What Do You Do for a Living?
“What do you do for a living?” I’ve been asked that question a lot, mostly on planes when I’m flying somewhere to do a clinic or start some colts. When I say I teach horsemanship, I get a blank look. Then, usually a few guesses as to what that means to them. People usually start naming off different disciplines like reining or dressage and I say “Well, sort of.” Or the completely non-horse people just say, “What is horsemanship?”
Breaking Down the Word
If you take the word itself “horse-man-ship” it must have something to do with horses, humans, and some sort of vessel. I’m sure if they were to ask 10 different people, they would probably get 10 different opinions. This is just mine.
Horsemanship Is a Skill
To me it is a skill that is learned and you can have a lot of horsemanship skills and knowledge or none at all and anything in between. Horsemanship is something that horses and humans do together. Horsemanship is anything that can be done with horses, on the ground, on their backs or in a wagon, sleigh or skidding a log. In some cases, a persons horsemanship skills can stay the same or even get worse even though they have been around horses their whole life. In other people, their horsemanship skills and knowledge improves daily.
There’s No Ceiling on Horsemanship
There is no roof or limit on the amount horsemanship skills and knowledge one person can achieve. It is something that can have continual growth. It is knowledge of how a horse thinks and how humans think, for example, horses are very lateral in their approach to things and humans are very direct line. We need to learn to be more lateral in our approach, which is a horsemanship skill. Understanding that horses eyes are not very good with depth perception and they have a blind spot in front because their eyes are on the side of their head. Eyes on the side of the head however helps with seeing things behind them. We have eyes on the front of our heads and we have great depth perception. We see colors well, horses do not.
Understanding the Horse’s Experience
To me, this type of information all falls under the category of horsemanship. We use this information to better understand what the horse might be experiencing which gives us a much better chance to solve problems and create opportunities. If we can understand horses, we can help prepare them for what we want them to do. They didn’t pick us out of the field or auction mart; we picked them. The more horsemanship skills and knowledge we have, the more horses we will be able to enjoy. If we find there seems to be only certain horses that we can deal with, then working on our horsemanship will solve many of the so-called horse issues that horses get the blame for. If we have a problem with our horse we can’t seem to solve it will help to get some more horsemanship skills and knowledge.
It’s Not About the Horse — It’s About You
If you know a person that goes through horses like popcorn and just can’t get the right one, maybe you might suggest they look to increase their horsemanship rather than get another horse. There would probably be a bunch of horses that would give a big sigh of relief if that were to happen. Horsemanship is something your horse hopes you will have a lot of, and be getting more of. A horse wants to be handled with consistency and fairness on the ground and in the saddle. They want us to be clear and disciplined. Our requests need to be presented in a manner that makes sense to them. We need to understand what worries them and know how to help them through it. They want us to know what a try looks like in all the many different situations and reward it immediately because they live in the moment. They don’t care if you had a bad day, they don’t want to get dumped on. If we can’t ride and we fall off they don’t care. If we bounce all over when we are still on, they are hoping we will hurry up and learn to move with the natural rhythm or sell them to someone who can.
Good Horsemanship Elevates Horses
Good horsemanship can take a not-so-good horse and make them good and a lack of horsemanship can take a good horse and make them bad or have so-called issues or bad habits. Good horsemanship means that you are ok to look in the mirror when things aren’t going as you might of hoped and say how can I improve what I’m looking at. It’s easy to point fingers unless we are standing in front of the mirror.
Prey vs. Predator: Bridging the Gap
Horses being prey animals and people being predators can make for some real clashes. However when good horsemanship is practiced both horse and human become more together than they could be as individuals. Horsemanship is the cake, take away the cake and all you have is icing. Icing is good until you are about ten and then you start to appreciate the cake more and more as the years go by.
You Can’t Buy Horsemanship
The best thing about horsemanship is you can’t buy it. You can pay for help to get exercises and learn from someone that can help you develop your horsemanship but it is up to each individual person to improve or not. We have to put in the work; nobody can do it for us.
A Lifelong Passion Worth Pursuing
Horsemanship and improving it is a passion of mine, and I do what I can to keep my horses from wanting to trade me in for a new owner. A wise man once told me “Look after your horsemanship and your horsemanship will look after you.”