Native Horsemanship Youth Program

by Lynne Ferguson
(Suquamish, WA USA)

I started Native Horsemanship Youth Program (NHYP) in 1998, with my good AQHA mare Maggie and my kid’s horse Joker and my stallion that was a yearling. I noticed that, besides my own children, other children who lived with me seemed to settle down and be happier when working with the horses. I used methods my grandma and great grandpa knew about, Comanche ways of riding bridleless. I didn’t do too well, until I stopped using any artificial means and just did what my grandparents said. Now my stallion is 14 and is teaching a second generation about horsemanship.

We have specific methods of teaching therapy horses to accept situations they may encounter with students with disabilities. Most any kind well-mannered horse can be used as a therapy horse, but I find that, of course, the horse must be well-prepared and have a bond with his handler to do equine-assisted learning/therapy. I also noticed that when I ride after my horse teaches a class, he is soft and willing and warmed-up.

I will send you last year's fundraiser cd. I live off the grid so I only have Internet on my phone, so if you can upload the pictures that would be great. The ranch has solar and battery power with a propane generator- finally! I lived here for many years without power or indoor plumbing :-) hopefully we will have enough $$ to get a website up this year!

My great grandfather was Comanche, and my grandma taught me the methods he used when riding. I was taught that my horse should not require reins when he is finished and that he should be my trusted partner. So I had to figure out how to do this. I picked a horse with an obviously quiet and friendly personality. I got him as a baby (he's now almost 15!) so I could do my own training, and I let my stallion live in a herd situation with our geldings. When he became a breeding stallion he lived with his mares and learned to be a polite breeder. I noticed how they set boundaries with him and did the same. I built my cabin in the pasture so I could live with my horses and communicate with them better. Because so many children come here (including my 6 grand kids!) the horses are all trained specifically to allow themselves to be touched on every square inch of their bodies, and to ground tie and work at liberty. We use movement and body language to communicate to the horses. Comanche’s have a strong Spanish influence, and I learned some vaquero methods that were very helpful. It's essentially using the least amount of tack and cues to communicate...I enjoy seeing my stallion patiently teaching kids to ride- and because we use simple, effective exercises that make sense to the horse, my horse is able to do complicated maneuvers and just about anything I need, because the kids have been practicing going forward and giving to pressure. Since we start training at birth, very soon the pressure becomes almost invisible. I think my horse knows I wouldn't put him in a bad situation, and he took care of me and brought me home after I had heart failure. I spend lots of time with him, and he enjoys his job of helping kids learn about horses. I raised my 5 children playing music for a living, and music is something that, ideally, probably shouldn't be sold :-) So I wanted the horses to get to live in a natural manner, and be trained to handle kids with physical and/or behavioral issues. They need to be polite and well-mannered. And I wanted all services to be free. It really makes me happy to do this. My Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1044484219&sk=wall, there's a picture of Joey and his little preschool student.
I will send you a cd next week. Remind me and I will describe a fun training game that helps people develop light hands and develops lightness in our horse. I can't wait to try clicker training!

Native Horsemanship Youth Program
Lynne Ferguson, President
21487 Orca Lane NE
Poulsbo, Washington
98370
360-440-5975


Additional notes:

In her 14th release, Tears to Gold, she is joined by Nashville's finest in this project to raise money for the Native Horsemanship Youth Program, on the Port Madison Indian Reservation, where she lives with her family of five children and six grandchildren.

Lynne has recorded and worked with the finest acoustic artists over the years, including Mark O'Connor, Jerry Douglas, Taj Mahal, David Grier, Kathy Chiavola and Brent Truitt. Many of these Nashville greats have contributed to this recording of original music as a fund-raiser for the Native Horsemanship Youth Program, a charity on the Port Madison Indian Reservation in Washington state, and all proceeds from this CD support this charity. After performing over 3500 shows with the duo, Double Stop, and recording twelve CDs,

To download or buy the CD Tears to Gold by Lynne Ferguson on the independent of original music as a fund-raiser for the Native Horsemanship Youth Program
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/fergusonlynne http://www.outboundmusic.com/lynneferguson/

P.S. I also wanted to say that since I played music for a living and don't think it's something that should necessarily be sold. I wanted the horse program to be free to all. I don't think horses should be sold either! We give out CDs as gifts with donations, we have benefit concerts (Mark O'Connor, David Grier) and I have written many grants to support the program. Anyway, it was important to me that I could operate as a free service, as many families and many of our clients are below the poverty level. Any horses by my stallion are kept track of, and they are wonderful family horses. We breed very few horses, very selectively, and all foals are trained from birth to be therapy horses and are used in our program. I have a wonderful mare that I've had for 22 years now, and we have kept a lovely filly out of her, by Joey. It is so rewarding to ride horses I've bred from horses I've raised. I believe that spending so much time with them on the ground has a huge impact on our relationship- we are trusted partners long before I mount my horse. Lynne