"It's For The Horse"

Howdy Folks,

There are many different paradigms in the human and horse world. We are free to choose in which paradigm we place ourselves. Is our relationship with our horse based on what we want from it, and the expectations we place on our horse? Is our training for ourselves and our horse based on the outcome, instead of the journey? Is our barn set up for our convenience or the horse's health and well being, mentally and physically? Just a few thoughts and questions that constantly run through my mind. Being a horse advocate I have a little motto that guides my thinking and actions, "It's for the horse." 

When I write stories for Trail Blazer and Natural Horse magazines, or my little blog posts here, and visit with friends in the wonderful world of FaceBook my thinking is always, "for the horse." I strive to point out that in all things, if the horse's point of view guides us, the outcome will be more glorious. More solid.

I remain amazed when people talk about their horses in the negative, and "demand" results, without taking time to appreciate the horse's perspective. Waiting for the horse to understand and process the training, or changing their own paradigm, seems to be a bother to far too many people, even today. Folks say they're going to, "teach" their horse, or "train" their horse. I'd rather suggest, "Learning together with their horse." No matter how many horses a person has known, every horse has more to teach "us," if we're willing to view things from the horse's perspective.

 Barns are still today all too often built and maintained with the human interest as the guiding principle. It's easy to walk down a row of stalls to feed and care for the horses. What would the horse's perspective be about his housing?

Therapy horses, show horses, lesson horses, and every other kind of discipline horses find themselves in; horses have a perspective of how they see their lives. Are they living it in a manner that makes sense to them? Is there something, perhaps a tiny thing, their human can do, or habit they can change, to help themselves see their own world through their horses eyes?

How and what horses are fed can also be considered from the horse's point of view. Is it truly healthy for the horse, or convenient for the person? 

Kessy giving me love

If we follow the paradigm of, "It's for the horse" a number of questions have their own answers.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry