WHY not working FT
WHY What You're Doing Isn't Working Chuck Mintzlaff
There are four key factors involved in the horse/human relationship, the quality of which may well determine the success of each pairing. These key elements are: • Communication • Understanding • Intimacy • Trust
Following is an brief explanation of how these factors, or lack thereof, play into unwanted behavior or unsatisfying relationships with our horses. If you're missing some or all of these factors, you are not experiencing the relationship you dream of with your horse.
Communication
If the horse has not been given the opportunity to communicate his feelings, then his only recourse is to communicate his feelings in any way he can (by jigging, spooking or bucking, for example).
If a horse bucks in a manner that may possibly dislodge his rider, he is literally screaming at his rider that something is terribly wrong; either within their relationship and/or due to external stimuli such as pain. His "inappropriate actions" are directly due in great part to not having an acceptable mode of communication - i.e., no reciprocal communication is allowed or understood by the rider.
Understanding
An extensive knowledge base of the Equine species' instinctual, emotional, intellectual and physiological facets should be an essential prerequisite to advanced handling or riding. Such an understanding gives one the tools of in-depth judgment for determining the existence (or extremity) of the specific personality traits of an individual horse and "why he acts the way he does."
Thus it is not the horse that, initially, requires modification of his behavior, but rather the
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
human that requires a modification of their knowledge and perception.
Intimacy
To develop the highest possible level of Intimacy, one would need to know the exact steps that all horses use to establish and nurture Equine Friendship (Peer Attachment) with just one other horse in the herd, as taught in great detail in my Friendship Training Program.
We cannot instill our values of friendship and camaraderie in the horse. He has his own values and has refined them for millions of years. It would therefore seem logical to use his judgment and value system – if, that is, one indeed desired to reach the highest possible levels of intimate interspecies friendship.
Trust
Trust – that is, trust in a positive outcome and not a negative one – is directly proportionate to the established levels of Communication, Understanding and Intimacy.
If we cannot clearly communicate our intentions, there is no basis for establishing any appreciable level of understanding or intimacy.
We would never think of asking a stranger from a foreign land to completely trust us with his life in what, to him, would be a potentially deadly situation. Yet we constantly expect this of the horse from the first moment we touch him.
Our human culture is filled with idiosyncrasies. In America, it is customary when meeting someone to shake hands. Yet in India, upon meeting, shaking hands with a woman would be considered very rude. In Japan, one might bow instead of clasping hands. Just as international businesspeople must learn each other's cultural mannerisms to communicate and establish a rapport, we must also learn the cultural mannerisms of the horse, if we desire those unequivocal levels of trust, understanding, communication and intimacy in our relationships with our horses. © 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
The majority of disconnects between horses and their humans result from a partial or complete lack of one or more of the above factors.
The good news is, Communication, Understanding, Intimacy and Trust can all be built with our horses! They are not mysterious and elusive qualities - they are available at your very fingertips. You can even begin today.
Allow your horse to interact with you without restraints or requests. This means in an open space, without a halter or agenda.
Suddenly, with freedom to move, your horse will have the freedom to communicate to you what he likes and doesn't like, what he fears and what he is comfortable with.
Study horses as you would another culture you wished to be a part of. Spend time observing your horse without judgment. Notice his reactions, his preferences, his movement, his herd-rank. Imagine what it might be like to be a prey animal, with senses honed for survival, in a restricted domestic environment.
As your understanding grows, so will the communication between you and your horse. As you spend more time with your horse in a positive way, as you show him that you're trying to learn his language and willing to let him speak, you will begin to find layers of intimacy and trust previously unavailable to you.
All this takes time, patience, commitment, and, above all, love, but the path to true intimacy with your horse is indeed a beautiful one!
Sincerely, Chuck and the Kids ~ Lady, Able, Sundance, Boss, Rebel, Combustion and Nikki ~
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
What Is Friendship Training? The Friendship Training (FT) program is a unique opportunity to build the intimate relationship with your horse that you've always dreamed of.
•
Are you searching for a program that will bring you and your horse closer together?
•
Have you been told that your horse is ‘un-trainable’ and should be 'sold or put down'?
•
Do you feel something is 'missing’ in your relationship with your horse?
