Horse Shaman

The true trainer or natural horseman is not a warrior, but a shaman in every sense of the word. To me training horses is a shamanic path that impinges on every part of my life.” -Robert Gear

7. Natural Horsemanship is “communication through thought combined with intent, patience, and understanding, which are key to quality relationships with horses.”
-Susan Catt

8. “Natural Horsemanship concerns what the horse can understand as a horse, instead of being asked to think or react like a human.” – Robert Painter

9. “Natural Horsemanship is any approach that works with the nature of the horse rather than against it.” – Emily Kitching, editor, The Trail Less Traveled

10. Dr. Robert Miller talks about “gentle training techniques.” and all “competent horsemen.” Such people are “able to communicate with and make docile the most difficult of horses.” He says natural horsemanship requires perception and sensitivity. He also says it utilizes control of a horse’s natural flight response, which creates submissiveness if done correctly. That’s why trainers use round pens.

11. GaWaNi Pony Boy, one of the most sought after and respected equine speakers/clinicians, credits elders of different tribal backgrounds for teaching him some of the “old ways” concerning horse training. “Relationship Training is what I do. It’s the name I’ve given to how I train, and it’s a couple of things:

 1) using horse relationships not human relationships, and

 2) placing more importance on the relationship of horse and rider instead of the immediate results. The relationship is the center piece, the focus.”

12. He continues: “When you ask something of your horse or pony, try stepping back and asking yourself, ‘Does this make sense to the horse?’ Do not ask, ‘Does this make sense to the trainer, rider or the book I just read,’ but instead, ‘Does this really make sense to the horse?’ Human common sense does not make sense to horses, and riders must remember that in order to effectively communicate and work with them.”

13. Barry Cox, Wallowa-based rancher, cowboy, horseman, trainer, clinician, and breeder of Spanish Mustangs: “Natural Horsemanship is a style of handling horses where you become more horse-like and communicate on the horse’s level. It’s a communication between horse and human. A feeling of being in tune with each other, a natural way of understanding each other. This versus normal horse breaking techniques where you depend on force and fear to make the horse submit to your wishes. I believe the Native Americans often practiced this form of horsemanship. In the old photos I’ve seen of Indians and their horses the horses look content to be there with the people. That’s what it’s all about. The horses don’t lie. You can tell where they’re at by looking at their expressions.”

14. Barry also says: “In the beginning, just say to your horse, ‘Hey, I ain’t in no hurry. I’m here for all afternoon. This is just for fun.’. . . . First I want some meaning and understanding, then I want life. . . . When your horse starts making plans to travel-get some life going-back off. They’re busy learning. . . . Keep smiling. Just find some happy medium between a wreck and asleep. . . . When he begins to understand the meaning of what you want, he is already looking smarter, his eyes are bright and shiny. . . . I’ve learned to not blame the horse, but look more deeply into myself. . . . Soon she’ll be saying, ‘Boy, I sure would like to get along with you!’ Build understanding, not speed. . . . Every horse has to find their own way in life. But they are looking to you for help, for leadership. . . . Build courage in your horse now by doing new things. Horses like adventures, just like we do.”

15. “A good horse will figure out things on his own. You can see what’s in his heart. He won’t do one thing while you’re watchin’ and another when you ain’t. He’s all of a piece. When you’ve got a horse to that place you can’t hardly get him to do somethin’ he knows is wrong. He’ll fight you over it. And if you mistreat him it just about kills him. A good horse has justice in his heart.”
– Cormac McCarthy, author of the Texas Trilogy including All the Pretty Horses.

16. Ray Hunt says, “The horse has a mind and is entitled to it’s thoughts,” and also “give the horse a job.”

17. Keyadani: Spanish Colonial Message board, January 27, 2001:

“Being Native (primarily Lakota), let’s dispel a few myths. Not all Natives were good horse trainers, seeing as how they were human with human behaviors. So, don-t over- romanticize the Native as a born Horse Whisperer. Rather see us as a people who before we were ‘conquered’ were merely more gentle and connected to all that was a part of our life. We lived with the earth and her rhythms, not on the earth. Most Natives used the trust method: ‘I respect you and what you bring to me and my people, therefore I want you to do my bidding as a gesture that we speak the same language and there is trust between us. I don’t ride you. We move together as one unit.’ When you treat a horse with trust, respect, love, and understanding you get a horse which treats you with the same. A horse who accepts you as lead member of the herd, naturally submits and wants to please.”

18. “A goal of Natural Horsemanship is to get into the best possible partnership with a horse in the most graceful possible manner. There is also something about harmony in all this.” – Tom Hebert

19. Peggy Smith: “Natural horsemanship is about pushing your limits, accepting your weaknesses and striving to be part of something that is beyond our immediate comprehension. Natural horsemanship allows for the person to remember, with the help of the horse, about secrets to harmony with the universe and with ourselves that we humans have forgotten. It is a relationship between a horse and a human in which the roles of teacher and student, leader and follower, are constantly examined, learned from and discarded until perfection is achieved. It’s a way of life.”

20. “Two of the premises I work with are ‘reward the slightest try,’ and ‘make the right way easy, the wrong way alot of work.’ Of course these lessons also apply to people. . . ” – Linda Royer, equine facilities architect.

21. Putting it all together, Plenty-Coup, a chief of the Crows, told his biographers how he and his fellow warriors felt when they went out on a war party:
“To be alone with our war-horses at such a time teaches them to understand us, and us to understand them. My horse fights with me and fasts with me, because if he is to carry me in battle he must know my heart and I must know his or we shall never become brothers. I have been told that the white man, who is almost a god, and yet a great fool, does not believe that the horse has a spirit. This cannot be true. I have many time seen my horse’ s soul in his eyes. And this day on that knoll I knew my horse understood. I saw his soul in his eyes.”So, being good for both horses and people, it seems to me that Old Indian Tricks and “Old Ways” and Natural Horsemanship should find a natural home in the Umatilla Tribal Horse Program.

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