Andrew-Glyn Smail

Being Humans for Horses Andrew-Glyn Smail

The knowledge that humans have of horses is impressively extensive, if the number of books, magazines, research papers, websites, audio-visual documentaries and films is anything to go by, not to mention the reflection of humans' understanding and imagination of the horse in our culture and the arts. Yet, if we are utterly honest with ourselves, when we examine the way in which we keep, use, relate to and interact with horses, the bulk of the available evidence reveals a profound ignorance on our part of the intrinsic nature of the horse. An understanding of the intrinsic nature of the horse points to the opportunity to employ a completely new paradigm in our approach to the horse, one based on choice rather than control, connection instead of coercion, and communication as opposed to conditioning. In all of this energy is the key. It is an approach which appeals to the growing tide of humans around the world who are searching for a new way of being with horses, one that is more in tune with their needs and requirements as equines, which also contributes to their psychological and emotional well-being, and which facilitates understanding and trust between the species. This is not some pie-in-the-sky, air-fairy fantasy. Rather, it is a reality that I now experience with my own horses without tools of restraint, instruments of coercion and conscious training. And it is a dream that any human can live if they are really committed to doing so. Such a path to the horse is open to all of us. It is a simple one to take and allows us to discover the power of being with horses. Humans for horses, is it not time to be fully human ... for them, for ourselves?