Friendship Vs. Leadership

Finding a balance between friendship and leadership is one of the biggest challenges in building a relationship with a horse.  When we run into road blocks along the path to an authentic relationship, we are tested in how we go about working our way around those road blocks.  This is perhaps one of the biggest reasons a horse can pull so much out of our personalities.  Each individual horse requires a different balance between friendship and leadership, and this is something we can always keep in mind when advancing our horses to the next level.

On the friendship side of the equation, we are focused on trust and relaxation.  This is important due to the prey animal nature of a horse.  Their first instinct is to run from anything they are wary of, so we must coach them to understand that they don't have to be afraid of us or the environments we ask them to be relaxed in, such as a new arena, or new trail.  In horsemanship, understanding how to use the Flexion System of a horse is a key part in building a friendship with a horse.  Knowing strategies like Approach and Retreat can allow the horse to learn to trust us, which is the ultimate element of friendship.  Without trust, the horse cannot relax and have a desire to be with us.

Leadership is quite often the more challenging aspect of a balanced relationship with a horse.  Knowing how to establish healthy discipline and obedience is not always an easy task.  We must push ourselves to offer the required leadership without mixing in feelings of frustration or anger.  Typically, the most effective way to accomplish this is thru the use of trial and error.  If we allow the horse to have more than one choice in any given situation, and help the horse find the correct choice, then ultimately, they will view our leadership as a good thing.  If we can develop enough timing and feel so that a horse concludes it is coming to the correct answers somewhat on their own terms, then we can begin to neutralize ourselves in the equation, therefore minimizing stress and confusion while a horse learns to find healthy boundaries within the relationship.

Self Development is critical on our end if we are ultimately going to have the ability to have a true balance between friendship and leadership with our horse.  We must push ourselves to learn the knowledge we need to have in order to understand what we must change about ourselves so that we can coach our horse to the best that they as an individual can be.

Our latest E-Book, "Self Development", can be downloaded here for free.  It is an in depth look at how we can improve ourselves and our horsemanship abilities.  In horsemanship, we are always striving to see the horse's perspective as much as possible.  Before we can do that, we have to gain perspective on the improvements we can make ourselves.  Then we will have the presence of mind to stay aware of what our horse is feeling and experiencing.

To download the free E-Book, click here:

Cooler Horsemanship E-Book Volume 2, "Self Development"

We want to thank you for taking the time to read our blog, and we hope to see you down the road!