WHY HORSEMANSHIP?
When I was a young fellow I would try to go to jumping clinics, eventing clinics, and dressage clinics, but it never occurred to me to enrol in a horsemanship clinic. Plus there were very few opportunities to participate in a horsemanship clinic. I can think of a handful of horsemen who ran such clinics and they were very infrequent because they made their living from training, not teaching.
The market for horsemanship training was miniscule in Australia until around the early to mid-1980s when the Americans began to make an impact. Australians like Maurice Wright, Kel Jeffrey, Neil Davies, Heath Harris, Jim Wilton, Tom Roberts, etc. dwelled on the fringes of the movement that modern horsemanship would become. Of those few only Heath and Neil are still with us and continue to be active.
However, the wave of American influence began a tsunami change in attitude about what horsemanship was about in Australia. Horsemanship no longer was just about how to lead a horse or clean their hooves or tie a hitch knot as the pony club system was teaching. Both the Aussie and American horsemen started to plant the seed of the importance of a relationship between horse and horse person and that groundwork meant more than lunging in circles. For those who may not have been in Australia or into horses at the time, it is hard to explain what a revolution this was to the average horse owner. Of course, there were good horse people everywhere who already knew what the new gurus were teaching. But it was only with the advent of modern marketing techniques did the average horse owner shift their mindset.
This brings me to the topic of this post.
One of the criticisms I read about horsemanship clinics is from people with considerable experience and even expertise in some field of the horse industry. The criticism often describes horsemanship training as only useful for novice horse people. Implied in this criticism is that once a person achieves a certain experience or success they no longer have use for further training in understanding their horse. Horsemanship is only useful for teaching the very basics and after a short time a person needs to move on to training with people more skilled at an elite level.
I want to discuss both of this view.
I’m sure most of you have heard the adage, “The more you know the more you realize you don’t know.” This is certainly true of horsemanship. Horsemanship is not “a thing”. When it comes to interacting and working with horses horsemanship is “everything.” Horsemanship is everything from when you try to halter a foal for the first time to when your horse has to stand quietly for the blue ribbon ceremony at an international competition.
As an embryonic competitor and horse trainer I used to think horsemanship was what I used when I needed to teach a horse to pick up its feet or stand tied up or load into a trailer. At that stage of my education, it had nothing to do with jumping a clear round or performing collected movements in a dressage test. But now I see it differently.
As the term implies, horsemanship is the understanding of horses. But just those six words incorporate a lifetime of learning and understanding. Horsemanship is the art of feeling what a horse will feel and do before the horse knows. Horsemanship is the art of a horse and a human being able to finish each other's sentences.
Horsemanship is what props you up when you are training a horse to perform a lead change or wear a crupper. Horsemanship is the stuff that fills in the gaps between riding across a bridge and chasing a polo ball. Horsemanship teaches you how to walk up to your horse with feel at the start of a day and how to walk away from your horse with feel at the end of a day. Horsemanship is what makes it possible to salvage the relationship with your horse even after a bad experience.
Horsemanship is a serious study irrespective of what discipline you ride or what level of skill you ride. That is why the study of horsemanship is a lifelong pursuit. That is why being a skilled horsemanship is its own reward.
Three mates - Six, me, and Riley