Maurice Bois looks like a stereotypical old-west cowboy, from his tanned weathered face to his slightly bow-legged swagger. That's where the similarities end.

 

His psychological approach to horse training couldn't be further from the old-school rough breaking of a horse subscribed to in days gone by.

"We're trying to get people to get more unity and connect to the horse, to understand the mind of the horse, then we can have this unity and balance between the creature and the being," Bois said of the recent True Unity Natural Horsemanship (TUNH) clinic at his Palmyra farm.

 

Bois leads Judy Daniels' newly purchased three-year-old bay mare Chancey into the arena. The horse's ears prick forward and twitch with calm curiosity at the 30 people watching her. The mare arrived a day and half ago for training.

 

"My job is to read the mind and understand the mind, read the body language, understand the body language," said Bois, who has been teaching TUNH for 30 years. "This mare was hurt upstairs by its head, I wanted the mare to tell me what its past history was so then I know where to direct the mare's mind to trust people."

 

The mare follows Bois and doesn't flinch when he moves a looped lariat in the air around her head before hanging it over her ears and down her face -a far cry from the spooky head shy horse Daniels dropped off. Amidst the chuckles, Bois asks Daniels if this is the same horse she brought in."Looks like the same horse but she doesn't act like the same horse," said Daniels, a 40-year veteran of the horse industry.

 

Bois moves around the mare, snapping ropes next to her and winding them around her relaxed body, explaining quietly how he gets a horse to trust him.

Bois explains that "in 15 minutes you can do this. It takes patience and understanding to know how to read a horse's mind. Who taught me patience? Who taught me how to get into them? The horse taught me what I know today."

 

Kirk Vollans made his first trip to Bois' farm three years ago. A novice rider, he used a severe bit to help maintain control of his gelding."I was as green as the grass, maybe greener," said Vollans of his horsemanship at the time. "I was riding in the saddle but there was no connection." Bois had him switch to a soft "baby" bit that didn't jab the gelding's mouth. "I released the pain from his mouth and freed his mind," Vollans said, adding there are no quick fixes, just steps towards communicating and building trust. That clinic was a defining moment in his life."I got a taste of it and thought, 'I need more of this,' I've been hooked ever since," said Vollans, who is now Bois' apprentice.

 

Dan Clarke, 17, attended the clinic because his three-year-old buckskin mare Punk lacks trust and hides it with attitude and bossiness. Punk is one of a dozen horses benefiting from hands-on training at the weekend clinic.

"Last night I went home and tried some of the stuff (taught Saturday) with excellent results." Clarke appears genuinely surprised that a quiet hand gives a horse such peace of mind and encourages trust so quickly. "Before I was always pulling with the horse and forcing it," Clarke said, adding he's got a better understanding now of how to get into his horse's head and gain its trust.

The TUNH weekend clinic offers something for the greenest of horses and riders to those who've been in the business for decades.

 

"It never hurts to get someone else's opinion of things, their view of things," said Daniels, adding for new owners TUNH offers a solid foundation on which to build their relationship with horses. "I think when you stop learning you're done," she said. "There's so much to know that you can't learn it in one lifetime."

 

In the arena Bois conforms Chancey by rubbing her shoulder and talking softly until her head droops and her lower lip trembles loosely away from her teeth with total relaxation and trust. "The calmer you are, the calmer the horse," Bois said. "(The horse thinks) this might be an OK guy, and all of a sudden they get curious. When the curiosity starts to set in, you've got a working horse, because they are not being hurt."

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