•
Are you frustrated by seemingly unsolvable ‘problems’ with your horse?
•
Do you feel some sense of 'wrongness' using our present day horse training methods?
•
Do you want your horse to come running to you, instead of away from you?
•
Is the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of your horse more important to you than 'all the ribbons and trophies in the world'?
•
Do you love your horse and want that love returned?
FT founder Chuck Mintzlaff was full of questions like these when he began to develop his signature program. Convinced that horses were cooperative, loving, logical, and intelligent animals, he sought to deepen his communication and connection with his equine family through a simple, scientific, and soulful process. The results were unprecedented. All of us love our horses. But to have that love truly returned, expressed, celebrated, and shared by our horses - now that's something very special!
Far from being "yet another training program," Friendship Training (FT) steps out of the tired and limited paradigms of leader/follower, employer/employee and even dominant/subordinate relationships currently proposed by the majority of training formats. Instead, Friendship Training offers a methodical, personalized approach to gaining your horse's utmost trust, love, and intimate friendship.
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
Through this program, students and their horses work as a team to co-create a two-way language that both of them can understand and use to communicate. Basic ground work grows slowly to integrate practical and mounted activities, so that by the end of the program, the horse has learned all the cues he will need to calmly accept his place in the human world, to perform his unmounted and mounted activities without chaos, fear, or trauma, and to make his domesticated life as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible. All of this can be achieved without the dependence on restraints or training "aids", such as bits, spurs, whips, or even roundpens, ropes or halters.
How does it work?
Friendship Training is a Distance Learning Program with self-study as well as guided work, micro-tailored to each and every horse/human pair. Students receive reading lists of leading equine ethological publications to deepen, broaden, and reshape their understanding of Equus Caballus. Following a Preconditioning Stage in which self-study is paired with a period of establishing a particular routine for the horse to depend upon, the student is carefully guided through each Stage by daily email contact with Chuck and our talented and knowledgeable Friendship Training Certified Associates.
We know that every horse and every human will learn and grow at their own speed, so the FT program is priced and packaged to enable you to set your own learning pace, one stage at a time - whether you whiz through the material or take your time savoring each step will depend on the particularities and intricacies of your partnership.
Who is FT for?
Friendship Training is for the horse-owner seeking the closest possible relationship with their horse. It may be your first choice to provide a new, untouched young horse with the very best, positive, and holistic start, or it might be your last ditch effort with a horse deemed too depressed, aggressive, or traumatized to survive the human world.
It may be what you've always been searching for, what was always missing, as you make your way through a life with horses. It may be the way back to the innocence and © 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
purity of your connection with your first childhood horse. Whatever your path, if it has led you here, then we invite you to take your first steps with us down the path to true intimacy with your horse.
Please feel free to email us if you have any questions, or would like us to phone you.
Intrigued? Come and learn more about the Friendship Training program on our site: www.EquineFriendship.com/training
Praise For FT "The learning I have undergone even in the early stages of Friendship Training have changed my life, and the lives of my horses, forever. Even as we inch our way through the technical material, massive changes are occurring every day on every other level. Understanding their needs and natures, building trust and friendship slowly between us all, and allowing them to see who I really am beneath the human surface, rather than blocking intimacy with a facade of rules and dominance, is proving more rewarding that I ever could have imagined. It gets simpler and simpler. Love, or fear. You choose." - Kesia in BC, Canada
"This is what is meant by "natural"...no fear, no pain, no close confinement, no ropes, halters or direct physical contact (yet). When contact IS asked for it is ENTIRELY up to the horse...he is ALWAYS free to walk away, but the imperative instinct will over-ride most of his reservations and in the long run patience will always win him over. So, no matter what you call it, what I care about is my safety and my horse’s safety, comfort, and happiness. ...As for the horse that would just about kill for his chance at the food, I can back him up 15-20 steps and walk a total 360 degrees around him and stop away from his food, call him to me and he will come and wait for me to tell him it is OK to go eat. No ears pinned or tail swishing.
