I have mixed feelings about the Road to the Horse colt-starting competition. On the one hand, it’s supposedly designed to promote gentle starting techniques and to show that force isn’t necessary to be effective. It’s been very successful in giving large audiences a taste of NH techniques. On the other hand, that seems like a very short amount of time and a huge amount of pressure for those young horses, and I wonder if that doesn’t come out somewhere down the line in their training. It would be interesting to see follow up on the horses that have been started in prior years.
At any rate, Chris Cox won for the second year in a row. I first saw Chris Cox at the Western States Horse Expo in 2006, and I wasn’t really wowed by him at the time. He had just come off of a major injury and now that I’ve seen a lot more of his work, I think he really wasn’t at his best that year. (In the video, Chris is talking but he has an assistant working with the horse because Chris was still on crutches.)
After seeing more of his training techniques, I’ve come to really like the way he works and his no-fuss, no-nonsense way of dealing with training issues. I saw an episode of his on RFD-TV where he worked with a high-level showjumper, and not only did he effectively deal with some of the horse’s issues (bracing, rushing the jumps), he also looked pretty good jumping. I really admire a trainer who comes from one background (Western, in his case) and can effectively transfer his knowledge to other disciplines. With Chris, it’s obvious that he also admires and enjoys seeing horses working well regardless of their discipline. That, to me, is the mark of a horseman. (He’ll be back at the WSHE this year, and I’m excited to see him. Jane Savoie, too!)
I’d be very interested in other people’s opinions about the Road to the Horse. Is it too much, too soon, or is it a great way to get the NH message out there? Or both?
It is hard for me to comment on Road to the Horse since I don’t know anything about it. I checked out the site and think I get the general idea. While I like Natural Horsemanship, I don’t think that any one way of training a horse should be the only way no matter if it is the latest method being used, by this I mean that each horse should be taken as an individual,whether they be young or older and worked with in a kind, consistent manner that will benefit where they are at the moment physically and mentally. So while I don’t prescribe to the all the newest fads, if the horses in these shows worked with by these NH clinicians are doing well and showing no signs of stress they must be using this particular method on the right horses. On the other hand I think all young horses should be taken along slowly at their own pace. So in fact I don’t know where exactly I stand on this and have probably just alienated all Natural Horsemanship people.
GHM,
I totally agree with you that no one way of training is the holy grail. Even within the NH movement there are significant differences that people tend to gloss over. My issue with the Road to the Horse and other colt-starting competitions is that each horse has a different pace and learning time frame, and I wonder if they get pushed past that in some instances because of the nature of the competition. I don’t know that that happens – I just wonder.
Thanks for your input. Your experience counts for a lot in my book. And any NH person worth their salt will get what you’re saying here.