From the Horse's Point of View: Beyond Natural Horsemanship: Horse Training's New Frontier

For years, Andrea Kutsch filled stadiums with spectators as she demonstrated remarkable transformations in “problem horses” using the Natural Horsemanship training methods she'd learned from leaders in the field. But something was bothering her—a feeling that had been with her since her childhood days, watching Icelandics in a field and coming up through a traditional German riding system. Despite the strides made in improving the horse's well-being through the worldwide adoption of Natural Horsemanship techniques, she knew that the methods were still missing something. They still trained horses looking at every situation from the human perspective and were dependent on a trainer's natural feel. This meant that, for the horse, there was stress involved in the training process. In addition, positive results gained by a professional often couldn't be replicated by a horse's owner; what the horse learned from one person wouldn't transfer to others. Kutsch set out to find the next stage in the evolution of horse training. She studied the results of methods she used with thousands of young horses at The Lewitz Stud in Neustadt—Glewe, Germany, the renowned farm owned by European champion Paul Schockemöhle. This provided the basis for what she calls Evidence-Based Equine Communication™ (EBEC), a means of reading the horse and understanding the world from his point of view. Here she introduces EBEC and how it can take our relationship with horses and their ability to perform as our partners to a whole new level. Inside find: Certain to provide ideas for improving every interaction with horses, whatever your experience or discipline, is a conversation-starter for all those looking to take their horsemanship to a whole new level.