Post by rideforever on May 13, 2016 1:31:56 GMT
www.equinelibertysports.com/blog/2014-the-chinese-year-of-the-horse-2014-the-dawn-of-the-age-of-the-horse/
← Go Back to Liberty Training
Liberty – Dawn of the Age of the Horse.
The horse was domesticated by man between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago. In the many millennia that followed, man has endeavored to harness the horse’s power, control the horse’s spirit, and live vicariously through the horse’s nature. Unfortunately, mastering the horse has often revealed, and even celebrated, the more primitive and aggressive nature of man.
When a horse is frightened or stressed, the horse’s preferred escape method is to flee the situation. In order to gain mastery over the horse, man has had to capture the animal, retain the animal, and sometimes overwhelm the animal. Which meant that the horse had to be contained within walls and fences to prevent escape, or tethered to the handler or rider through leather, ropes, chains and other metal. Sometimes the horse was even immobilized through ropes and hobbles.
Many horses fought this treatment, but many more horses submitted, cooperated, and learned to get along with this foreign species. Interestingly, in many instances, the horse forged a close relationship with the handler or the rider.
Throughout history, man has also attempted to understand the horse, sensing that knowledge of the horse’s nature would facilitate taming and exploiting the animal. Throughout many millennia, horse handlers, breakers, masters, whisperers, sorcerers, and individuals with special talents, invented techniques and methods about taming the horse based upon their interpretations of the nature of the horse.
But throughout all of this time, the horse has never truly been permitted to express how they felt about the methods. The horse has never been truly free to say: “I will be loyal to you if you show me these ideas,” “I will run far away from you when I see those ideas.” Man assumed that the horse was giving him everything the horse had… because the horse was giving man something. But was it truly everything? How could man possibly even know if the horse wasn’t free to express how they really felt?
It would be tempting to think that this broad stroke of the history of horsemanship lay firmly in the past, but in fact, in our modern times, the horse is still not given a voice. Man is still putting forth new interpretations of the horse’s nature to support man’s perspective on the horse. The ideas are still being filtered through the mind of man. The only difference, perhaps, is that recent mass communication has imbued modern interpretations on the nature of the horse with a might never before seen in the history of man’s association with the horse.
But all of this may be changing. We may actually be coming to the end of 6,000 years of subjugating the horse, of not giving the horse a voice and a say in the relationship. For reasons that are not yet known, horse owners everywhere are becoming fascinated by Liberty. For some, Liberty may be the newest frontier in horsemanship. More Likely, horse owners are sensing that there’s still more to know and experience with horses, and Liberty seems to point to it, tickle it, and sometimes even begin to reveal it.
Running with Bonito horizontal
Liberty has the power to change horsemanship forever, if we let it. Liberty has the power to cause a dramatic departure from 6,000 years of man trying to understand and harness the power of the horse. Because Liberty gives the horse freedom to choose. And in choosing, teach man what inspires them, and what doesn’t. What binds the horse to man, and what doesn’t. The horse can finally show man how they prefer to learn from us, and live with us. Liberty offers the horse a safe platform to express themselves without concern for repercussions. Liberty invites the horse to communicate with man in the best and the clearest way they know how… by staying or by leaving.
Moving forward, through Liberty, the horse can begin to influence and shape man’s relationship with them, as well as shape the future of horsemanship principles and practices. Moving forward, what we do with horses and how we approach them, may reflect what the horse shows us and teaches us. Moving forward, the horse may actually be able to influence the outcome for their species!
It is a bold statement, but Liberty may be ushering in an irrevocable and unshakable shift towards a new age for the horse. An age that is shaped more by the horse and less by man’s notions of the horse. An age where man and horse are co-creators in a partnership of equals. And while Liberty may serve as a catalyst for change, the impact may potentially be far-reaching. The insights may transform every endeavor, every discipline, and every activity that man is experiencing with the horse, now and well into the future.
