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Horse whisperer Frank Bell holds clinics
for horse owners throughout the country.
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Gentle Handling Improves Safety For Horse and Rider
By Linnea McClellan
Lifestyle Editor
CLAYTON – When Chris Mitchell found himself on the
ground with a horse on top, he knew it was time to find a better way to handle
horses.
Through
research on the Internet, Mitchell discovered the work of Frank Bell, a master
trainer who specializes in techniques for natural horsemanship that emphasizes
safety for both the rider and horse. Bell shared his skill at a clinic
organized by Mitchell at the Barbour County Farm Center, then continued
instruction with private lessons Monday.
“It’s all
about risk management,” Bell explained. “What we’re trying to do is take the
risk out of the equation and get things going in our direction so we’ve got a
fighting chance. Horses are very unpredictable by nature. A lot of horses are
on the verge of blowing up.”
Just as
pilots, scuba divers and mountain climbers rely on a safety checklist to reduce
risk, people who handle horses should do the same, he said.
“My dream is
to have this safety system in every barn in the world. There’s a lot of people
out there getting hurt,” Bell continued, adding that the number of injuries
from horseback riding is the “dirty little secret” of the horse industry.
Mitchell’s
story is hardly unique. He stumbled into buying a horse the first time after
purchasing a house with a barn. As weeds grew taller around the empty barn, the
Mitchell’s decided to buy a horse. Friends tried to warn them about how dangerous
horses can be, but Mitchell considered himself experienced after riding about
10 years. Now he understands the difference between riding well-trained horses
and ones that have “issues.”
“It’s just my
personality to jump into things too quick. That’s exactly what I did with the
horse. I decided the best way for me to learn is to go out and get one,”
Mitchell admitted in an interview at the Farm Center Monday while Bell gave
private lessons in the background.
When Mitchell
bought his first horse a year ago, the gaited saddle horse seemed docile
enough. But after he got the horse home, Mitchell climbed in the saddle and the
horse bolted. Friends offered advice for handling the horse, but none of it
worked. When the horse ended up on top of him, Mitchell decided, “There’s not
too many more of these times that I have left. I need to look into some
programs.”
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PHOTOS BY JAY HARE / EAGLE
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Bell works with Page Turner during his clinic at Barbour County Farm Center Monday afternoon.
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He tried a
variety of horse training techniques before choosing Bell’s 7-Step Safety
System.
“I settled on
Frank’s program mainly because it just really seems to create a bond between
the rider and the horse and really settles the horse down, so it loses that
explosive personality,” Mitchell explained.
Bell’s
practical method addresses a number of points for horse owners that other
trainers don’t address, he continued. For example, how do you keep the horse
out of your space while putting feed down? How do you get a horse prepared so a
ferrier can shoe the horse without getting kicked? These are problems Mitchell
didn’t consider before buying a horse.
Mitchell
bought four more horses, including three mustangs that he’s still training. He
is also the most recently accredited trainer in Frank Bell’s 7-Step Safety
System which includes bonding with the horse, learning to take and give,
developing intimacy and generally building confidence for the horse, handler
and rider.
At last
weekend’s clinic, Mitchell said owners who didn’t respect their horse’s space
turned out to be the main problem. “You didn’t know who was leading who,
whether the horse was leading the person or the person was leading the horse,”
he said. “That can be a really dangerous situation because the horse can run
over on top of the handler.”
Mustangs
adopted from the wild can cause problems because they tend to revert to fight
or flight mode, Mitchell said. “You have to slowly break it down for the horse,
so the horse understands what you’re wanting and rewarding for the right
answers while discouraging it for the wrong answers by making it
uncomfortable.”
Bell said most
people who adopt mustangs don’t realize what they’re getting into. “Ninety
percent of people that buy mustangs are first-time horse owners. It’s
borderline crazy. It’s like buying a tiger,” he said. They’re (mustangs)
wonderful animals, they’re just a little more complicated.”
He developed
his system after getting “busted up” and breaking his collarbone in an accident
with a horse. “I promised myself that if I was going to train horses, I would
develop a ground system that dramatically raised my safety level.”
As he started
healing, Bell began different “manipulations” with horses to find out what
positions and actions bothered them most. Without realizing it, he was becoming
a “horse whisperer,” the term given to a successful trainer in Ireland named
Dan Sullivan in the 1800s.
Before long,
Bell was turning out nice horses, which led to people bringing him really
difficult horses. Soon he started asking people to bring him difficult horses
because he was so “blown away” by how well the system worked. Then he started
teaching his system to others.
“I feel like
I’m here to give something back,” Bell said. “If you’re given something that
you can do well, it can make a difference, especially in a world that’s as
crazy as the world we’re living in. … If we can do something that’s really positive,
I think it’s good for mankind.”
Bell’s
reputation soared after Western Horseman Magazine published a three-part
series on his safety system. Coincidentally, Robert Redford’s movie “The Horse
Whisperer” based on a book by Nicholas Evans, came out about the same time.
Bell said he’s
still amazed to get paid for doing work he loves so much.
“I just think
it’s intriguing that horses are basically a wild animal but we can get them to
where they will take us places safely. We can get on their back and do all
kinds of things. It’s unbelievable,” Bell said, mentioning horses that work in
riot control as an example.
“They’re
incredibly receptive to learning and growing and getting along well with
humans. Horses like to learn.”
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Want to know more?
For more information about instruction in Frank Bell’s 7-Step Safety System and other techniques of Natural Horsemanship, contact Chris Mitchell, certified instructor, (334) 297-4894; www.christopher-mitchell.com or www.horsewhisperer.com.
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