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
FT is the only truly "natural" method of training because it mimics the way horses talk to each other. We are speaking their language and they are given the opportunity to learn ours." - Mary O. in USofA
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
There are four key factors involved in the horse/human relationship, the quality of which may well determine the success of each pairing. These key elements are: • Communication • Understanding • Intimacy • Trust
Following is an brief explanation of how these factors, or lack thereof, play into unwanted behavior or unsatisfying relationships with our horses. If you're missing some or all of these factors, you are not experiencing the relationship you dream of with your horse.
Communication
If the horse has not been given the opportunity to communicate his feelings, then his only recourse is to communicate his feelings in any way he can (by jigging, spooking or bucking, for example).
If a horse bucks in a manner that may possibly dislodge his rider, he is literally screaming at his rider that something is terribly wrong; either within their relationship and/or due to external stimuli such as pain. His "inappropriate actions" are directly due in great part to not having an acceptable mode of communication - i.e., no reciprocal communication is allowed or understood by the rider.
Understanding
An extensive knowledge base of the Equine species' instinctual, emotional, intellectual and physiological facets should be an essential prerequisite to advanced handling or riding. Such an understanding gives one the tools of in-depth judgment for determining the existence (or extremity) of the specific personality traits of an individual horse and "why he acts the way he does."
Thus it is not the horse that, initially, requires modification of his behavior, but rather the
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
human that requires a modification of their knowledge and perception.
Intimacy
To develop the highest possible level of Intimacy, one would need to know the exact steps that all horses use to establish and nurture Equine Friendship (Peer Attachment) with just one other horse in the herd, as taught in great detail in my Friendship Training Program.
We cannot instill our values of friendship and camaraderie in the horse. He has his own values and has refined them for millions of years. It would therefore seem logical to use his judgment and value system – if, that is, one indeed desired to reach the highest possible levels of intimate interspecies friendship.
Trust
Trust – that is, trust in a positive outcome and not a negative one – is directly proportionate to the established levels of Communication, Understanding and Intimacy.
If we cannot clearly communicate our intentions, there is no basis for establishing any appreciable level of understanding or intimacy.
We would never think of asking a stranger from a foreign land to completely trust us with his life in what, to him, would be a potentially deadly situation. Yet we constantly expect this of the horse from the first moment we touch him.
Our human culture is filled with idiosyncrasies. In America, it is customary when meeting someone to shake hands. Yet in India, upon meeting, shaking hands with a woman would be considered very rude. In Japan, one might bow instead of clasping hands. Just as international businesspeople must learn each other's cultural mannerisms to communicate and establish a rapport, we must also learn the cultural mannerisms of the horse, if we desire those unequivocal levels of trust, understanding, communication and intimacy in our relationships with our horses. © 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
The majority of disconnects between horses and their humans result from a partial or complete lack of one or more of the above factors.
The good news is, Communication, Understanding, Intimacy and Trust can all be built with our horses! They are not mysterious and elusive qualities - they are available at your very fingertips. You can even begin today.
Allow your horse to interact with you without restraints or requests. This means in an open space, without a halter or agenda.
Suddenly, with freedom to move, your horse will have the freedom to communicate to you what he likes and doesn't like, what he fears and what he is comfortable with.
Study horses as you would another culture you wished to be a part of. Spend time observing your horse without judgment. Notice his reactions, his preferences, his movement, his herd-rank. Imagine what it might be like to be a prey animal, with senses honed for survival, in a restricted domestic environment.
As your understanding grows, so will the communication between you and your horse. As you spend more time with your horse in a positive way, as you show him that you're trying to learn his language and willing to let him speak, you will begin to find layers of intimacy and trust previously unavailable to you.
All this takes time, patience, commitment, and, above all, love, but the path to true intimacy with your horse is indeed a beautiful one!
Sincerely, Chuck and the Kids ~ Lady, Able, Sundance, Boss, Rebel, Combustion and Nikki ~
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
What Is Friendship Training? The Friendship Training (FT) program is a unique opportunity to build the intimate relationship with your horse that you've always dreamed of.
•
Are you searching for a program that will bring you and your horse closer together?
•
Have you been told that your horse is ‘un-trainable’ and should be 'sold or put down'?
•
Do you feel something is 'missing’ in your relationship with your horse?
•
Are you frustrated by seemingly unsolvable ‘problems’ with your horse?
