You can’t go to a retail show without getting some classroom time.  Most lectures talk about how to pick merchandise, how to plan the store’s budget, how to engage customers and how to present the merchandise.  The WESA Market is the first retail show we attended where a presentation was a live horsemanship demonstration.

Ken McNabb is a modern day cowboy and the star of a syndicated cable show, “Discovering the Horseman Within” where he teaches horsemanship and horse training to a broad audience.

In his presentation Ken used a young partially trained colt to demonstrate how to work with horses and encourage them to partner with their rider without using anything that could be deemed as abuse or intimidation of the animal.  He relied on a riding crop, which he tapped against the horse’s ankle wraps to encourage it to both pay attention to him and move in ways he desired.  He quickly convinced the horse to walk along with him without being on lead, stop when he stopped and even take a few steps back when he backed up.

Ken advocated not using force or intimidation to get the horse to cooperate, saying that earning the animal’s trust and attention goes much further than the old methods which relied on fear to gain the horse’s cooperation.

This session was a refreshing change to the usual fare of business oriented presentations that retail shows host.  Ken told the audience that his presentation is an opportunity to educate retailers whose customers are often the people trying to train horses.

Ken McNabb on horsemanship

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