The most important part of your horsemanship journey is the connection you make with your horse.

I'm going to say that again. The most important part is the connection.

Most horses encounter humans, and it's a take-take-take relationship from the beginning. Every experience is founded on what the horse does for the human. Every task advances to the next and never lets up until the horse is a perfect servant. Horses that balk at this idea are called "dangerous." Horses that don't balk, don't fight, don't ask questions—they're called "good horses."

In a world that celebrates freedom of expression, the horse is often left behind. Relegated to an older world. A world of compliance. I'm a horse trainer by trade and a professional. I get paid to help horses adapt to the human world and help humans understand the inside of a horse. And the most helpful peace I can give to humans is to rewrite the quote from Winston Churchill. He said...

"The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man."

I write it like this...

"The inside of a horse is good for the inside of a man."

It's the spirit that we need to learn to appreciate and work with—not just the body.

Our world is slowly accepting this new way, but it's still got some ground to cover. I still see people—even natural horse people—going straight to saddling and riding. Straight to training mode, bypassing the connection, the desire to just be together.

The article title speaks to a simple model of connection work with a horse. Instead of take-take-take, its touch, touch, treat. I invite a connection, my horse reaches for me, touches me, then I reach and touch her. By following this model, I get a beautiful connection. I reward and reinforce this connection throughout every training session. By doing so, I never bypass the most important part of the journey—a heart-to-heart appreciation for each other.

Here's a video to show the premise, the first time connection with a new horse named Blue. Click here for the video

Thanks for reading,
​Don Jessop