Archive for the ‘Four Models’ Category

Horses in cages?

Horses in Cages, surely not? What kind of unprincipled person would put a horse in a cage? Well, as we shall see, whether you see it as a cage or a stable, it is really only a matter of perspective. Read more »

What do you do with your horse?

This is inevitably the first question that I always get asked by people when they discover that I own horses. Actually I dread it, not because I don’t ‘do’ stuff with my horses, like riding them (this is what they really mean), – I do, but to be honest, riding them is perhaps the least important aspect of what I do with horses and when someone wants to know the answer to that question I always know I am dealing with a ‘mentality’, and it is usually going to be hard work! Read more »

Anthropomorphic Addiction

This article is about addiction. But please don’t be put off. It is about one of the most common addictions in the world, an addiction suffered by probably 99% of all people that work with animals and certainly, almost everyone who doesn’t. Like all addictions it is very powerful (addictive) because it is very rewarding – and sadly, like all addictions, it is very damaging not only to ourselves, but also to those around us. This addiction costs us billions every year, globally it has spawned multi-billion dollar industries to feed our passions, on a personal level, it frequently consumes all our time, our relationships and our resources. Our passion and fascination with this addiction can last a lifetime and many of us are prepared to devote our lives to the pursuit of the pleasure that it gives us. Read more »

A Sad Story

Here’s a sad story, overheard in a feed store.

“This woman got a horse and so she decided to give it a work out . What it needs, she thought, is a good old lungeing session over jumps etc. (make the bu***r work). But she worked it so hard it aborted the foal it was carrying, but it was OK because she didn’t even know it was pregnant!” Read more »

Stripping down the horse

Imagine your horse lives at the center of three concentric circles or better yet, spheres and imagine if you can that your horse is imprisoned inside these two outer shells. These shells are curved and semi-opaque and therefore distort what is inside. You can travel inside them at will but your horse is trapped, this is because these two shells are human inventions and under the control of humans, only the human can create them or destroy them through choice. Read more »

What is a Horse?

This is the simplest of questions and yet it is often something that people who have spent a lifetime with horses cannot answer. Even career, equine professionals, with forty years experience behind them cannot answer this question, – and yet of all the things a horse owner must understand about a horse THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! It is quite simply, the key to understanding everything your horse does, it is the key to your relationship, it is the key to a long happy and healthy life for you and your horse it is, – the key to everything…. Read more »

The Equine Natural Rug – not an Advert!

There is a Better Rug for your Horse! The Equine Natural.

This rug features all the technology developed over millions of years of research and refinement. The Equine Natural gives your horse a rug that is: Read more »

What is an Ethogram?

My second principle of natural horse keeping states:

We base or relationship on the ethogram of the horse. That means

Life in a herd, a life full of natural movement, a diet that closely relates to the natural fiber based diet and barefoot .

The first thing about this principle that you might want to understand is, what is an ethogram? Read more »

Principle One: Good Health

PRINCIPLE NUMBER ONE: ALL OUR MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE MUST ALWAYS CREATE GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN THE HERD.

This is principle number one for a reason. It is of no advantage to anyone in any model of horsemanship to have a horse that is in less than perfect health. Read more »

The Utility Model

I don’t know where you live in the world but I happen to live in the UK, but don’t worry, the concept of the model is universal to all humans and all horses, so it applies wherever you are based.

I want you to imagine back about 150 years. If you do that for the UK you are back in the time of Queen Victoria and the British Empire, in the USA you would be in the heyday of the wild west. Just think for a moment what life was like for horses and their human masters at that time.

In those days, all horses were defined by one thing,

they were defined by their function. Read more »