My main job in providing people with natural horses health, is to resolve health issues. Not just the physical health issues, but the emotional ones too. This I do exclusively with homeopathic treatment. However, if you don’t treat you horse well, these issues are likely to return.
So how do you treat your horse right? There are probably as many ways to do this as there are riding instructors and horse trainers. However, many of these people fail to recognise the needs of the horse. They focus on the needs of the people. Sure they look after the horse’s physical needs. But little attention is given to their emotional and spiritual needs.
So here are my views.
First we need to accept that we are not superior beings compared with horses. Yes, we are different,. But no, we don’t know best. For example, I always ‘ask’ the horse if I have the right remedy. Depending on various factors they will respond positively or negatively. If the response is negative, then I don’t force the horse to take the remedy. I go back to the drawing board and think again.
Secondly, we need to think deeply about why we want to interact with horses. Is it really just so we can win at a competition? If that is so, then wouldn’t a motor bike suit us better? Do we have to try (force in many cases) to bend the will of a sentient being to ours?
Most people who are involved with horses are aware, perhaps in a deep and buried part of them, that horses can challenge us, can mirror our deepest feelings, and by doing so can help us evolve. But somewhere along the road we can get lost. Instead of pursuing that, we can so easily get caught up in the ‘horsey’ world.
Horses are highly sensitive and subtle animals. They need to be, to avoid being eaten in the wind. This means that many of the things we do to them creates enormous stress. For example:
- keeping them isolated from other horses
- withholding food for more than 2 hours – stomach ulcers form
- not having properly fitting equipment – causing discomfort or pain
- training them for our needs, without considering theirs – they must be allowed to learn what we want from them at their own pace, not at ours, otherwise work becomes confusing
rigid training methods – horses are in the now so learn to adapt to the moment - different horses are suitable to different tasks – a draught horse is not a race horse so make sure your horse is both physically capable of what you want from him and emotionally so
- most horses are started too young – this puts too much strain on their musculo-skeletal system
- most horses are taken from their dams too early – this misses a vital section of their education
- imprinting is a very invasive and desensitising way to manage horses – better than some methods maybe but only from our point of view, not from theirs, as it misses the point completely
Try always to put yourself in your horse’s shoes. If you couldn’t ‘talk’ to your human, how would you try to communicate what you need and what you find unacceptable?
When I first got one of my current horses, he would not accept the bridle. He simply raised his head too high. I listened to him and sold the bridle. We can work without that potential instrument of torture. I have no doubt he had very good reasons to act the way he did. That was a huge lesson for me, that took me time to come to terms with.
He was also used to spurs, whereas I will never contemplate the idea of using them. Once he knew I didn’t have them, he stopped listening to me. So back to the drawing board. I discovered Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling and Jenny Pearce, both of whom work, or should I say play, with horses by understanding them. Both bring joy to rider and horse.
Bring in the natural horses health approach for both your sake and that of your horse.