Horse whispering:

Training horses and seeing the world from a horse’s point of view is all part of the job for a Waikato couple (above) who feature on this week’s Country Calendar. Melenie Parkes reports.

The psychology behind training horses.

Ruth Carlyle and Russell Higgins run a unique training centre for horses and their owners near Te Awamutu, Waikato.

Brumby Farm is the culmination of the couple’s shared passion. They teach natural horsemanship, which Carlyle describes as, “training horses using their nature rather than against their nature”.

“It’s not that we’re all touchy-feely tree-huggers,” she laughs. “We just use much more of a psychological approach, so we very much try to see things from a horse’s point of view.”

If their philosophy sounds reminiscent of the 90s book and film The Horse Whisperer, you’re not far off the trail.

“Sometimes we even call ourselves that just so people can get some kind of handle to pin us on,” says Carlyle, explaining that natural horsemanship relies on horse and trainer gaining an understanding of each other.

“It’s not magic. It’s just that they’ve learnt to read our body language and we’ve learned to read theirs. We’re having this constant conversation the whole time.”

It’s a far cry from Carlyle’s former career as head of airport security at Gatwick Airport following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“It was a crazy time, absolutely crazy after 9/11,” she says. “I hardly slept for worrying about what was going on. So this is a bit more of a relaxed life, in a different way.”

Carlyle, who met Higgins when he was working in the UK as a horsemanship instructor, came to New Zealand to live five years ago.

Their work allows them to also travel the world teaching natural horsemanship techniques. At home, Carlyle specialises in working with women and children.

For some of her clients it’s been some time since they’ve ridden a horse and they need a confidence boost to get back in the saddle.

“We’re like relationship therapists,” she says. “We really try to help people get their relationship back on track with their horse.”

Horses are increasingly used in therapeutic work and Carlyle believes this is because of their intrinsically honest nature.

“We have a little saying – ‘Your horse is your mirror’.

“They’re just these wonderful animals who will reflect back the emotion that you’re feeling.”