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Savvy Lane Acres - Debbie Jacobson, Natural Horse Trainer

Clarke - Debbie - Sierra

Let’s Talk Natural Development:

I teach horse owners how to speak the horse's own language naturally; first on the ground, then in the saddle to achieve the best performance possible. Some people say, “I don’t want a relationship, I just want to ride”! Yes, riding is what we all want, but if horse owners could just understand that without the relationship, they will always fall short of their goals, however simple or complex those goals may be.

Think of your horse as your dance partner. Do you think you could win a competition if your partner didn’t trust you? Chances are you couldn’t even have a successful dance at a sock hop!

In the human world of bigger-better-faster, primarily thanks to technology, horses have not participated. Horses are the same creatures looking for safety, comfort, food & play that they were hundreds of years ago. Their needs are few, their hearts are big, their emotions run deep and their thoughts are the same as those of their ancestors. In other words, not much has changed for them except, perhaps, the physical structure due to selective breeding.

No matter what horse and sport you choose (that includes trail riding), if you want to have any level of success, it requires commitment, study and practice. However, with a horse, you are now dealing with another mind that has an entirely different set of thoughts and emotions. Unfortunately, this is something many horse owners tend to forget. Quite often, it is assumed by the human that just because a horse has seen that rock or other scary object just last week or even yesterday, he should no longer be afraid of it. Humans tend to forget how horses think. In the horse’s mind, the scary object could be a lion coming out of the bushes or perhaps a black bottomless hole to fall through. How many times have you heard “just kick him, make him go, show him who’s boss”? If you subscribe to such antiquated thinking, pushing your horse through or past the scary objects would be a breach of trust, a display of poor leadership, and the very reason your horse continues to spook at the same objects. You are not acknowledging the horse’s most innate fears and that will derail your leadership skills in your horse’s opinion.

Training/Developing a horse takes COMMITMENT. But you say, “it’s just my hobby, I just want to trail ride, I just want to do a little dressage or a little western pleasure or a little whatever, etc.”! Do you also plan to just get a little hurt if things go wrong? A horse is not a toy to be used only whenever you can squeeze him into your busy schedule. A horse is another thinking, feeling being who only speaks ONE language… “Horse”! “Horse” is something innately born into every one of them. What a frustrating world it must be for them when we humans come along and don’t speak their language. Instead we have devised tools to “make” them understand us. Just think how you would feel if you visited a foreign country and did not speak the language. What if the people in that country smacked you, yelled at you or even tied you up because you didn’t understand what they were saying. (I know I would kick, bite, buck and run!) That is what most horses go through every single day when the humans show up. So, if you want to give horses the respect and dignity they deserve by speaking THEIR language; get COMMITTED to learning it and prove to them you are the leader they desire! Don’t settle for less; after all, you don’t want to disappoint your horse, do you?

In my opinion, a lack of commitment is what causes most horses to be sold, given away or abused. So, before you blame or sell your horse, take a good look in the mirror. It’s human nature to want to blame the other guy rather than accepting blame. Wouldn’t it be great if instead, human nature could first see things from the other guy’s perspective? What a different world it would be, especially for horses.