Of horses and men

Chris Irwin believes that interacting with a horse on a personal level takes labor and effort, but that the rewards are great if the time is put in.

Irwin, who says his passion for horsemanship began when he was a 19-year-old that happened to end up at a race track, hopes to show spectators and participants what happens when you work with horses the way they want to be worked with.

Irwin will be returning to Encampment Aug. 29-31 for the second year to provide a horsemanship clinic. Irwin says his clinic has changed from last year in that he used to consider the “usable human” portions of his work to be separate from the horse training portions, though now he thinks of them all as one effort. To describe his work, he used a metaphor of geniuses and game changers like Steve Jobs, who Irwin described as a brilliant inventor but abusive to work for. Irwin claims that this is a lack of emotional intelligence, which is built through his work with horses. Improving emotional intelligence leads to better work and personal relationships by helping to understand one’s own place in an interaction and the response of the other party, Irwin said.

Irwin’s work is largely centered around body language, which he says affects mood and temperament. The goal of his horsemanship clinic is to make the horse feel better around you than they do by themselves or with other horses. Irwin accomplishes this goal by paying sensitive attention to the way the body is positioned, specifically the position of the spine. Irwin says this is biochemical as much as it is emotional, that different hormones and bodily chemicals are released when the body is placed in certain positions. Like sculpting, Irwin said, the horse has to be moved into the desirable poses for good behavior.

Irwin says that he tries to get people to understand what the horse wants out of the interaction, urging participants to “be the horse they want to see.” He admits that because of the amount of work involved in gaining this type of relationship with horses, not everyone is a perfect candidate for his clinic. According to Irwin, just like only around five percent of the population has put in the time to learn to play an instrument well, only around five percent of “horse people” will put in the time to build this relationship with their horse and themselves.

Irwin points to a newer phrase in psychology—nature deficit disorder, where rates of mental distress are raised because of too much technology and not enough nature. He points to his clinic as being one option for alleviating some of these pains, that paying attention to our spot in nature and among others helps increase happiness for animals and their owners as well.