Suggest a natural horsemanship trainer I can sign up to for a short while please

J

Jambarissa

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I did loads of NH back in the 90s when it was all books and courses. Served me very well over the years when I had 'challenging' horses.

Now I have 3 good horses without obvious issues but actually I'm realising not that much connection because I've never really had to spend time working with them. I fancy a bit of inspiration for groundwork to keep us busy over winter and get a bit more of a relationship.

Ive had a quick search and see that I can sign up to various trainers for maybe up to £25 a month without a tie in. Who would be good for a bit of food for thought and inspiration?
 
Not heard of him, thank you.

I'm currently on free trial of Joe Midgley who seems to have decent videos but a lot look very familiar so I must have had access at some point.
 
I recommend WeHorse as giving a good value catalogue of useful videos, from where you might then choose to go down one particular path. I found it really helpful for expanding my horizons a bit
www.wehorse.com

wehorse - The Online Riding Academy

Unleash your equestrian potential with our Digital Riding Coach! Access 150+ unique online courses led by world-class experts like Ingrid Klimke and learn from Olympic champions.
www.wehorse.com www.wehorse.com
 
Dressage tv is an interesting option. Not NH but ride with your mind, however all the groundwork is aimed at being compatible with ridden work.
A month of dressage tv (£17 I think) would influence and, I think make NH more effective for ridden work.
 
I was taught to ride by Mark Rashid.
Mostly spectating his clinics, the first in 2005. But eventually going to Colorado with OH and riding his horse. These days I do subscribe to his videos but rarely remember to watch. Someone once said that watching Rashid work with a horse was like watching paint dry and I fear that may be true.
I made full notes at the clinics I watched, at the request of a riding friend who had recommended I watched him. My notes for her describe problems he solved with 8 riders on day one and notes on the same riders on the second day.

I am willing to share these notes via email but should point out that I was an older beginner. I had read Rashid's books and believed in him completely. So after his clinic that January, I went home and did exactly as he said. He later told me that very few people did that - because more experienced riders had all sort of knowledge that may be got in the way.

Secondly I should emphasise that I used Mark's instructions as they were years ago when I first watched him. He later became interested in martial arts and other theories of movement which did not appeal to me. His ways changed but he reassured me not to abandon the things he had taught me that worked for me.

Thus a lot of his advice remains central to the way I ride and it eventually enabled me to canter very easily which I noticed many people who rode at his clinics could not.

His first teaching which ttrsnsformed my own riding was that horses do not have a vocabulary to name their paces, but they do know the beat of each gait: 4 times beat in walk, two times in trot, zero in halt and three times beat in canter.
He taught riders to count the beat, feel it through their seat, relax and breathe in time to it.
He then suggested that by raising or lowering your energy level and altering the beat in ones mind, one could get the horse to transition up and down.

I ride RS horses or shares and for safety's sake many of them are taught not to transition up without a physical cue with the leg. Similarly the RS horses I ride are unlikely to continue in canter without a touch of the leg at each stride, but it is just a tiny touch which I back up with words, saying Yes Canter, or No, trit trot. Do note that words can be a help to an RS horse but may not be used in dressage.

Mark is very safety conscious and when we rode with him in Colorado I dont think he realised I could canter. Indeed, I had never cantered in a Western saddle. My great memory is of riding this safe cow pony, driving cattle ahead of us and one cow broke away, My pony responded immediately to my ask from walk to canter, circling beyond the errant cow and herding it back to the group. And, clearly amazed, Mark shouted "Atta girl!"

When he next came to UK, he solved my problem with reins and told me that I was a new experience for him. I had taken his advice very seriously and put it all into use and no one had ever done that before.

Unlike his clientele who rode their own horses, I had done it on RS ponies who were ridden by many different people using conventional cues. This was new to him, although not quite the whole picture because my main lesson horse and first share was classically trained and understood what we described as "thought" transitions.

I dont think it can ever quite be settled whether horses adapt to different riders or whether we riders adapt to different horses. But my two shares have become so similar under my seat that I sometimes mistakenly address my current share by the name of the very similar mare I rode 20 years ago.
 
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