Spent a fantastic day at the Buckingham Natural Horse Centre, where the owner Val had organised a 5 day clinic with Ken Faulkner the founder of Australian Natural Horsemanship. Mig & Dexter’s instructor Kate Webber had recommended that we come along to spectate so we could meet Ken and learn a bit more, us being newbies as it were.
There were about 10 participants with their various equine partners ranging from some young ponies just starting out, to some young riders also just starting out (little jealous that I hadn’t had such experiences at their age!!) to some very troubled horses that had really lost their way in life & all their confidence in humans had all but vanished which Val had at the centre attempting to give them a final chance to find their way again. Along with another 6 spectators, a couple of whom are instructors & use Ken’s methods in their own trainings. The mixed level of ability allowed you to see the possibilities of the training method for you and your horse, what ever your starting point. Ken has a great sense of humour which is highly infectious & he has an easiness in his manner & teaching which creates a great learning environment & makes the tasks easy to understand.
It was the second day of a five day clinic, so everyone had got into their stride a little, having started with some of the basic groundskills the day before. They spent the whole of today on further groundskills in preparation for doing some ridden work the following day. It was facinating to watch & we were able to observe some of the minor errors in handling that could have a huge impact on the horses, a small adjustment by Ken restored balance very quickly. They worked on both small & large circles, the squueze game & also getting the horse to move sideways & around his quarters. It was amazing to see how quickly both the handlers & horses were able to achieve the tasks, even if they had not attempted them before.
One of the main things I took away was that at times less is definitely more, however there are occasions where more is definitely less. This sounds a little confusing I suppose but it relates to sometimes a quiet approach being needed whilst at others you need to go in with a much firmer (whilst still remaining fair) approach, which although seeming quite strong & forceful, will result in using less force in the long run.
It is important to realise that natural horsemanship is not an excuse for you to be wishy washy & have your horse walk all over you, there need to be clear boundaries, but at the same time it is trying to use generally a more sympathetic approach which requires you to be much more aware of your own energy & movements & the effect they have on your horse, resulting in much subtler commands between the two of you. Ken aims through his methods to help people and horses to build a level of communication that will enable them to move forward together as a partnership, understanding the intricacies of finesse riding and high level liberty work, it is suitable for advancement in either western or english ridden styles.
Ken ended the day with a short ridden demonstration to prepare the partcipants for the following days, I was a little sad that we were not going to be part of this as I had had a facinating day, a little brain overload by the end, with so many ideas & information buzzing around, but I can’t wait till next year when Ken is back in the UK again & hopefully I will have a horse that I can take & participate in the clinic rather then just being a spectator.
Until Next Time
With Love
Fiona & Jasper