Natural Horsemanship

Written by James Cooler

orsemanship presents a lot of challenges. For some, this is one of the biggest draws. For others, this is the number one thing that keeps them from choosing to participate. One of the biggest challenges that I keep coming back to as I learn and grow is that horsemanship is a direct mirror of how you are handling everything else in your life. For me, other than the connection that can be established with horses, this is what draws me into horsemanship.

It’s easy to get lost in the number of qualities a person needs to develop in order to become a master horseman. What’s interesting to me is that once you master these qualities in horsemanship, you have likely mastered that quality in all other aspects of life. For example, leadership is an extremely necessary quality for a master horseman. Now, there are a lot of categories that leadership could be broken down into, but for now we’ll stick with leadership as a whole for our example.

To keep things simple, when it comes to humans and horses; humans, for the most part, want the horse to obey all of our commands. In order for this to happen, we have two different paths we can choose. Being a leader or being a boss. This same decision can be made in many other relationships in life, such as with employees, spouses, kids, friends, etc. The difference between being a leader and being a boss is the actions you take in order to get people or animals to follow your commands and requests. If you’ve ever had a job you didn’t really like, odds are you were working for a boss. Bosses tend to look for the negative and let you know about every mistake you make. Rarely do they mention the positive. Leaders, however, look for the positive. They encourage you, and show appreciation for your efforts, even when you make a mistake. Bosses see mistakes as a chance to point out your incompetence. Leaders see mistakes as an opportunity to teach and help an individual, human or animal, grow and become a stronger part of the team. We can sum it up in the saying we’ve all heard before, “Quit bossin’ me around, would ya!”

Again, there are so many different aspects to the true path of horsemanship. So many that it takes a lifetime to master them. At this point in my journey, however, there are two indisputable things I have learned, and hope to share with others. First, the quality of my horsemanship is a direct reflection of the quality of my life. And secondly, the type of leader I am for my horses is very similar to the type of leader I am for everyone else in my life.

I know that a lot of the folks who read these articles probably don’t own horses and probably don’t know a lot about horsemanship. That’s okay. Horsemanship means nothing more than a relationship between horse and human. If you don’t own horses, I encourage you to look at the quality of relationships you do have in your life - kids, spouses, pets, employees and clients. The list could go on and on. Take a close look, and ask yourself, are you being a leader in these relationships, and choosing to focus on the positive to help the person or animal learn from their mistakes? Or are you just bossin’ everyone around? It’s a tough question to ask, I know. The answer often exposes truths we prefer not to acknowledge. I’ve been there a time or two before. That’s okay as well. It’s not about whether or not you are doing the right thing. It’s about accepting the opportunity to learn and become a better person for all those you have a relationship with. That, for me, has been the biggest lesson in horsemanship so far. As I continue to grow and learn, I hope that I am able to share some of these lessons in a way that will help many others learn and grow as well. Until next month, I hope you find these words uplifting and encouraging. Maybe something you would hear from a leader, and not a boss.

To learn more about Cooler Horsemanship, please visit www.coolerhorsemanship.com and visit the Cooler Horsemanship Online Library. Thanks for your time, and we wish you happy trails wherever you are!