Horsemanship Horsemanship

by Tanja Kraus,

Over the years Tanja has successfully competed in dressage, western events and showing as well as in the Cowboy Dressage World Finals and Top Hand events in the uSA.

In the race to ranch competition - that gives riders 100 days to retrain their off-the--track racehorse - Tanja and her Thoroughbred Ginger Coops placed a creditable 5th overall. In this series she shares some of her insights into what to expect when training a horse for western, be it a Thoroughbred or another breed, most of the principles are the same.

“When Pat Parelli came to Australia in the 1980s he set down a challenge that he would give $500 to anyone who brought a horse to him that he couldn’t ride. He says he never had to pay out, but came close a couple of times! So he really set the scene from the beginning that he (and horsemanship) could help even the horses that had been ‘written off’ by some experienced

A lot of horsemen were attracted to these events, with people wanting to know what Pat knew and also wanting to learn from him. Initially, the people attracted to horsemanship and the Pat Parelli clinics were cowboys or ‘western’ horsemen/women. He was teaching riders and handlers to understand the horse and to try and work with a horse and its natural instincts, its natural flight and its natural concern or ‘spookiness’. Many of these horsemen who were already experienced in their own right began introducing the Parelli system into their teaching and training. As the popularity of Parelli grew - and particularly once the term ‘Natural Horsemanship’ was being widely used - a large market developed for this training within the mature female riding community, who were suddenly learning management skills that allowed them to control and ride their horses.

The result of this ‘boom’ of mostly mature female riders being attracted and participating in Natural Horsemanship was that it developed a reputation for being for those who didn’t ride much but were into ‘rope twirling’, blue tarps and ‘big green balls’ and it was not generally recognised in the early days as a beneficial skill for the ‘serious horse rider’.

It’s probably important to note here that Pat Parelli did initially actively discourage participation from competing, and the idea that it was for ‘weekend warriors’ really was solidified in the wider horse community.

The fantastically ironic aspect here is that many of these ‘weekend warriors’ were loading up their horses, heading out to clinics, camps, trails or bush riding and having the time of their lives with their now responsive horses but were still considered ‘lesser’ horsewomen, even by those who couldn’t get their horse on a float!

Consequently, the Natural Horsemanship went from a pursuit of experienced horsemen and rapidly gained a ‘weekend warrior’ label. And it pretty much stayed there, thriving in its own right, for the better part of one to two decades, being considered more for the ‘hobby’ horse owner and not for the serious competitor.

In more recent times, as horse owners widened their understanding of the importance of working with the horse and using horse psychology in their riding and training, Natural Horsemanship gained acceptance and is considered to be ‘horsemanship’ and has become a more mainstream pursuit. Now we see many ‘big name’ competitors, across multiple disciplines embracing horsemanship as part of their training regimen.

Some of the benefits of incorporating horsemanship principles and training for your performance horses include;

• Trust: One of the first principles of horsemanship is building the relationship between you and your horse. When you invest in building relationships based on trust and you’ve got a horse that trusts you, it will go the ‘extra mile’ for you even in times of uncertainty. In those moments in a competition when a horse does become uncertain, the horse is willingly guided by you, without force, to continue. Basically, the partnership/relationship gets to a level of understanding where the horse is thinking “you’re asking me to do it and I’m a bit worried but okay I’ll do it because you’re asking me to.” That’s Trust.

• Emotional Regulation: Part of the process in horsemanship is teaching our horses to control or regulate their emotions. This helps to reduce stress while we are at a competition or riding the trail. Our horses travel well, float-load well, adjust to a new environment quickly. This means your horse isn’t suffering with unnecessary stress, and is not wasting energy that you need for the competition. Less stress also translates to effective conversion of feed to energy, and optimum hydration while you are away from home.

• Physical Health and wellbeing: Biomechanics is something that we do focus on in horsemanship. It’s not something that was widely talked about with horsemanship or natural horsemanship. In our more modern horsemanship philosophy biomechanics is something that we do focus on and, to have a healthy horse that is functionally moving well means that they are going to have better nutrition conversion, less downtime with injury or soreness and a longer ridden career.

• Mental soundness: A significant focus in horsemanship training is the horse’s mental soundness and capabilities. We assess their living environment and how it is impacting their mental state (positively or negatively), their individual learning capabilities in order to present training to them in the most effective and efficient way. Optimising their home environment, and training schedule leads to a happy athlete that is able to come to work, do their job and experience fewer incidents of stress related issues like ulcers, behavioural issues, stereotypical behaviours.

• Adaptability: Horses that are mentally and emotionally balanced tend to cope with adverse situations quite well. We have all been to a competition where it pours with rain, it is uncomfortably hot, or there may be a plague of flies or biting insects! In horsemanship we spend a lot of time working with the horse’s ability to self-regulate and control their emotions in a range of environmental conditions. When we are faced with unexpected conditions or unexpected stimulants then our horses are prepared to emotionally control themselves. This could be something as simple as adverse weather where many horses fight to turn their backs to the rain or the stress or playing up from the presence of a horse in another ring or nearby. Horsemanship empowers the horse to not need to involve itself in situations like that.

• Cross training: Horsemanship training in itself offers a physically and mentally stimulating lesson for your horse. Cross training is embraced by great horse trainers and human athletes alike, because it is simply beneficial. What better way to do some cross training with your performance horse than with some horsemanship techniques that are also going to enhance your performance.

Enough about the horse, how does horsemanship help the rider? Peace of mind! Nothing beats the peace of mind you have when you have a horse that you know is your trusted partner, one that you know how it’s going to react to situations and one that you know if it gets stressed it is going to look to you for guidance. Every ounce of energy we spend stressing about whether our horse is going to get on the trailer to get to the competition, whether it is going get on the trailer at the end of the competition to go home or what incidents are going to happen during the day that sets it off at the competition, is energy that could be better spent planning for our performance in the show ring.

Another element for the rider is the personal confidence that comes from the teachings of horsemanship.

Riders are equipped with an extensive ‘tool kit’ for use in multiple and varying situations, from their horse spooking at the judge’s table, to running away from that pony in the ring next door! They have the tools and knowhow to keep themselves and and their horse safe in multiple situations.

As a competitive rider across both English and Western disciplines, I can genuinely say that since incorporating horsemanship training, my competition experience is now a fun and enjoyable one - for both me and my horse.”