***It seems that we don't know, what we don't know, until someone shows us.***  Will is a master of opening possibilities toward improving communication with your horse. Rather than continuing to work with a "Reactive Horse",  a horse that relies on his own instinct of survival when something seems dangerous,                                      Will provides you with tools to develop a "Thinking Horse", a horse that learns to regard you as their herd leader and thinks rather than reacts to what the horse views as potentially dangerous.    

 We recommend everyone take a clinic with Will to learn a safer and a better way to communicate with your horse which leads to the ability to train your horse in a               respectful and safe manner. The bonus is that your horse will actually like to be with       you, he will begin to find you provocative, he will join up with you and be willing to leave the herd buddies, and then the real journey into the world of horse can begin.

Every horse who has enrolled in this course endorses it. Your horse will thank you for spending this extra money and time to be able to speak to him in his language and on his level each and every day. He will have new found respect for you as his herd leader.

Body Language - The Language of the Horse                                                         2 Day Clinics       Location: Liberty Farm, Mount Vernon, WI                                  Limited to 4 participants & their horses  -  Indoor Arena (Rain or Shine)                      Date for Clinic 1:   March 13, 14   (13th includes a Pot Luck with Chapter)                 Date for Clinic 2:  March 27, 28                                                                              Start Time is 9:00am and Finish at 4:00pm                                                              Fee is $500 + $25 for use of facilities = $525 (or $37.50 per hr)                               Bring a cooler with lunch, drinks, and snacks - no concession on premises                 Receipt of 2010 negative coggin report copy & signature on waiver is required at arrival    RSVP with Will Atkinson  608 751 3155   or doca @ ticon.net  

Body Language - The  Language of the Horse                                      2 Day Clinic          Location: Day Spring Farm, Capron, IL                             Limited to 4 participants & their horses  -  Outdoor facilities                                    Clinic Date: May 8, 9 (Rain date May 15, 16) - Start Time 9:00am & Finish 4:00pm        Fee is $500 + $25 for use of facilities = $525 (or $37.50 per hr)                                     Bring a cooler with lunch, drinks, and snacks - no concession on premises          Receipt of 2010 negative coggins report copy & signature on waiver is required at arrival  RSVP with Will Atkinson  608 751 3155   or  doca @ticon. net

Two Refresher Courses Offered at Will Atkinson's Farm, Avalon, WI                     June 12, 13 - Limited to 4 Participants with Horses                                                      August 14, 15 - Limited to 4 Participants with their Horses                                           Fee is $150 for each 2 day course - Outdoor Facilites                                              Bring a cooler with lunch, drinks, snack - no concession on premises                           Receipt of 2010 negitive coggins report copy and signature on waiver is required             RSVP With Will Atkinson 608 751 3155  or doca @ ticon.net   

LEADERSHIP by Will Atkinson:  

" Ten years ago this would have been the last belief  I held, because, after all, my traditional horsemanship brain was asking what does leadership have to do with riding a horse!

Like most other horse owners, I was searching everywhere for tips and tricks to get my horse ‘perfect’ by curing all his "bad habits and problems". What I didn’t know was that what I considered "bad behavior" was the horse simply trying to do what horses do – escape and survive. Back then I was still in my dark days of horsemanship and trying to make the horse into a human, or being anthropomorphic.

At first glance the word "Leadership" seems irrelevant to traditional horsemen and seems more akin to teachers, ministers, counselors, Cub Scout leaders, etc.….so what’s it to do with horses? Read on….

The horse is instinctively hardwired to be part of a herd….which can be as small as two members. The herd environment provides the horse all the necessary things to maintain his mental, emotional, and physical health. We know for certain that the most important things the horse needs for survival, and listed here in order of importance, are 1) Self preservation, 2) Safety and comfort, 3) food, learning, play, and reproduction, with the herd providing all of these. In the wild, the horse understands that survival is almost impossible if they don't live in a herd.

The responsibility of the herd leader is to make certain that these needs are met. When a human – a natural predator, recognizes these needs and supplies them, the horse will naturally appoint and follow him as their leader. Safety for the human is embedded in understanding this concept, because if you are truly accepted as the leader, the horse will have far less reason to react for survival, and first look to your leadership for protection. This will stop most dangerous horse behaviors to the human.

You and your horse are a herd of two. In the mind of the horse there will be a leader…either you, or him. If he is going to accept you as a leader you first have to convince him that you are qualified to lead, by creating respect and trust by becoming part horse in your behaviors. Leadership cannot be bought with treats or demanded by abuse….it has to be earned. Your leadership will always be reassessed by your horse and that is much of the reason that some horses misbehave….they are testing whether their leader is on the job.

My horse is a perfect horse, but he won’t let me catch him, he won’t load, he bucks everyone off and broke my leg, he bites me, he kicks me, he runs into me, he drags me off, he slings his head and has broken my jaw. The personality of the handler or the owner is mirrored in the horse’s behavior, and the reason that they misbehave is that they don’t like that person in their presence.

Horses are not born with these misbehaviors….we create them. How? In an effort to contain, control, and conform their behaviors (performance) to our human goals we employ harsh and painful methods and gadgets, all the while convinced that the horse likes us. The horse may tolerate this abuse for a while, but when he has had enough and the right opportunity comes along, he will arrange for a wreck to happen. And when that happens the horse is blamed and labeled as a ‘bad horse’, when all the time he was just trying to escape abuse. This is one of the reasons the horse training industry has flourished…. they have to first untrain and fix all the bad things that people cause in the horse before they can get on with the advancement of the horse’s performance.

How do the 7 Categories of behaviors factor in here?

The ideal of every natural horseman is to become a leader for their horse. Using horse leadership and the 7 Categories of games are the best method to become the horse’s leader and maintain that office when he tests you. This is the beauty of these behavior categories because this is essentially horse behavior being done by the human. The 7 Games reduce the anxiety in the horse by letting him know he is safe.

These behaviors instill trust and respect in the human by his supplying all the social and survival needs of the horse. "

Recommended reading:  Soul of the Horse by Joe Camp: where Joe & Kathleen Camp    learn to enjoy their first horses using natural horsemanship methods and why knowing about how to work with your horse on his level makes all the difference in the relationship and ability to enjoy your horse.                                                                www.thesoulofahorse.com

Will Atkinson  teaching   during        2009       Meeting