24/07/2025
Great read that addresses one of my biggest pet pieves - there are 500 different ways to skin a cat and I don't have time for the "unless I do it, it's crap " kinda people.
And one more - stick with SOMETHING! Dragging your green horse from a Campdraft to a Pleasure class will confuse the life out of him. Switching your program every other week because you've been to a clinic or saw something on the internet is just cruel to your horse. Find something that works for you and your horse and stick with it. If it stops working, start evolving.
The horse doesn’t care what method you use. He cares how you make him feel while using it.
The war between training methods is exhausting, and it’s hurting the very animals we claim to love.
The industry is drowning in egos.
Scroll any comment section and you’ll see it: accusations, sarcasm, name-calling, and dogmatic preaching, from every side.
Positive reinforcement trainers slam negative reinforcement as cruel and abusive. Traditional trainers mock positive reinforcement as fluffy tree hugging nonsense.
And meanwhile… the horse is stuck in the middle of a war he never asked to be in.
Let’s get one thing straight:
Every single method we use is man-made.
It might’ve been created based on observations of horse behavior. But at the end of the day, they’re still man-made.
Natural horsemanship, liberty, traditional horsemanship, connection based training, positive reinforcement, science based horsemanship, it’s all human-created.
All of it is an attempt to build a bridge between two species. None of it is flawless. They’re tools, approaches and philosophies.
The problem isn’t the method.
The problem is the human.
It’s the person who cares more about being right than being kind, fair and ethical. The trainer who preaches compassion online, but explodes behind closed doors.
The influencer who publicly shames others to boost their own platform.
And it’s all of us watching silently, afraid to speak up because the backlash is that toxic.
This isn’t a game. This is about living beings with fragile nervous systems and beating hearts. The obsession of with being part of the “right camp” has gone so far that we’ve forgotten the point: to help horses live more peaceful, and empowered lives with us.
You can be ethical and use pressure.
You can be ethical and use food rewards.
Any method can be unethical in the wrong hands.
It’s not “R+ vs R-.” It’s not about followers or applause. It’s about doing better. For the horse. For the next generation of trainers and horseman.
For the future of an industry that will collapse under the weight of its own arrogance if we don’t wake up.
Put the horse first. Always. Everything else is just noise.
