Normal Patterns

No matter how foreign the equine mind may seem to us humans, one simple fact makes training it possible.

Colorado horseman John Lyons is one of America's most popular teachers of horsemanship. He explains why it is possible for us to train a species so very different from our own.

"Horses do normal things for horses. For an example, they don't chase down lions, kill them, and eat them. And so because they live within a certain pattern of behavior, that allows us to know what's going to happen, how the horse is going to respond. Basically there should be no surprises." 

Of course, we do need to educate ourselves about how a horse thinks and lives before we can know what constitutes his normal behavior. Fortunately, the horse industry is one of America's largest, and it is brimming with resources to help us understand the horse and successfully develop a relationship with him.