Equine-Humanistics

Horses are truly amazing in what they will do for us.

When I look at it from the horses’ point of view I am in awe.  

They are a long rectangular body, horizontal spine, with a leg at each corner, a neck that protrudes out the front and a nervous system that is wired for full protection of the prey animal they are.  

They can perform amazing feats of athleticism on tiny feet using their necks in time with their bodies to stay balanced and upright. 

Then along we come and take them from free, roaming, and wild and contain them into ‘domestication’. We limit how much they move, what they eat and who their friends are.  

Next, we put a halter or bridle on their heads and say, ‘you will learn how to move without having the freedom of your neck to balance yourself’. 

This is followed by various systems of groundwork that either engage or disengage them through their bodies, so they become familiar with moving in a way that alters their natural way of carrying themselves. 

We control the neck, so they become familiar with bracing in their bodies to substitute for not having their necks available to balance.  Then we ride them in this weakened state. They are unsure of how to carry themselves, and us, in this falling forward braced way of moving so we call them ‘green’.

Now all the work begins to remold them back to that beautiful, athletic, able horse they were before being haltered. 

This scenario is the reality, in my eyes, of what the horses go through to be a part of ‘our’ world. Can we do better? 

Can we handle our horses in the beginning as we want to ride them in the end? Communicating through our minds and bodies to their minds and bodies.  Teaching them to move their bodies in response to our bodies rather than so much ‘submission’ to the lead or rein. Can I encourage/teach him to use his body within the boundaries of domestication as beautifully as when wild?  Teaching them to keep their bodies rocked back over their legs, use their legs to propel the body and hang their necks up and forward, free to make any minute corrections needed to help balance. 

To do this we prioritize building trust and curiosity over submission. We would like both but in just the right balance which is different in every horse.

Equine-Humanistics has been developed to explain more clearly to the horses ‘how’ to be with us with less detrimental effects on their bodies and minds.