What is horsemanship?
In the simplest sense of the word, horsemanship means “a man who handles horses.”
Many years ago, horsemanship was associated with a technique for reading the horse’s body language.
Today the word covers both: Join up, play with the horse, and also to improve your relationship with your horse through various exercises.
When I started working as a horse whisperer, there was no focus on the partnership between horse and rider.
Back then, horses were a means to an end or a “thing” that we humans used in a sport or to get from one goal to another.
Violence, coercion, and neglect were things I saw daily in the stables because many horse owners thought the horse was stupid, naughty, or unintelligent.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Horses are herd animals and are constantly looking for a leader who can keep everything together, even if the herd only consists of you and your horse.
Depending on your horse’s personality profile, it will always subconsciously seek an equal relationship where you are the leader, preferably while you are at peace within yourself.
It is quite an exciting task because you, as a human being, also come with your history and sometimes traumatizing experiences.
Over the years, both I (and others) have fought to lead horse owners in a direction that has given a completely different understanding of the horse’s psychology, signals, personality profiles, and also the horse’s languages.
Nonverbal communication, also called telepathy, is one of these languages. Body language is another, and the energy exchange between a horse and a human is yet another.
I love working with horses and riders because it is complex and interesting.
I also see that riders seek their horses as a form of therapy in a busy everyday life, and horses have somehow become the respite we can’t figure out how to create for ourselves.
Horses need both physical stimulation and exercise, but they also need mental and cognitive stimulation.
Horsemanship exercises are brilliant for both.
Practicing horsemanship will give you and your horse a strengthened relationship. You will feel how much your horse reflects you and your energies in the relationship with it.
Through equal play, where you connect, you will discover that you can communicate with your horse and invent a new language only the two of you understand. This language will give you a much more present partnership both from the ground and from your back.
Horsemanship exercises I recommend:
โ Exercises from the ground, for instance, “join up,” where you create a field and become so interesting to your horse that it constantly seeks you of its own free will.
โ Breathing exercises where you control whether you go forward or stop depending on how fast you breathe or hold your breath.
โ Play with a rope halter, pull rope, or cordeo, where you create confidence exercises by using calm energy.
โ Environmental training with your horse from the ground, where you use calm or playful energy and help your horse to accept things that he is afraid of when you sit on his back later.
โ That you find your language and forms of communication either in the form of a clicker or sounds from your mouth, coupled with energy where your horse knows whether it should walk, trot, gallop or make a parade.
โ Send your horse into a volte by lunging, and use your energy and radiance to make the horse react. You will see if your horse understands your signals about where you want it to go, in which direction, and at what pace.
โ Play where you dance together from the ground. Know that you are so connected that your horse responds to your legs and pace. Maybe you learn the piaf step from the ground by doing it yourself in time with your horse.
โ Play while strengthening your mental focus while telepathically connecting with your horse. Close your eyes and visualize what your horse has to do, and then let it react to your thoughts and images for your inner gaze.
Horsemanship equipment
โ Horsemanship tow rope
โ Horsemanship sticks and strings
โ Horsemanship rope halter
โ Cordeo
โ Treats
– Clicker
