The holiday offers the opportunity to learn about horses, their psychology, and body language as well as the right way to work and communicate with them. Natural Horsemanship India focuses on teaching you the basics of natural horsemanship in theory and giving you the chance to implement it in practice with horses who are all safe and trained. They help you connect with horses and learn to communicate with them, and therefore, train them in ways that make sense to horses. This holiday focuses on developing a connection with horses from the ground.
During the day, you will be at the farm with the horses, dogs, and cats, surrounded by the countryside, learning about natural horsemanship with Asia’s only Monty Roberts instructor. You will learn all there is to know about how horses think, communicate, and relate to other horses as well as to people. You will get to implement what you learn in practice through guided interactions with safely trained horses. You go every day to the farm.
Depending on what you are interested in, they can also take you on local hikes in the beautiful area and visit the Friendicoes animal sanctuary, with whom they have been working actively. The fees you pay go towards the care and well-being of horses and other animals, as a priority. It covers all the time they dedicate to teaching you.
They are passionate about what they do and their methods, which is why they always ensure that you get to learn as much as possible. As such, by volunteering, you actually only pay a fraction of what you would be paying to learn all these skills. Your contribution also helps them finance the charity projects that they do and do not get paid for, as well as take care of the rescue horses and dogs they have picked up along the way.
The program is adapted to each client, their ability, fitness level, interest and time of the year (for the heat/rains) but here's an idea of what a typical day would look like:
- 7-8am wake up, breakfast at home before heading out to the farm (approx 15min drive depending on the road situation)
- 8.15-9am arrive at the farm, greet all the animals, check on everyone, clean the stables, feed them, brush the horses
- 9am-midday: horsemanship session
- lunch break
- 1-4pm: horsemanship session
- 4-5pm: end of day tea break, preparing all the animals for the night
- 5-7pm free time back home, opportunity to walk to the local shopping area, cafes, book stores, spas etc
- 7-9pm: dinner
On top of this schedule, we can add outings, trail walks etc.
If you come at a time of the year when it's very hot (usually April to September) the days would start earlier, with a break back home for a nap, and then evening sessions.