Simple And Easy Are Not The Same

Since last last Saturday, Snow has continued to amaze me..day before yesterday we took our first ride in the woods alone together..this is a huge deal for a horse..for her to have enough confidence and trust in me to let me ride her away from the herd and out amongst all the predators...the next day we started riding solo around and empty pasture..almost as if it were an arena..the first day was, you can go as fast or as slow as you like, but you must go the direction I want...that ended us up trotting, cantering, and loping in big figure eights..today we went the direction I want, and the speed I want, stopped when I want. Just like the fellow in Bull Durham said, "it is a simple game, you throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch the ball." She is one heck of a horse... 



Posted by Anonymous to Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views at July 18, 2013 at 9:25 PM

The commment above is Lloyd's note on his time workng with Snow on Her. Lloyd does a great job with the horses. It is very important to understand that Lloyd is not someone with years of natural horsemanship experience. It is also important to understand that Lloyd is willing to read the hard works, like Dorrence, and that he is not afraid of the horses.

Most importantly, one must understand that Lloyd has worked hard to understand the concepts that are the underpinning of natural horsemanship. He has no obession with rules, or the dogma and doctrine preached by those who make a fortune telling people that to be successfull with horses they must closely follow the exact techniques that the particular clinician sells.

When a clinician shapes his explantion of the concepts that are the underpinning of natural horsemanship to fit the mold of the product that he is selling, he does horses a tremendous disservice. When he replaces what is real with what he can sell best, no one benefits.

Here is what is real. In a very short time Lloyd has become a tremendously effective starter of colts and inexperienced horses. He is not unique in this regard. I have seen it happen with many others at the horse lot, Rebecca being the best example.

A horse is not a seven course meal and a training program should not read like a cook book. Natural horsemanship is simple. The concepts are simple. It's application is simple.

But simple does not mean easy. It takes dedication, desire and work to learn to apply these simple techniques. In most horse cultures thoughout history the job of starting colts was primarily the work of kids. That says a lot about the task of colt starting.

But when one replaces basic concepts with complex dogma and doctrine one does little but to exclude people from entry into the world of natural horsemanship. When one redefines success with horses as being able to create a creature that can do a particular set of tricks,one  seals the exclusion even tighter.

Jed Clampett explained that the way he carved such a beautiful wooden figure of Granny was that he started with his knife and a piece of wood and then cut off all the wood that did not look like Granny.

Wonder how much Jed had to pay for in videos, books, equipment, and memberships to learn that?