Hi - and welcome to BBHM and Nothing Happens Horsemanship.

The concept of BBHM is simple; to manage horses so that they are brought into harmony with their environment so that what results is a happy, healthy animal.

I'm leaving any mention of the word 'natural' out of things, and for a very good reason; while it has come to represent an ill-defined kind of feel-good notion there is nothing particularly natural about the modern relationship between people and horses. You could even argue that the natural relationship between us is of hunter and prey, it certainly was for a very long time. What is 'natural' is for horses to live extensively in free ranging herds, which is close to impossible for the majority of horse owners. So let's not even start up a pointless distraction by fooling ourselves that this is where we are trying to get to.  What we need to focus on is how we can best encourage a beneficial adaptation to the smaller spaces in which we keep our horses. And sometimes that is going to be incredibly difficult.

Having said something about the concept of BBHM the next job is to say something about it's alter-ego, NHH!

The idea of 'Nothing Happens Horsemanship' grew out of a joke - I was doing some basic training work with a couple of youngish horses from a mixed herd of fillies and geldings, assisted by young woman from Europe who happened to be staying at the farm.  (Herdworks)  As usual the work was entirely voluntary - the gate to the enclosure gets opened and the horses get called - they come up to the farm road and walk on up to an oval within the central yard - no ropes or head collars. All being well they come when invited because their perception is that this is a nice place to hang out for a while. And while we are all hanging out they are invited to take part in a discussion. I might just ask a particular horse how they are and whether I can take a look at their feet. Or ask another how they feel about having a head collar put on, or perhaps a bridle or saddle. And. of course, there is always a chance that the horse is going to say no thanks, in which case I know I have to get some positive answers to other more basic questions first. When the cocktail party type session is over the horses are invited to wander back to their enclosure with thank-you's from me for being so pleasant and co-operative, and the wish that they enjoy the rest of their day. This isn't the way horse training is usually done, and the majority of people wont have seen it before - no doubt it seems pretty unstructured and loose, sleepy and relaxed rather than focussed and energised. And I'm fairly used to a kind of non-plussed and rather thoughtful silence. On this one occasion I was asked, after a while, what I call this, which lead to some thinking on my part too! Looking at the crux and the synthesis of the idea I could only think to tell her that what I ideally wanted was that as far as the horse was concerned nothing had really happened; no fear, no pain, no stress from separation from herd buddies, no tiredness, no treats or bribes, no bowl of concentrate feed, no bits of metal in the mouth or hammering on the feet, just a little conversation between friends and, since that goes on between herd members pretty much all day, nothing particular at all. Outcome? Nothing Happens Horsemanship.

Later on, just this last October, while giving a talk to a very nice audience of folks at a Whole Horse symposium in St Louis, U.S.A. run by the Equine Sciences Academy, we too got to discussing the idea of nothing happening, and after some laughter the consensus from us all was that we were happy with it, both the name and the underlying concept. What's more the audience said I should be introducing it to the wider horse enthusiast public - and so here we are.

So what I want to do with this website is to continue and broaden these two themes, weaving together the importance of how our horses get to grow up and spend the other 23 or however many hours of the day when we aren't around (BBHM), and how we can build, through open and honest discussion, the elements of our relationship, whatever we want that to be, whether riding together, or simply socialising as friends.

There's already a mail list for discussing these ideas with, at last count, a couple of hundred broadly like-minded members. It's free to join, needing only a e-mail to me (e-mail) - and if you're interested I'll do my best to make you very welcome. Plus there are a couple of services I offer, firstly a farm assessment the intent of which is to help horse owners create supportive environments within which their horses can develop harmony, and secondly a farm-stay option that lets us welcome people to come and stay with us and the herd, looking at what the concepts mean and how they operate day to day in their 'working clothes'. You're welcome to use the same e-mail address to contact me for more info on either of those too.

Bit by bit I'll also be trying to add to the site with a view to offering some more detail and hopefully some concrete strategies too. But I should say that I'm also in the middle of writing a second book following the continuing popularity of the first (e-book), so it might be a bit slower than ideal - but I will get there.

If the Whole Horse Symposium taught me anything it was that those many hundreds and thousands of us that are honestly searching for meaning and connection in our lives, both with horses, our passion, and with the wider environment, are a real growing community, embracing a wave of awareness, growth and compassion. It is my privilege and pleasure to do what I can to serve that cause, offering my support and nurture to this most excellent community.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit to the site and cordially invite you to come again or to browse through the resources on my other sites: www.equine-behavior.com - www.herdworks.co.nz and www.happy-hens.co.nz         

Warm regards

Andy Beck