HORSE TALK. Abi’s project on Natural Horsemanship & Lena

 

     Tin Tin with Abi.

 

Horse Talk

 

Most people think you control a horse by controlling its head. Traditionally, riders put a lead rope or a bridle on and use that to show the horse how they want him to behave and move. So how do you control a horse when you don’t use a lead rope or a bridle? Natural horsemanship is the way in which you and your horse bond without using bridles, whips and unnecessary items used in traditional riding. In other words, you are handling your horse in their natural environment.

Natural horsemanship expert Lena Driver

 

What she does

Lena Driver is a riding instructor at my riding school “Giddy up GG’s” in Digger’s Rest, north of Melbourne. She teaches people from the age of eight to adults to ride and bond with her horses using natural horsemanship. Lena has a passion for rescuing horses and rehabilitating them. “She teaches the A-Z of horses and horsemanship.” Lena offers a great learning opportunity at her riding school for first time riders and long time riders too. She takes time out of her day to teach her students new riding skills and helps fix up problems off horse back.

Roy

 

Lena and me.  

Lena has been my riding instructor for four years and before that I had no idea what natural horsemanship was. I have learnt over the years what it is and more importantly, how to do it. Lena has taught me a lot, from how to tell horse breeds apart and what types of illnesses horses can get. I have found Lena to be an amazing instructor helping me become the best rider I can be. She has inspired me to try to the best of my ability and never give up. Learning through Lena has changed my perspective on traditional riding and how I see it, but at the same time continues to encourage me with my riding outside of the school. She has been the best

A younger Abi on Miro

person to talk to when I don’t know where something goes or how to do something. She has shared so many of her childhood memories by giving me videos of her showing and her working with her horses. Lena has changed my life in terms of the way I handle and think about horses. She has taught me to respect them and has guided me in bonding and forming a relationship with horses.

 

 

Jasmine on Jess and Abi on Danny

 

 

The life of Lena Driver

Picture a blonde woman cantering a seven-year-old thoroughbred around the paddock, no bridle or saddle. Her hand grasps a chestnut mane as she directs him in her lead with a simple order after which he stops in his tracks with delicate footsteps. This is the story of Lena Driver with her gentle hands and kind heart guiding her horse “Fella”.

 

Lena has had a passion for horses since she was four. She finally got her first horse at the age of eight. She found an interest in saving neglected horses and teaching her friends at 10. She first learned about natural horsemanship from a friend at a riding club in Koo Wee Rup. When Lena was only 14 she started her own riding school. Traditional riding was her starting point and then found much better results with the natural way for dressage. Also problem horses were fixed much quicker with the natural way. She trained seven horses to be ridden without equipment and retrained lots of problem horses and dangerous horses too. When Lena started this riding school she thought it was a good option for handling life as a single mum.

 

Lena won lots and lots of shows and competitions in jumping and dressage. She was the horse senior handler and only female rider at “Alcheringa Spanish Dancing Horses” and accomplished level four and five in Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Lena was also one of the important riders of the demonstration team at Equitana for the Parelli organisation.

 

Lena’s experience and love of horses is constantly being shared with her students at her riding school where she helps them to understand horses in a natural way. She is a very good teacher and we learn lots with every visit to Giddy Up GGs.

 

Lena’s Quote

“Natural Horsemanship to me is about learning the psychology of the horse, so we can understand why the horse responds the way it does. Their brains are wired completely differently to ours; we are the ultimate predator and they are the ultimate prey. What is logical to them is sometimes completely illogical to us. We try to learn their language, so the communication between them and us is improved. Ultimately, we end up with a more relaxed horse, which is much safer than a tense one, and achieving better results than what we may have achieved otherwise. We get to work with our horses without the necessity of bridles or halters, reins or ropes, to control them, both on the ground and riding them. If we chose to put a bridle on, it is to refine the communication even more, not to control.”

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

http://www.meredithmanor.edu/features/articles/drm/mastering_natural.asp

 

http://naturalhorseworld.com/newsite/horsemanship/

 

http://giddyupggs.com/what-is-natural-horsemanship/

 

http://www.healthwithhorsehelp.com/what-is-natural-horsemanship.html