09/07/2025
Natural Horsemanship Training Myth Bust
𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝘀 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲?
I am a qualified horse behaviourist and a Full member of the APBC and registered ABTC CAB . Behaviourist is NOT a protected title unlike veterinary surgeon which is. This means that literally anyone can say they are a behaviourist regardless of qualifications or experience unlike your vet who is highly regulated. However, a qualified behaviourist or behaviour professional is bound by a code of ethics and a code of conduct. Their knowledge and understanding and practical skills have been rigorously assessed.
Qualified behaviour professionals use a biopsychosocial approach and formulation to understand your horse in the context of their life history and relationships . Behaviour is multifaceted and a multidisciplinary approach is required .
They support horses and people by taking a thorough history and background of how the behaviour developed but do not need to see the horse display the behaviour. We believe you and your description. Then we support caregivers to understand horse ethology ( the natural behaviour of horses ) and how this applies to our domesticated horses (applied ethology) as well as helping you to manage and resolve any difficulties you are having using evidence-based psychological approaches such as systematic desensitisation and/or counter -conditioning , titration and pendulation and positive reinforcement if required as well as enrichment etc .
The bedrock of supporting your horse is their well-being and welfare . Without this being in place nothing else will work. Most so called behaviour issues are welfare issues including those rooted in physical and emotional pain.
We work as part of your vet-led team . This is because many challenging behaviours horses show are linked to pain or medical cause. A recent study by Dr Sue Dyson found that as many as 47% of ridden horses showing unwanted behaviours were experiencing pain and in another study by Professor Daniel Mills showed that approximately 75% of dogs and cats presenting with a behaviour issue were in pain or suffering from a medical issue of some form.
Some techniques employed by Natural Horsemanship trainers or unqualified behaviour professionals have the potential to cause harm to your horse or to suppress the behaviour which fail to address root cause and your horse’s physical , emotional and social needs . This is not about the individuals doing the training but about the inherent well-being risks in these out-dated techniques . That being said as behaviour professionals it is our responsibility to evolve with the science and update how we work when new information is presented . We owe this to horses and our clients !!
𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁 ! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆?
I have thought long and hard about sharing this here, but I will because access to good information and where to find it is more challenging to come by than I realised. The goal should always be when we know better we do better.
The journal articles below highlight a lot of the issues around join-up and similar practices. It doesn’t matter that supposedly MR and other NH proponents paved the way for awareness of behaviour or a “kinder way “ ( this is not a kinder way it is aggressively applied negative reinforcement and/or punishment nothing more and nothing less) .
These methods are now out of date and do more harm than they ever do good. Before someone jumps on me I’m not referring to well-timed correctly applied negative reinforcement ( well timed minimally escalating negative reinforcement) but more specifically to join-up or other natural horsemanship type exercises.
They are also frequently used in Equine Assisted Services to teach “leadership”
and compassion often to people with trauma histories, which is problematic in itself and does not represent how to build healthy relationships with others. It could be re-traumatising. They certainly do not teach empathy for a horse or other animals or even other people !
Just because it works ( or appears to but again only by suppressing the behaviour or shutting down the horse) doesn’t mean it should be used.
If a method has been known to cause harm we have no business using it and why would we want to if there was a kinder and more ethical way? It is also not the round pen that is the problem, that is just an object which has no meaning to the horse unless we give it one, the same applies to whips or any other piece of equipment. We need to understand the meaning that exercises such as join up or equipment have to do the horse. Too often they cause fear, distress and even trauma.
The animal behaviour industry is entirely unregulated ANYBODY with zero qualifications or experience can call themselves a behaviourist ) and therein lies the issue many people who want nothing but the very best for their horses are misled and hell, trainers are also misled because they love horses and want to help them and are then provided with incorrect at best and harmful at worst information.
Often flowery language is used like connection or bond or authentic connection but these methods have absolutely nothing to do with affiliative behaviour and everything to do with agonistic behaviour but marketing machines are clever. I also will never understand how in the dog world people readily stand against the use of outdated practices and abusive equipment like e-collars, prongs and dominance theory but the horse world appears to continue to just accept these practices as normal or even to be worshipped and celebrated.
🐴🐶Full CAB, ABTC registered for horses and dogs, Family Dog Mediator. Supporting traumatised, fearful, phobic or complex horses and dogs and their families 📍South East WhatsApp 0776 331 7464
References
Campbell, A. (2022). An Evaluation of Parelli’s Training Methods. The IAABC JOURNAL. Retrieved January, 25, 2022.
DANIŞAN, S., & ÖZBEYAZ, C. (2021). The effect of the combination of various training methodologies in horse training on the learning performances of Arabian horses. Livestock Studies, 61(2), 66-76.
Fenner, K., Mclean, A. N., & McGreevy, P. D. (2019). Cutting to the chase: how round-pen, lunging, and high-speed liberty work may compromise horse welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 29, 88-94.
Fureix, C., Pagès, M., Bon, R., Lassalle, J. M., K***z, P., & Gonzalez, G. (2009). A preliminary study of the effects of handling type on horses’ emotional reactivity and the human-horse relationship. Behavioural processes, 82(2), 202-210.
Hartmann, E., Christensen, J. W., & McGreevy, P. D. (2017). Dominance and leadership: useful concepts in human–horse interactions?. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 52, 1-9.
Henshall, C., & McGreevy, P. D. (2014). The role of ethology in round pen horse training—A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 155, 1-11.
Henshall, C., Padalino, B., & McGreevy, P. (2012, July). The radio-controlled car as a herd leader? A preliminary study of escape and avoidance learning in a round pen. In Proceedings of the 8th International Equitation Science Conference, Edinburgh, UK (pp. 18-20).
Kieson, E., Goma, A. A., & Radi, M. (2023). Tend and Befriend in Horses: Partner Preferences, Lateralization, and Contextualization of Allogrooming in Two Socially Stable Herds of Quarter Horse Mares. Animals, 13(2), 225.
Kieson, E.; Sams, J. A Preliminary Investigation of Preferred Affiliative Interactions within and between Select Bonded Pairs of Horses: A First Look at Equine “ Love Languages ”. Int. J. Zool. Anim. Biol. 2021, 4, 000318.
Muller, P., Chrzanowska, A., & Pisula, W. (2016). A critical comment on the Monty Roberts interpretation of equine behavior. Psychology, 7(4), 480-487.
Rees, L., 2017. Horses in Company. The Crowood Press.
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