Nature Connection

During the first year that we started using natural horse training methods, we began noticing that it was having an unexpected effect on wildlife in and around the paddock.  Animals that were very shy like fox, deer and wild turkey were becoming more visible.

In the second year, during the early summer, a litter of fox starting visiting the paddock daily.  When we would take the horses into the round pen for grooming the foxes would appear.  The kits would come into the round pen and lie down about 10 feet from where we were.  They would just watch as we stroked the horse.  Then we noticed that the whitetail deer and the wild turkeys were coming close to the paddock and staying nearby.  Normally they would flee at the sight of humans.

I realized that the habits that I had learned from studying the nature of the horse were having the same effect on wild animals as they did on horses.  When you learn to use body language and the control of your emotional and physical energy to communicate with horses it transfers to other animals.  When you learn to read the body language of horses you can learn to read the body language of other animals and they recognize the understanding.  Just as you build confidence and trust with your horse you can build confidence and trust with other animals.  Learning to be a partner with your horse is a gateway to connecting with a wide range of the creatures of the natural world.