Ray Hunt (August 31, 1929 – March 12, 2009) was an American

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

and clinician of significant influence in the

natural horsemanship Natural horsemanship is a collective term for a variety of horse training techniques which have seen rapid growth in popularity since the 1980s. The techniques vary in their precise tenets but generally share principles of "a kinder and gentler ...

field. He had

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

Natural horsemanship

Hunt is widely regarded as one of the original proponents of what became known as

. His views about horse-human relations were embraced by inspirational writers about human relations. Lance Secretan wrote that "We may respect a leader, but the ones we love are servant-leaders." In the beginning, Hunt said,"I was working in the mind of a lot of people who didnt want to believe the horse had a mind. Get a bigger bit. Get a bigger stick. That was their approach." Ray Hunt is said to be Tom Dorrance's best-known student. They met around 1960, at a fair in Elko, Nevada. While Dorrance avoided media attention and clinics, by the mid 1970s Hunt was giving clinics far and wide. Ray Hunt is famous for starting each clinic with the statement "I'm here for the horse, to help him get a better deal." He also liked to say "make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy." page 32 His philosophy has been interpreted as "If you get bucked off or kicked or bitten, you obviously did something wrong . . . The horse, on the other hand, is never wrong". The idea that "the horse is never wrong" is often misunderstood by people who think Ray was talking about the horse's behaviour, he was rather meaning the horse's reaction to human behaviour. The horse always interprets human actions in the moment, they don't think about the past or future in the way that people do. So, their reactions to what is happening in the moment is always pure, they reflect what the human did with the utmost integrity. If we want to change the horse, we should first change ourselves. As Ray said "it's easy to change the horse, but it's hard to change the human". Ray Hunt was a

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

and teacher of

Buck Brannaman Dan M. "Buck" Brannaman (born January 29, 1962) is an American horse trainer and a leading clinician with a philosophy of handling horses based on classical concepts from the vaquero tradition; working with the horse's nature, using an understandin ...

Works

*1978 ''Think Harmony with Horses: An In-depth Study of Horse/man Relationship'' *1992 ''Turning loose with Ray Hunt'' (video) *1996 ''Colt starting with Ray Hunt'' (video) *2001 ''The Fort Worth Benefit with Ray Hunt'' (video)Mountain Home, Idaho *''Back To The Beginning'' (video) *''Ray Hunt Appreciation Clinic: 2005 Western Horseman of the Year'' (video) *''Ray Hunt: Cowboy Logic''

References

External links

Official website
American horse trainers 1929 births 2009 deaths {{US-equestrian-bio-stub

Natural horsemanship

Works

See also

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Further reading

External links