I’ve been reading (and writing) a lot about the shift happening in today’s horse industry - from competitive goals to progress based on trust and respect, from dominance to partnership, from demanding our horses to perform for us to considering what they need from us. But I often wonder: is our notion of relationship-based horsemanship really as new or as revolutionary as we think?
For the last 5000 years or so, humans have used horses to plow fields and carry loads, to win wars and conquer continents. They were beasts of burden. They were means to an end. They were immensely useful. World history would look quite different without them. But did the people who used them appreciate them beyond their usefulness? Did they respect them as partners? Did they build relationships?
Cave paintings from the Stone Age show that humans found horses fascinating long before anyone thought to climb on their backs to get from point A to point B. I often wonder how this happened. Did people try to ride other large mammals, like sabre-tooth tigers or wooly mammoths, before settling on horses as the least lethal choice? Did the idea involve generous quantities of fermented beverage, a bet, a dare, or all three? We will never know, but one thing is certain: once people started riding horses, the practice spread like a brush fire and never stopped.
I’ve often wondered how long it took the early horseback riders to figure out that they could communicate with those powerful animals, directly, from body to body, from one species to another. Did they feel surprised? Did they pause and consider how remarkable this state of affairs really is? I remember, with great clarity, the moment when I realized, at age seven, that could feel the horse’s back talk to me through my seat bones. I remember, too, another lightbulb moment a little bit later, when it dawned on me that the conversation could go both ways. The sense of awe I felt then has never left me. Almost 50 years later, I still feel privileged to be on a horse’s back, to share that power, to merge our two bodies into one. I can’t imagine earlier generations of horsemen being oblivious to this feeling.
Art and literature suggest they weren’t. Horses and horsemanship have occupied a special position in paintings and sculpture through the ages. Horses inspired myths and legends, sacred texts, poetry and stories. Other beasts of burden have never experienced the kind of verbal reverence horses did, at least not in the Western tradition. Here is an example from Shakespeare’s Henry V:
“He bounds from the earth . . When I bestride him, I soar; I am a hawk; he trots the air. The earth sings when he touches it. The basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. . . . He is pure air and fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him. . . his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage.
No, I believe the unique relationship between horses and riders has always existed. The real shift we see now has two components:
One, horses are not a strictly necessary part of our civilization anymore. They still function as status symbols to some extent, but they are no longer useful for transportation or warfare in the sense they used to be. And yet, we continue to feel the fascination. We continue to want them in our lives, which forces us to think abut why. Horses are, in our modern society, an expensive indulgence, requiring large amounts of time, space, and money. There is nothing practical about having horses, or riding them. So, why do we, still, in spite of all the obstacles? The need for relationship is the only explanation that makes sense. We are free to focus on it, to reexamine it, to reimagine it.
Two, horsemanship is no longer the realm of men. For the last 40 years or so, women have been playing a progressively larger role in the horse industry. Today, women dominate. While I am reluctant to generalize, I find that, generally, women enjoy talking about relationships more than men do. The conversation is out in the open now. We discuss it, we argue about it, we define it, we analyze it. Today’s horse enthusiasts - even the men - don’t have to be embarrassed to admit this. No, horses are not puppies or toys. Emphasis on relationship does not mean we treat horses like fluffy lap dogs. Like any grown-up relationship, the horse-human bond takes time and effort to build and maintain. There will be misunderstandings, arguments, and moments of frustration along the way. But like any long-term partnership, it’s worth pursuing.
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