•
Do you feel some sense of 'wrongness' using our present day horse training methods?
•
Do you want your horse to come running to you, instead of away from you?
•
Is the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of your horse more important to you than 'all the ribbons and trophies in the world'?
•
Do you love your horse and want that love returned?
FT founder Chuck Mintzlaff was full of questions like these when he began to develop his signature program. Convinced that horses were cooperative, loving, logical, and intelligent animals, he sought to deepen his communication and connection with his equine family through a simple, scientific, and soulful process. The results were unprecedented. All of us love our horses. But to have that love truly returned, expressed, celebrated, and shared by our horses - now that's something very special!
Far from being "yet another training program," Friendship Training (FT) steps out of the tired and limited paradigms of leader/follower, employer/employee and even dominant/subordinate relationships currently proposed by the majority of training formats. Instead, Friendship Training offers a methodical, personalized approach to gaining your horse's utmost trust, love, and intimate friendship.
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
Through this program, students and their horses work as a team to co-create a two-way language that both of them can understand and use to communicate. Basic ground work grows slowly to integrate practical and mounted activities, so that by the end of the program, the horse has learned all the cues he will need to calmly accept his place in the human world, to perform his unmounted and mounted activities without chaos, fear, or trauma, and to make his domesticated life as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible. All of this can be achieved without the dependence on restraints or training "aids", such as bits, spurs, whips, or even roundpens, ropes or halters.
How does it work?
Friendship Training is a Distance Learning Program with self-study as well as guided work, micro-tailored to each and every horse/human pair. Students receive reading lists of leading equine ethological publications to deepen, broaden, and reshape their understanding of Equus Caballus. Following a Preconditioning Stage in which self-study is paired with a period of establishing a particular routine for the horse to depend upon, the student is carefully guided through each Stage by daily email contact with Chuck and our talented and knowledgeable Friendship Training Certified Associates.
We know that every horse and every human will learn and grow at their own speed, so the FT program is priced and packaged to enable you to set your own learning pace, one stage at a time - whether you whiz through the material or take your time savoring each step will depend on the particularities and intricacies of your partnership.
Who is FT for?
Friendship Training is for the horse-owner seeking the closest possible relationship with their horse. It may be your first choice to provide a new, untouched young horse with the very best, positive, and holistic start, or it might be your last ditch effort with a horse deemed too depressed, aggressive, or traumatized to survive the human world.
It may be what you've always been searching for, what was always missing, as you make your way through a life with horses. It may be the way back to the innocence and © 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
purity of your connection with your first childhood horse. Whatever your path, if it has led you here, then we invite you to take your first steps with us down the path to true intimacy with your horse.
Please feel free to email us if you have any questions, or would like us to phone you.
Intrigued? Come and learn more about the Friendship Training program on our site: www.EquineFriendship.com/training
Praise For FT "The learning I have undergone even in the early stages of Friendship Training have changed my life, and the lives of my horses, forever. Even as we inch our way through the technical material, massive changes are occurring every day on every other level. Understanding their needs and natures, building trust and friendship slowly between us all, and allowing them to see who I really am beneath the human surface, rather than blocking intimacy with a facade of rules and dominance, is proving more rewarding that I ever could have imagined. It gets simpler and simpler. Love, or fear. You choose." - Kesia in BC, Canada
"This is what is meant by "natural"...no fear, no pain, no close confinement, no ropes, halters or direct physical contact (yet). When contact IS asked for it is ENTIRELY up to the horse...he is ALWAYS free to walk away, but the imperative instinct will over-ride most of his reservations and in the long run patience will always win him over. So, no matter what you call it, what I care about is my safety and my horse’s safety, comfort, and happiness. ...As for the horse that would just about kill for his chance at the food, I can back him up 15-20 steps and walk a total 360 degrees around him and stop away from his food, call him to me and he will come and wait for me to tell him it is OK to go eat. No ears pinned or tail swishing.
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
FT is the only truly "natural" method of training because it mimics the way horses talk to each other. We are speaking their language and they are given the opportunity to learn ours." - Mary O. in USofA
© 2014 Chuck Mintzlaff. All Rights Reserved. www.EquineFriendship.com
