Ray Hunt (1929-2009) is considered one of the pioneers of the natural horsemanship movement that has had such a huge impact on horse training today. In the 1950s Ray had a problem horse that bucked. He asked Tom Dorrance for help, which worked, and the horse Hondo became the hackamore working cow horse champion at the 1961 Cow Palace event. Many current horse “experts” credit Ray and his friend Tom Dorrance for creating an entirely new way to relate to horses that was natural instead of punitive.
Ray was known for his respect of the horse. He liked to say, “I’m here for the horse.” Everything else was secondary. “When you ask your horse to do something it should be his idea… he wants to do it, he understands how to do it, and he does it.”
His words are often repeated at clinics in every part of the world today.
“The horse – he’s is a living, feeling, decision-making animal. He’s willing to learn, but you’ve got to show him. So you make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy. You just fix it up, and let him find it. Notice the smallest change and the slightest try……..You don’t make him lope; you let him find the lope. You offer it to the horse so that it becomes his idea. You always give the horse a way out, so that it’s his choice to do it…..The horse doesn’t know what a contest is – what win or lose is – but the human does. The first thing you know, you’ve got the horse contesting you – and don’t be surprised if he’s the winner. The horse doesn’t have any pride or ego – the two things that really get in a human’s way.”
Hunt was born in Idaho, moved to Nevada and later California. For decades he conducted clinics all over the world and by example spread his message. He was inducted into the California Reined Cow Horse Hall of Fame in 2004 and was named the first Western Horseman of the Year in 2005. His wife Carolyn currently lives in Mountain Home, Idaho.
Here are some testimonials from his fellow cowboys at Eclectic Horseman Magazine.
You can obtain Ray’s books and DVDs at Ray Hunt.