Mano Blog

_ [MISC] Natural Horsemanship

　　Before leaving the BayArea, I had class of horseback riding by Becky Hart who is the 3rd time champion of WEC (World Endurance Cup) at Horse Gate ranch this morning. This is the second time for me to have lessons from her.

　　Today I had class with natural horsemanship style which I have not experienced before. In the natural horsemanship we do not use typical reins. Not only the equipment, all of artificial aid that make pressure to horse are minimized.

　　To make a turn, at the corner I do not make a signal by legs. When I want to start the trot, I only put my legs to the horse with breathing out. Only as for 1/12 degrees, I twist the upper part of the body in the line without changing the center. And I can recognize that my center of gravity moves approximately only 1/2 inches on the saddle.

　　I think the basic concept of horsemanship is the same even if the name of the method is different. So it is really important that I have to keep the harmonization with horse to share the comfortable riding to both of human and horse.

　　I have been training with WingTempoo who is my house recently. He is so strong and his trotting is fast and not easy to collect the steps. The trotting speed of Angel who is the partner of today's lesson was not so fast. It is also a good experience for me to ride on a different horse in a different arena.

　　Honestly I did not expect to get such a big impressive lesson before. However, it is really my satisfaction to have this chance even if it is only 1 hour lesson.

　　After getting back to the apartment in Santa Clara, I had one meeting with my partner, then I left USA to Europe for the another project meeting.