Natural horsemanship or training?

Well another user posted this video: YouTube - fsemonin's Channel

I watched it and its amazing!!
I wondered if anyone watched martin clunes horsepower programme yesterday on channel 3. It was also amazing and very fascinating!

There was a trainer on there.. french.. jean something (cant remeber sorry guys!) and he was doing things similar to the video above and its truly amazing.

Now what I was wondering is, is it natural horsemanship or is it just good training? (i.e. Circus horses can do most the things in above video, just because they are taught it and they learn it through repetition).

I havent explained it very well. Its named natural horsemanship because she's doing that with no bridle etc but isnt it just very very good training!

Im not saying its rubbish or anything because I think its amazing and id love to do it but I don't really class it as natural horsemanship.
Sure you gota have a bond but really its just good training, or is that what natural horsemanship is?

I'd love to get my horse like this but im not going in for the follwing methods(i.e Parelli/Monty Roberts/Clinton Anderson)- although they may be good, I can't afford all the stuff you apparently need and its not the only way to achieve results as the girls video above shows!!! ^^^

Like most these people seem to use a whip/baton as a sort of cue so surely its just training, meaning anyone can get there with a lot of work.
E.g Spanish walk can be taught on ground, and then progressed to under saddle so surely that's all bridleless riding is, using reins less and less then not at all then halter then no bridle) Or am I missing the point and you need to use natural horsemanship methods?

Hope everyone understands what im trying to say

Sarah

Natural horsemanship is training. It's considered the most natural and easiest way for a horse to learn.

I have no idea about natural horsemanship-REALLY want to learn more, but that video blew my mind!! BEAUTIFUL!!

I get that but I don't consider myself to use natural horsemanship training (I train how I always have) and with enough training I could get my horse to spanish walk, rear on command. Do you get me?

Im doing really bad at explaining myself sorry =/

Sarah, all methods that work are 'just training', regardless of the name they're given.

NH isn't new; it's merely common sense horse training put into a fancy package with glitter, rainbows, lots of promises, and high priced tools that you don't really need.

The roots of NH were written down by Xenophon, around 380 BC, I believe.

You don't need carrot sticks, 'special' halters, DVDs, or 'games'. What you do need if you plan to train your own animal, is a good working knowledge of horse behaviour and an ability to put common sense training into practice.

If you don't have that, then learn it from someone who does. DVDs, TV programs, and silly overpriced gear will not give you the skill sets you need in order to train a horse properly.

Its an amazing video isnt it

SpeedRacer has a VERY valid point. Natural Horsemanship is nothing more than gentle training methods using a horse's natural instincts to communicate with it. You can watch any of the NH gurus, and learn from them, just keep in mind that all of their equipment is not necessary. Your regular halter, lead or lunge line, and a lunging whip will work just fine. A round pen is not required, but useful. Use what you can from each trainer and forget about the rest. There is nothing wrong with improving your own training methods, and you never know you may find a simpler way of doing something.

Agreed 100%. ^I do much the same: watch and learn, taking what makes sense and using it. No law says that using John Doe's training methods require that you sign over all assets to Mr. Doe for X training DVD set and rope halter. All the BNT's tend to treat things as a business (as well they should... they are in business after all), and businesses that don't make money tend to fail on the free market. Not meaning to defend the exorbitant prices, but there you go. There are ways around it... just keep your eyes and ears open and be creative.

Inspiring video, but going back to the original question: NH = training = NH. It isn't that training is building a robot and NH is the Vulcan Mind-Meld for you and your horse... no matter what, you are still conditioning a response in the horse. Shoot, that applies whether you're formally "training" the horse or not.

Has the horse been trained? Yes. Has the horse been trained using Natural Horsemanship or other techniques? Natural Horsemanship. Yes, with enough training you could train a horse to do the Spanish Walk. It does not need to be through NH, but it's easier for the horse to understand that way.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this statement, equiniphile.

Any training, if done correctly and with the animal in mind, will be easy for the horse to understand.

NH doesn't have a patent on that, and any good horse person should know how to communicate effectively with their animal, regardless of the methods they're using.