A solid foundation on the natural behavior of horses is necessary to begin. How does the hierarchy of the herd operate? Who is the "head" of the herd? When one underling steps out of bounds with a dominant horse, how does that dominant horse react/act? How does your own horse behave in pasture with the other horses? Is it the dominant one or is it a subservient? Having this knowledge will help establish the framework for you and your relationship with your horse.

The Natural Horsemen uses body language to relay what they want to the horse. They have learned when and how to use their eyes, placement of their body and parts of their body, tone of voice or lack of voice, what to use as tools to enhance effective communications. Doesn't it make sense that if we would like to harmoniously complement our horses' movements that we learn how to "talk" with our horses? More importantly, listen to them? One can force and restrain an animal into doing something we wish it to do. But is it doing what we want because of fear or because of friendliness? Horses naturally fear humans. We are predators. Horses are prey animals. We must teach them that they need not to be afraid of us. This is done through effective communicating with the horse within their 'natural' realm.