Natural Horsemanship

Roseanne

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Apr 27, 2003
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How do any of you deal with the arrogance and superior attitude of those who don't accept the different approaches of I.H. and N.H. advocates, even if it works for you and your horse?

Do you just ignore their attitudes, or challenge them, and do you feel they don't really understand why you are not following a traditional approach to a problem because they are biased traditionalists, or do they have a point?

Personally, I think there is a great deal to be had from both tradition, and innovation, but I dislike that "if it aint broke don't try to fix it" mentality, or civilisation would never have moved on, and we'd all still be living in caves!

Yes I know there is a lot of evil in the world in spite of the fact that humans are supposed to be of superior intellect, but nevertheless, I still think an inflexible attitude about anything can also be problematic, not to say destructive.

Just my personal opinion tho.

Roseanne
 
How do any of you deal with the arrogance and superior attitude of those who don't accept the different approaches of I.H. and N.H. advocates, even if it works for you and your horse?

I don't. I know what works for us and will talk about my opinions if I'm asked but apart from that I get on with what I'm doing and ignore those who haven't got a good word to say or are plain rude. I do clicker so have the additional attitude of 'I don't want to bribe my horse to do things' towards our training :p :D

I don't find that attitude is just from traditionalists though, there are open minded traditionalists just as there are narrow minded 'nh' followers. I had an excellent first instructor who is strictly BHS and very traditional, I don't agree with everything that she does now but I would trust Saff with her 110% as I know that she would never do anything detrimental to a horse. Conversely, I don't believe that being 'nh' necessarily makes you open minded ;)

I do try to look at other approaches even if I don't particularly agree with them, I even went to a Parelli clinic recently :eek:


Personally, I think there is a great deal to be had from both tradition, and innovation, but I dislike that "if it aint broke don't try to fix it" mentality, or civilisation would never have moved on, and we'd all still be living in caves!

I agree, I don't think that traditional is 'bad' by any stretch of the imagination, a lot is very good. Like anything it's often not practised as it's meant to be practised and that's where things go awry. I do classical riding, after all, which is very traditional :)

I also don't agree that 'if it's ain't broke don't fix it', if there's a better way then I want to know about it!
 
How do any of you deal with the arrogance and superior attitude of those who don't accept the different approaches of I.H. and N.H. advocates, even if it works for you and your horse?

Like the two ladies above, I smile, nod and ignore them for the most part. I'll talk if asked, but I've learned to stay off the topic of horsemanship. It's kind of like religion and politics; you just shouldn't go there with some people. If you do, test the waters lightly, away from the barn.

Yes I know there is a lot of evil in the world in spite of the fact that humans are supposed to be of superior intellect,

I don't think it's about good or evil, I think it's about change. Most people are resistant to change, it makes them uncomfortable. In their mind it isn't broke why should they fix it?
 
I came to horses in my mid thrities having had no previous equine experience but a decade of other animal training and handling. I have to admit I was somewhat astonished at the closed minded attitudes of some, by no means all, of those involved with horses. Things were done 'because that's the way it is'

I was on a livery yard where I felt I was always swimming against the tide, having to put up with sniping comments about what I was doing. I gave up trying to discuss anything reasonably with anyone because the most important lesson I learnt was you can't tell those who don't want to hear.
 
I'd take someone sniping at me as a compliment, it would mean that whatever I was doing differently was clearly threatening their firmly held assumptions. Other than that you just have to ignore it and get on with it, horses won't drink unless they're thirsty.
 
If someone chooses to not try and understand what I'm doing with Jay, or make a stupid comment like "I don't know how you ride him without a bit :rolleyes: " I just smile...and prove to them it's best by doing it in front of them :D.
 
do not let arrogance and ignorance effect you emotionally. greet every question with the respect it merits and ignore comments that are designed to ridicule and hurt.
true horse oriented people do not disregarded methods that work well and have no ill affect on the horses they love. no matter where they came from originally.
so smile safe in the knowledge that you are doing the right thing for you and your horse.

wishing you well. ts
 
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