Natural horsemanship taught at RS in Essex?

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emm

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Apr 18, 2005
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I am trying to find out if there are any RS in Essex that teach methods other than BHS. What I mean is that teach riding from the horses point of view. Not the traditional kick and pull method, where the horse is usually blamed for shortcomings.

If anyone knows of somewhere in Essex where the teaching leans towards natural horsemanship then please could they let me know.

Thankyou
 
Probably worth trying Pied Horse near Chelmsford -they do have a fairly low weight limit of 11 stone though :-(
 
My local RS (Northwest) is totally 'push, pull & blame the horse'.
Comments to illustrate (from the lead RI):
"He was a sod to catch this morning so give him hell this lesson"
"Kick him KICK him, get the bl00dy thing going"
"Get him on a contact. Pull his teeth out if you have to!"
"He's taking the mickey. (when spooking in a corner) Give him a whack" etc etc etc etc etc etc

The 3 others I tried were the same. I came to the conclusion that this was the BHS or 'Traditional' way. I've since learnt that there are good BHS schools that do NOT ride or handle horses as described above. So it might be worth exploring all options, not just 'NH' ones. If you can find a yard that has liveries (as horse owners tend to think about things more from the horse's point of view), hosts demos, runs the BHS stages or is an exam centre etc etc you are unlikely to find the awful horsemanship that goes on in some (many? most????) Riding Schools. Alternatively you can avoid riding schools altogether and go freelance. Some RI's will teach on their own horses. (I used to have lunge lessons on a grand prix dressage horse!. Sitting trot for half an hour. OUCH) Good luck.
 
emm said:
I am trying to find out if there are any RS in Essex that teach methods other than BHS. What I mean is that teach riding from the horses point of view. Not the traditional kick and pull method, where the horse is usually blamed for shortcomings.
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That is not the 'BHS' way. That is BAD RIDING. :mad:
IMO it takes a helluva lot to beat a good BHS instructor. Before you write it off completely, I'd advise you to go round some more BHS yards and watch a variety of lessons. If you still want to learn the NH way, make sure that you find one that isn't so concerned about 'the horse's point of view' that they forget to teach you to be an effective, balanced and correct rider.
 
alwaysfallingof said:
If you still want to learn the NH way, make sure that you find one that isn't so concerned about 'the horse's point of view' that they forget to teach you to be an effective, balanced and correct rider.
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To me the 2 go hand-in-hand. I imagine my horse would prefer me to ride in a way that is bio-mechanically easiest for him - ie balanced - and to be consistent & clear in my aids so he knows what I want - ie effective and correct.
 
alwaysfallingof said:
That is not the 'BHS' way. That is BAD RIDING. :mad:
IMO it takes a helluva lot to beat a good BHS instructor. Before you write it off completely, I'd advise you to go round some more BHS yards and watch a variety of lessons. If you still want to learn the NH way, make sure that you find one that isn't so concerned about 'the horse's point of view' that they forget to teach you to be an effective, balanced and correct rider.
Click to expand...

I absolutely and totally agree with you - principles of BHS are the same as a lot of NH methods anyway (negative reinforcement - pressure-release) it's just that BHS way is often badly applied. however there are some WONDERFUL BHS teachers who really make the effort to make things work smoothly. Personally i find that instructors who are into 'classical riding' tend to be more based in working in harmony wiht the horse. But i totally agree that you should watch a lot of lessons.

I've never heard of any NH riding schools or anything, interestingly (opening in the market there!).
 
Krissie I said:
To me the 2 go hand-in-hand. I imagine my horse would prefer me to ride in a way that is bio-mechanically easiest for him - ie balanced - and to be consistent & clear in my aids so he knows what I want - ie effective and correct.
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Ideally yes. However, in my experience in the same way that bad BHS instructors are likely to teach you to kick and pull your reins harshly, bad NH instructors are likely to think that being kind=sloppy riding and that your position doesn't matter as long as you're riding in a rope halter.
Each school of thought has its good and bad instructors - its a mistake to assume that someone's views coincide with your own just because they label themselves 'NH'.
 
alwaysfallingof said:
Each school of thought has its good and bad instructors - its a mistake to assume that someone's views coincide with your own just because they label themselves 'NH'.
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Totally agree! I think I tried to get that across in my original reply to OP but didn't manage to say it as clearly as you.

There are so many definitions of nh that I have no idea what the term even means anymore.... I stopped using the phrase nh a while back, because even though I knew what I meant when I said nh, no-one else necessarily meant the same thing so debates went nowhere. :rolleyes:
 
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