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In 2014, a book was published to wide acclaim called "The Revolution In Horsemanship" which chronicled the rise of what became known as the Natural Horsemanship movement — though some of the trainers highlighted didn't identify with that label.

10 years later, the NH movement is completely dead.

Yes, that's a bold statement. I'll expand further.

But first, looking at the state of the industry now and doing a little postmortem vivisection on NH's legacy, it's clear the movement failed in many ways and succeeded in others.

One thing is certain...

There will NEVER be another revolution in horse training that is technique-based or method-based.

Every technique, every method, every exercise, every way to teach a horse how to do something has already been documented, debated, extruded, commodified, productized, and regurgitated a billion times. The internet and the democratization of horsemanship knowledge has created an irreversible shift.

We now live in an environment where even good training is starting to look ordinary. The bar for what impresses people is higher, not necessarily because the average horse owner is becoming an absolute master, but because the mystique and scarcity of these “holy grail” techniques have vanished.

Look at liberty training for a stark example. That used to be something you only saw at the circus, or in Hollywood movies. Then during the RFD-TV era of mass media horsemanship, it was seen as the pinnacle. Unapproachable. The hallmark of horse whisperer guru mastery.

Now it's become so widespread that they've made an entire competitive discipline out of it.

LOL

Think about what that change signifies.

The era of boilerplate, fundamentals level, clinician-style horsemanship is OVER.

O-VERRRR.

The market is so educated now, that the average horse owner with even a little bit of experience and curiosity is becoming better than a replacement-level trainer.

By "replacement-level" I mean your average trainer down the street. Someone local that's close by. The most readily available, lowest-barrier-to-entry kind of lesson instructor, trainer or colt starter.

They are being overwhelmed by the rise of the "backyardigan".

The backyardigan is a largely self-taught horseman who, although they aren't a professional, nevertheless achieves a relatively high level of skill through study and practice in their own back yard.

I know many non-pros like this — they are better riders, trainers, and even teachers of horsemanship than some "professionals" I know. It's commendable, a sad commentary on the industry, and hilarious all at the same time.

The point being, these non-pros have greater curiosity and dedication to the craft than the typical professional.

But the information tsunami has negative consequences, too.

Look at the online discourse around horse training today. Cynicism, skepticism and snark rule the day. We're stuck in a cul-de-sac of endless debates and squabbling over the "right" way to train a horse — which is really just a smokescreen for the real fight over the moral high ground.

On social media, where someone with little experience has the same (and often far more) reach than an experienced pro, all the opinions and advice mush together in a vat of "same-ness".

Everything looks equal on surface level. Even among the trainers themselves, the common attitude today is something like:

"There are multiple ways to skin a cat; it all pretty much works"

or,

"I've seen it all, and everything works as long as you're consistent about it"

The battle cry of mediocrity...

Our industry is a snake eating its own tail. On one end, vicious arguments over the "right way". On the other end, caveats and cop-outs and appeals to the equality of different methods, in order to protect egos and protect what others believe. Then in the next breath, the moral grandstanding resumes.

Everyone believes there's a "right" way but no one can define, or has the guts to define, what that "right" way is. They love to attack others they see as not doing things the "right" way, however.

This fruitless hand-wringing over the "right" way has straightjacketed us. At some point, we stopped striving for the BEST way.

But I believe there's an answer.

The next revolution in horsemanship won’t be about techniques, tools, or exercises. Those have already been done to death.

Instead, it will be a COGNITIVE revolution...

A shift in focus from WHAT we do, to HOW we think. It will end the fixation on the “right way", and instead prioritize the BEST way.

This will require a generation of trainers who have the guts to stand up in the face of conventional wisdom and say, "A Best Way Exists".

Not in an, "I'm better than everyone else" way.

Not in a, "If you don't train like me you're a horse abuser" way.

But an objective, "For this situation, there's a best/easiest/fastest way to do this" type of way.

But that requires actual, DEEP mastery. Understanding of first principles. A latticework of mental models. A well of wisdom that goes far deeper than what the backyardigan has access to; the kind that only comes from many years of applied experience, and a trainer's theories and methods enduring the razor of teaching beginners.

The natural horsemanship era made trainers and gurus too complacent. They love to bludgeon people with ideology, moral posturing and self-help-therapy-speak instead of putting in the intellectual labor to define their terms, create objective metrics, and map the training progression from foundation to finesse in a concrete way.

Instead of putting in the real work, they coasted on vague notions of "progress" and moral smokescreens.

This is the central failure of natural horsemanship. Originally, the movement was built on being kinder to the animal. It was a necessary shift in its time; a departure from the brutal methods of the past. But this seed of ethical sentiment grew into a mire of goofy, performative virtue-signaling and therapy-speak that rose up and strangled it.

Of course, there were reactionaries. Those who rejected the moral dogma and instead, became agnostic box-checking mechanics; dumbing down horse training to the lowest possible denominator; stripping it of any skill or artistry in favor of idiot-proofed, paint-by-numbers systems.

Somewhere amidst this slurry of mediocrity, the drive for excellence; the drive to find the "best" way, was lost. And the debate over the "right" way took center stage.

It's time to move forward. The next revolution is about being SMART.

The horsemen of the future will understand that the best way to train a horse is not the best way because it’s “right”...

...it’s “right” because it’s the best way.

Huge difference there — in starting point, process, and outlook.

It's time to hitch up and drag this rusted-out chitty-chitty-bangbang of an industry, kicking and screaming, out of the weeds and into the next developmental leap. We must seek the BEST way, not the “right” way.

Let's start by saying the quiet part out loud; a truth everyone already knows, but that still hurts trainers' feelings when uttered:

Everything "works"... but not everything WORKS.

Trainers and gurus who claim to have created a signature approach, method or technique are selling you little more than their personal brand of cueing and phrasing.

And more to the point, they've built a scaffolding around their particular style and mannerisms to justify and protect what they believe. And, conveniently, create a system that THEY get to be the "master" of.

Other gurus present other frameworks.

Everyone creates their own programs where they get to be the master. No peer review. No evolution or innovation. Just ossified echo chambers.

This compounds over decades and we arrive where we are today.

Time for better thinking and better standards.

"It's what works for me" or "that's what so-and-so teaches" is no longer good enough. Trainers telling clients, "because I say so" will no longer be good enough. Following lowest-common-denominator, checklist-based training systems will no longer be good enough.

The next horsemanship revolution will challenge trainers and owners to think critically, understand the deeper “why” behind what they do, and reject both the empty guru culture and the smarmy complacency of the therapy-cultists.

Horsemanship will no longer be about scripts or shortcuts but about mastery—thinking deeper, working smarter, and forging genuine partnerships.

Not rote paint-by-numbers methods. Not bullshit therapy-speak about 'harmony' or 'attunement'.

The future belongs to horse owners who don't "apply" their knowledge, they EMBODY it;

Effortless, total congruency in their beliefs, intentions, and actions with horses. A flywheel of excellence. This is the promise.

If we have the courage to say “A best way exists,” and then work doggedly to find it, we can break free from the current stagnation.

The future belongs to those who embrace this challenge.

Like mathematics, the "best" way won't be invented — it will be discovered. Or rediscovered. All the answers exist. We just need to find them.

That's the journey I've been on for the last 15 years. For the first 10, unknowingly. For the next 5, consciously; the last two obsessively so.

I'm excited to share what I've learned in the coming year.

I don't have all the answers yet. But I'm trying.

If you want to join me on this adventure, strap in.

Teeth gritted, hand firmly on the tiller, we're moving directly over the sacred cows that haven't been challenged in 30 years.

More to come.
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​— Jake Lundahl​
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