempt to garner improved
language skills from each horseman they encounter. There are many effective
adaptable traditions and horsemanship methodologies and theories, and most all
of them have information to potentially improve our relationship with horses,
although some may teach us what we ought not do with horses.
The language of
horsemanship is making a comeback, and our connection with horses is deepening
in many exciting and innovative ways. Facilitating man’s longtime connection
with the horse—a method of signaling and communing with the horse—physical
language more than verbal language, an emotional language. The communication
has reached renewed levels of sophistication, and it is a language that transcends
words in many ways. Exploring the origins and future of the language of
horsemanship is a primary intent of this book.
Understanding the
nature of the domestic horse is the
basis of the language of contemporary horsemanship. Horsemen must be able to
read horses and develop a perception and awareness of their myriad levels of
perception and projection. Horses strive to understand horsemen and reciprocate
effectively and efficiently. Willingness and understanding need travel both
ways. Domestic horses possess inborn tameness that horsemen can tap into deeply
and effectively. And do. Through time, beautiful horsemanship has been
practiced far and wide. Common fundamentals of the language persevere, handed
down from horseman to horseman, from man to horse, from horse to man in direct
and indirect ways.
A huge culture of
horsemanship became lost in the industrial age as horses became obsolete.
Cruelty surfaced, a result of confusion and world war. Horse suffered a brutal
transition as folk lost daily contact and man lost touch with horse’s nature.
Competitive sports, high stakes, and greed also took its toll on horses. Doping
in race and show horses is just now getting seriously reined in. Once again the
horse is being considered. Today we seek to embrace horse’s nature, again.
Despite this disjointing,
psychological savvy remains in both man and horse as how to communicate with
one another. Traditional horsemanship threads have been actively carried on
through time with the Mongols of the Asian steppes, Persians, North Africans,
Vikings, Laplanders, Spaniards, Americans, European dressage and jumping
equestrians, thoroughbred horsemen, draft and carriage horsemen, Far East
horsemen, cavalry and military, law enforcement, and many other horse-dependent
cultures and disciplines. Today’s new horseman is the natural horseman,
observing and understanding horse in its natural circumstances and applying
that knowledge to the effective training of horses.
In America the
thread of horsemanship reached the horseback cattlemen of the Great Plains, and
they are currently the most prevalent practitioners of natural horsemanship.
Cattle-working cowboy types are currently those most exposed to be able to
observe horses in natural settings in North America. Ranch horses are not often
stabled, and most run together on open range or in large pastures when not
being ridden. Additionally, feral horses frequent the fringes of cattle ranches
and grasslands of the west, and allow additional observation of natural equine
tendencies. It is often these professionals who emerge to interpret natural
horsemanship. Cowboys are known far and wide for spending time contemplating
horses rather than fixing fence, and many are horseback ten or more hours a
day. The combination of watching and riding horses forms a basis for
interpretation that this treatise expounds upon and carries through other
disciplines.
Beyond buckaroos,
there are many other proficient and effective horsemen who effectively combine
knowledge garnered from watching horses interact with one another to the
training and partnership development of their riding horses. Natural
horsemanship, although dominated by cowboy types by name, is effectively
practiced in many disciplines including dressage, driving, horseracing, polo, jumping,
eventing, steeple chasing, fox chasing, trekking, trail riding, jousting,
vaulting, and many others as the list goes on. Some apply applications
differently than others, and not all natural references or behaviors translate
as intended or proposed.
Horse behavior has
the potential to be both over-interpreted and misinterpreted, and horsemen need
to use care in arriving at assumptions based on what they perceive to be
natural. The most successful horsemen are those willing to re-interpret what
appears to happen naturally and otherwise, and to apply training strategies
with the horse in mind with special attention paid to the horse’s physiologic
and psychological parameters. Intentionally (or unintentionally) tiring and
exhausting horses appears to be one of the more popular misapplications of
natural horsemanship. Nearly
anyone can put a horse in a round pen, chase it to exhaustion, and hop on. Of
course horses trained in this fashion are someday going to be outside the round
pen. The opportunity for them to have their day will eventually arise. This is
one example of a current misapplication of natural horsemanship. This book will
outline the physiologic parameters horsemen will expected to follow to support
and encourage horse welfare regarding this and other questionable types of
training, natural and otherwise.
As ever, journeys
with horse are spells of learning, never-ending accumulations, modifications
and clarifications of knowledge resulting in evolved and refined expressions of
understanding and connection. The journey may also include broken bones,
enlightenment, and wisdom. After a basic language is established and natural
circumstances are recreated for horses, the development of balance, timing, and
feel between horse and man can progress to unforeseen heights, and the results
can be refreshingly rewarding—naturally rewarding. At times horsemanship feels
synchronous and fluid, and these are the times horsemen relish, those moments
and experiences when time becomes suspended for both horseman and horse. This book intends to inform
and teach, to provide a source for unleashing motivated and compassionate
horsemen’s inherent ability to communicate with horses, to allow horsemen to
prevail and succeed with their horses.
The combination of man and
horse is an ideal, the perfect ideal, a revered and special partnership
cultured and nurtured over time that continues to defy our imagination. Natural
horsemanship attempts to mesh two minds together, combining the sensual,
intellectual, and physical advantages of both perspectives. Natural
horsemanship aspires to a rich symbiosis with horse. It replaces the ideology
of dominance, wherein the horseman does all the thinking and commanding and the
horse does as instructed. Coercive horsemanship removes the horse’s
perspective, and limits the horse’s effective contributions, which are immense.
Ethical horsemanship aspires to a mutually considerate relationship with the
horse.
[1] Last Horses
and First Humans in North America, S David Webb and C Andrew Hemmings, 2006,
pages 11-25, from Horses and Humans: the Evolution of Human Equine
Relationships, BAR S1560, Archeopress, Oxford, England
Dr Gustafson graduated from Washington State University as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1979. He is a practicing veterinarian, animal welfare journalist, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavioral science to the husbandry of horses enhances optimal health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity. Behavioral, social, locomotory, and nutritional strategies enhance the prosperity, vigor, and health of stabled horses. Sid offers veterinary care, training, husbandry, and conditioning from the horse's perspective to achieve willing and winning equine partnerships with humans.
