About Un-Natural Horsemaship

Un-Natural Horsemanship: We chose this name to be deliberately provocative.  It works because it is in our baseline human programming to notice things that exist outside established patterns.

At the point from which ourselves and the horse diverged from our common ancestors, our nervous system was the same.  The horse remains, for all intents and purposes, un changed from the original version.  Humans maintain the same mechanisms as well but our conscious minds allow us an infinitely large capacity to be our own source of salvation and that of others as well.  It is our aim to pursue a way of being with horses that allows both parties to embrace their innate gifts while allowing the other to help erode natural pre-dispositions that do not help us to feel good.  The horse can allow the human to shed the mindset of an apex predator and find the love of the moment while the human may be able to take conscious control of their own nervous system state in such a way as to provide the horse with a place of safety and quiet regardless of the present tangible circumstances.   This is the foundation of a truly cultivated symbiotic relationship between unlikely counterparts.  It is profoundly “un-natural”; and that’s what makes it work.

Un-Natural Horsemanship is not a method, doctrine, or school.  It is an Idea:  Both horse and human can be equally valued and worthy parts of a balanced partnership.   Our highest goal is to find a good feeling for ourselves and for our horses.  Beyond that, it can be fun to see how far we can carry it together.   We use our human ability to study everything we can and try to make sure we believe our horses when they tell us the truth about our theories.  We hold with great confidence that horses wish to be Centaurs as much as we do and that they need not give up any of their brilliance to do so.  We strive to honor the minds, hearts and bodies of both ourselves and our equine companions to the best of our ability and we wish to help ourselves and others find a way of existing with and without horses that negates the need for a set of orchestrated steps to achieve a pre-determined out-come.  When the “how” we do everything leads us to a good feeling, the “what” we do just seems to show up.