There is only one answer to the supply problem facing the horse world. We must create more riders who will increase the demand for 'surplus" horses. We believe that the best way to create more riders is to teach natural horsemanship to children. When I began teaching elementary school students the importance of advance and retreat, intense visual focus and desensitization, many people thought that the effort was bound to fail and likely to result only in injuries. Even worse, others thought that our successes could only be explained because I "had a special way with horses and children." I am not being modest when I insist that what we do is not brain surgery and anyone who knows natural horsemanship and understands kids can easily replicate our successes.
Now we will be spreading the word a little bit wider. We are working with others who care about kids and horses to develop a national steering committee to promote the teaching of natural horsemanship to young people. It can be done. It can be done safely. It can be done successfully. It IS being done in the picture above this post.
Ashley, age 13 at the time, demonstrating desensitization on a wild Corolla stallion at a clinic we did in October of 2007.
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