breaking the rules

Here at Eequine we say screw the rules! If it works for you and breaks no laws, is ethical to you and your horse then why not?

OK have you heard of Monty Roberts? What about Parelli? Intelligent horsemanship? Enlightened equitation? The BHS, you must of heard of them right? The list is endless, hey I even run a company where we travel the country teaching.

However here is the revelation. If there is only 1 correct way to ride, train, play with a horse and 1 wrong way, then how can there be so many options? The BHS is right and Parelli is wrong then where do all the other methods come into it. Intelligent horsemanship is correct and the BHS is wrong then why do we have so many options?

Confusing isnt it. The answer there is no right or wrong way to be with your horse. Now don’t get me wrong their is the laws that need to be obeyed and yes there is a right or wrong option here and animal welfare comes into play again a right or wrong answer there to. I am on about the majority of well respected training methods and techniques.

Fact

Did you know you mount your horse from the left side because soldiers has swords on their left leg so they couldn’t mount from the right?

We get told so often by kind hearted or not so kind hearted yard friends maybe  that we are doing things wrong because in their opinion we are. Yup read that again, the important word is opinion. We, myself included have worried about what we are doing with our horses and who sees us in case they think we are doing something wrong.Or maybe we have actually changed our training methods, and it might not even be in a positive way. You don’t agree with it, you don’t understand it but thats how its done right, so we change.

 

Well i have news for you. Some methods are hard, some methods are easy, some methods make you safer, some methods need skill and practice to accomplish, some just need a gadget. Whatever methods you use  its not wrong or its not right as long as your not breaking laws.

My questions

I ask myself the  questions, some of which are listed below when i am training my horses and looking on what tools to use from what training style.

  1. What do I want my horse to do?
  2. Is it ethical for me to ask this of him, taking into consideration his personality to?
  3. Does the training methods i want to use hurt him, emotionally or physical?
  4. Am i blocking my horses from understanding?
  5. If he dosent understand is there another way i can ask which he might understand?

I treat my horses as legged fury toddlers and each has their own personality just like we do. What works for one person might not work for another same for our horses.

The punch line

Whatever training methods, or tools you use as long as you can say hand on heart you are doing the best for your horse IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT OTHERS THINK. If thats different from your friends thats ok. Good friends they understand we all do things differently. If thats different to your instructor, find someone that does align with what you want. One lady told me she couldn’t ride a horse anymore because her knee was o damaged on the left hand side to get onto a horse. Getting on from the other side was going to break the rules. and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Enjoy your horses, have fun, stay safe and i will see you on the other side. And, screw the rules!

 

Check out some of our other great blogs

Why Hibi Scrub shouldnt be in your grooming box. 

How to use spikey balls 

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