Spirit Stone Ranch

Owning a horse is a huge responsibility.  Apart from the care required, food , shelter, vet care, fresh water, and love and attention... its the owners obligation to learn all they can about horsemanship.  This will insure a positive outcome with their horse.  All of us start out with dreams of a fairytale relationship with a beautiful horse that does exactly what we want ... and still loves us!

Sadly the majority of the time this is not the case.  if the horse does not see you as their leader, they take over leadership.  This is a horses NATURAL INSTINCT.  When this happens the handler/rider is quite unsafe, leading to a frustrating, scary experience.... or a possible accident.  It has been said that up to 70% of new horse owners sell their horse within the first year of ownership.  If we only looked at it from the horse's point of view and learned effective communication skills, more dreams could be fullfilled....

On a personal note....when I purchased my mares, I found out very quickly, that what I thought I knew about horses wasen't working with green, untrained, young horses!!!!  The first book I bought on Horsemanship was Craig Cameron's Ride Smart.  Thanks to him, I managed to not get myself killed, and started the Mares.  I recently picked up his book again and read a definition of horsemanship that Craig had written ...

"In every phase of horsemanship~on the ground or in the saddle~you have a relationship with your horse.  Whether it's any good or not depends on you, not your horse.  It's up to YOU to build a solid, working partnership.  Your horse isn't going to do it for you.

I've always said that the horse is perfect for what it is and that's a horse. He doesn't have to do or change anything.  In perfecting our relationship with him, we, as humans, must understand the animal's nature and mechanics and present ourselves to the horse in a way he can comprehend.

 Realize that horsemanship is all about working on yourself, not so much working on the horse.  The horse is a rhythmical, balanced, patient, trusting and consistent animal.  It's YOU who needs to develop feel, timing, rhythm, balance, patience, consistency and understanding"   

pg 37,38 of Ride Smart.

If you are interested in More information on Natural Horsemanship and Horse Care check out these sites:

www.canadiannaturalhorsemanship.com

www.justhorsingaround.ca

www.lazymcanada.com

http://www.markrashid.com/

http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com/

http://www.juliegoodnight.com/

http://www.craigcameron.com/

http://www.ultimatesaddlesolutions.com/

http://www.hoofrehab.com/

http://www.chris-cox.com/