Celebrate! You are living in and contributing to an incredible time in the evolution of man’s relationship with the horse.
← Go Back to Liberty Training
Liberty – Dawn of the Age of the Horse.
The horse was domesticated by man between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago. In the many millennia that followed, man has endeavored to harness the horse’s power, control the horse’s spirit, and live vicariously through the horse’s nature. Unfortunately, mastering the horse has often revealed, and even celebrated, the more primitive and aggressive nature of man.
When a horse is frightened or stressed, the horse’s preferred escape method is to flee the situation. In order to gain mastery over the horse, man has had to capture the animal, retain the animal, and sometimes overwhelm the animal. Which meant that the horse had to be contained within walls and fences to prevent escape, or tethered to the handler or rider through leather, ropes, chains and other metal. Sometimes the horse was even immobilized through ropes and hobbles.
Many horses fought this treatment, but many more horses submitted, cooperated, and learned to get along with this foreign species. Interestingly, in many instances, the horse forged a close relationship with the handler or the rider.
Throughout history, man has also attempted to understand the horse, sensing that knowledge of the horse’s nature would facilitate taming and exploiting the animal. Throughout many millennia, horse handlers, breakers, masters, whisperers, sorcerers, and individuals with special talents, invented techniques and methods about taming the horse based upon their interpretations of the nature of the horse.
But throughout all of this time, the horse has never truly been permitted to express how they felt about the methods. The horse has never been truly free to say: “I will be loyal to you if you show me these ideas,” “I will run far away from you when I see those ideas.” Man assumed that the horse was giving him everything the horse had… because the horse was giving man something. But was it truly everything? How could man possibly even know if the horse wasn’t free to express how they really felt?
It would be tempting to think that this broad stroke of the history of horsemanship lay firmly in the past, but in fact, in our modern times, the horse is still not given a voice. Man is still putting forth new interpretations of the horse’s nature to support man’s perspective on the horse. The ideas are still being filtered through the mind of man. The only difference, perhaps, is that recent mass communication has imbued modern interpretations on the nature of the horse with a might never before seen in the history of man’s association with the horse.
But all of this may be changing. We may actually be coming to the end of 6,000 years of subjugating the horse, of not giving the horse a voice and a say in the relationship. For reasons that are not yet known, horse owners everywhere are becoming fascinated by Liberty. For some, Liberty may be the newest frontier in horsemanship. More Likely, horse owners are sensing that there’s still more to know and experience with horses, and Liberty seems to point to it, tickle it, and sometimes even begin to reveal it.
Running with Bonito horizontal
Liberty has the power to change horsemanship forever, if we let it. Liberty has the power to cause a dramatic departure from 6,000 years of man trying to understand and harness the power of the horse. Because Liberty gives the horse freedom to choose. And in choosing, teach man what inspires them, and what doesn’t. What binds the horse to man, and what doesn’t. The horse can finally show man how they prefer to learn from us, and live with us. Liberty offers the horse a safe platform to express themselves without concern for repercussions. Liberty invites the horse to communicate with man in the best and the clearest way they know how… by staying or by leaving.
Moving forward, through Liberty, the horse can begin to influence and shape man’s relationship with them, as well as shape the future of horsemanship principles and practices. Moving forward, what we do with horses and how we approach them, may reflect what the horse shows us and teaches us. Moving forward, the horse may actually be able to influence the outcome for their species!
It is a bold statement, but Liberty may be ushering in an irrevocable and unshakable shift towards a new age for the horse. An age that is shaped more by the horse and less by man’s notions of the horse. An age where man and horse are co-creators in a partnership of equals. And while Liberty may serve as a catalyst for change, the impact may potentially be far-reaching. The insights may transform every endeavor, every discipline, and every activity that man is experiencing with the horse, now and well into the future.
Celebrate! You are living in and contributing to an incredible time in the evolution of man’s relationship with the horse.
