Horsemanship in the Hills – The tale of one ‘Marksman’

As a child I thought horsemanship was something that only happened in arenas by fellas in cowboy hats trying to ‘fix’ problem horses.
Today, I can find horsemanship even where there are no horses!  It’s a way of life.  A way of being, of thinking, of feeling, of acting.  It helps me be the best version of myself and it certainly helps me interact better with people, never mind horses.
So, give me a chance to work with a horse and people in a ‘wilderness arena’ and I’m all over it.
It’s early June 2024.  We’ve just arrived with our herd onto Knoydart – one of our favourite places on earth – and we are chatting with friends in the pub.  Turns out there’s a new guy in town, Marksman of Dyke…fitting on so many levels 😉

​A 2-year-old Highland gelding, gifted to the community as the next generation of ‘garron’ (stalking pony) for Knoydart Foundation.  A couple of young guys the ‘stalkers’ are tasked with training him but one or two problems have arisen.  The farrier can’t get near him - he won’t catch without food -and he recently trampled a woman.  Ooft.  They sign him up to Wilder Ways Boot Camp.  Little do the stalkers know, Boot Camp is for them, not for the horse.  
Marksman is a highly intelligent and independent young man.  And mighty handsome.  He has evolved over millions of years to perfect his highly tuned senses resulting in an awareness you and I can only dream of.  His nervous system is hard-wired for self-preservation – fight, flight or fawn.  Oh, and he is not a native English speaker, has a top speed of 30mph and weighs nearly half a ton.
​By comparison, the guys (Woody & Lewis) weigh in at under 80kgs, have a top speed of 8mph and do not speak horse.  They do not have eyes on the side of their head and their hearing is shot, literally!  Hardly a fair fight. 
We have just 10 hours of time together over the course of 1 month and no arena.  Their objective = to create a well-mannered pony, who catches on demand, is maneuverable in-hand and broken to the stalking saddle.  No pressure then!

The first 3 sessions we tackle ‘the catch’.  The field is 10 acres and contains 2 other ponies.  As soon as we enter the field, he’s off prancing, tail in the air.  The guys are desperate to reach for the feedbag – stand firm I command.  Over these 3 days, we play that childhood game of ‘you’re getting warmer’.  Running around the field is colder.  When he approaches the gate, he is getting warmer and when he heads to the guys – he’s smoking hot.  The first day, with no halter, we just ask him to stand with us.  Day 2 the game begins again and takes even longer, Marksman is testing the resolve of the menfolk – he is getting to know them.  Day 3, Marksman wins the game, he gets smoking hot quickly.  It’s a win-win.  We put the halter on.  Walk him out the gate, love on him, then instantly return him to the field and release him.  Everyone looks confused. The boys, “WTF, we had him”.  Marksman “Well that was easy”.  Less is often more, particularly in the early days.  I recommend the boys spend some time in the field just chilling out whenever they can.  Take a beer and take in the view.  Let Marksman come and go as he pleases and just love on him if it pleases him.  The value of just ‘being’ with your horse should never be underestimated.  

​​Next, we get to work on manoeuvrability.  Marksman is all over the guys, like literally on top of them.  Someone missed the collision avoidance lesson at foal school.  Again, it’s really the guys who need the insight.  You can only be run over if you allow it.  Time to work on some personal space techniques and body posture.  Like I said, Marksman is highly intelligent, he clocks on immediately.  And the guys do pretty good too - they pick up the ‘rope feel’ and ‘using a stick as an arm-extension’ really quickly.
Like learning any language, the foundation blocks take the longest to grasp and can sometimes be the more boring or frustrating bits.   No one wants to study word order and grammar; we just want to start conversing.  Like learning any language, of course you can skip ahead with your phrase book and get by.  But if you truly want to have understanding for every eventuality, you need to spend time on the foundations.   

​That being said, on Knoydart we were limited by time, so we did have to keep a march on with our learning.  Thankfully both horse and boys were quick learners and their general approach to life really helped.
The guys are practical fellas.  Happiest in the wild outdoors and naturally observant creatures.  They are well coordinated, confident, hardy and with little fear, and they were eager to make a success of this.  With very little prior horsemanship knowledge, they also did not have a catalogue of ‘bad habits’ to break. 
Marksman is curious.  Still young and un-jaded by life, he was a great big sponge, ready for it.  He is also naturally confident and although a little extroverted, he was keen to seek the 4th ‘F’ first and obtain friendship before fight, flight or fawn.  So given his natural confidence, curiosity and friendliness, the 4th ‘C’ worked a charm.

​In horsemanship ‘consistency’, ‘clarity’ and ‘confidence’ are considered key to success.  We agree.  We just believe ‘creativity’ can be the clincher to a fun, connected and engaging partnership for all.
The wilds were our arena and luckily this was the natural habitat for this horse and these men.  Once we established a soft forward and back up and were able to isolate and move the haunches and shoulders independently (i.e. the basic word order and grammar), we were ready to start forming some pretty cool sentences.

​Pressure creates purpose and we were able to use our environment as the perfect canvass.  Trees make great bending cones or stop markers.  Fallen logs become jumps.  Low branches teach us to duck.  Rivers give us boundaries for ‘send away’ or ‘call towards’.  We used banks, tied up boats, boardwalks, rocks, tents, sand, seaweed, sea!  The list was endless, and this guy took the world on like a hungry caterpillar.
This was not going to be a garron you had to bribe up the hill with sandwiches and wade through water to drag him behind you.  This guy could go ahead, go sideways, climb up the bank to leave room for you on a narrow track, climb down to get below you to make it easier to load the stag on his back.  This guy was useful, and he was having fun exploring the world with his trainers.  And I saw a softness grow in those men.  They liked spending time with Marksman.  The pony-training was no longer a chore, instead, hanging out with this guy was a privilege.    

​By the penultimate day when we put the deer saddle on him – it really was a non-event.  It’s a heavy pack for a starter, with jangling buckles, long straps and even a crupper.  A strong smell of oil and even a faint whiff of blood.  Marksman never flinched.  He wore it with pride. 
The final day we put it altogether, the boys lead the way and Nikki and I watched on like proud parents at a graduation ceremony.  Marksman caught like a dream, stood confidently to be saddled and then wandered off into the wilds swagging it out over the terrain.  He was amazing.  So much so, we even started leaning across the saddle and introducing some weight to his back.  This horse excited me.

​But my greatest pleasure that day was not the overall progress, but the beauty of watching horse and man figure out each obstacle in the moment; each thinking through what ‘words’ would best convey their intention to each other.  Whilst nothing was actually ‘verbalised’ the communication was quite evident and the results most beautiful.
Marksman headed to the hills the very next day to begin the stalking season.  Initially he carried only his saddle as he built up the mental and physical fitness needed for full days on the hill.   The guys tell me that by the end of the season he started carrying light loads.  
We look forward to catching up with Marksman and the lads during our time on Knoydart in June 2025; to witness their progress, to give them a few new hints and tips to help iron out any teething problems, and to set them up for a successful first full season.  This garron will make his mark on the hills as well as on a few hearts, of that I am sure.   

- Cara