Unnatural Horsemanship

EoR tries to tell it like it is. He does a good job of identifying the malarky associated with Natural Horsemanship. This is a series of six pieces that expose brand-name Natural Horsemanship for what it really is.

From part 2: Unnatural Horsemanship 2

There's also that magic word "natural". This is a code word that marketing executives love. It makes people suddenly come over all touchy-feely and lose their cognitive faculties. It's like holistic, organic, fat-free and alternative. None of those really mean anything, and they all define themselves against what they are not rather than what they are (and therefore sell products and therapies by attacking the opposition rather than selling themselves directly). They also engender FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) which is so beloved of the politician and the marketing executive. "I never realised that the way I was riding my horses was cruel", "How could I have ridden all these years without really communicating with my horse?", "I'm such a poor rider who knows nothing. Oh, please save me mighty guru of horseness!".

Here are the links to the whole series:

Part 1
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI

The bottom line is that it's not about Horsemanship, it's about marketing. I think its incredibly destructive to a persons self confidence (by design) and feel that only now, after being drug down by it for a couple of years, I see it for what it really is.

Learning horsemanship is a good thing. Don't get me wrong. Its just brand name horseman ship that's really got my goat. I like working with people like Paul Dufresne, Ron Breines, and Clay Wright. They aren't focused on selling themselves, they are focused on good horsemanship.

Yrs,
JRW