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Driving past Whispering Sanz near Cape Town, you might be lucky enough to see the herd of horses cavorting at the dam. Some might be grazing peacefully, others might be belly deep in the dam or rolling around in the shallow water and there will definitely be some horseplay with one of the boys teasing the more serious-minded girls!
Sandi McFarlin, owner of Whispering Sanz Equine Centre, and developer of the Sanzanne Natural Horsemanship Method, was born and raised in California in the company of many of the founders of the natural horsemanship (NH) movement.
Sandi comes from a long line of ranchers and Quarter Horse breeders and the love of horses has been a consistent theme in her life. She moved to South Africa in 1997 and finally realised her lifelong dream by opening Whispering Sanz Equine Centre at the end of 2006.
Sandi teaches that many NH clinicians have something to offer. It is the wise horseman who will expose himself to a wide range of thinking and then use what works – based on sound principles.
Her teaching is simple, highly structured around principle, practical and not slavishly based on the teachings of any single “NH Guru”. She has a reputation for “telling it like it is” which is what makes her a powerful teacher and one who earns the respect of her students (and the horses) without needing to intimidate them.
The most important word in Sandi’s vocabulary is “SAFETY”. Central to her approach is to ensure that her clients learn enough to be safe around horses before anything else. This covers areas such as teaching your horse to respect your space, learning to predict likely reactions in a range of eventualities, safety on trail rides and when to withdraw from a dangerous situation.
Foundation training
Sandi regards herself as a foundation-training instructor. Most problems that riders and horse owners experience are due to neglecting the foundations of horse/human relationships.
She addresses the basics by empowering her students to build a solid, trusting relationship between horse and human. In the words of Pat Parelli: “Love, language and leadership in equal doses”. The key is developing communication between horse and human until both are ready, willing and able to become partners.
Much of this work centres on assisting clients to become appropriately assertive in their relationship with their horse. Many clients (often women) tend to be too passive with their horses for fear of “losing their love”, thereby creating potentially very dangerous situations.
On the other hand, many clients (often men) tend to be too aggressive, causing a fear response in the horse. The golden middle of the road is to be assertive. Sandi is skilled at analysing the relationship between clients and their horses, and devising tailor-made strategies for each client based on sound principle and 40 years of experience.
“Problem” horses
The old adage that “there are no problem horses, only problem owners” forms the basis of Sandi’s “troubleshooting” practice. Generally, Sandi prefers not to diagnose or retrain “problem horses” without the owner’s participation, as the problems usually lie in the relationship and not only in the horse. To facilitate this, Sandi has developed simple accommodation options for owners of visiting horses.
Many of Sandi’s clients embark on their horse journey late in life or return to it after long breaks. People in these circumstances often go through low confidence episodes, which reduce the joy of the experience significantly.
Sandi specialises in enabling clients to pinpoint the reasons and develop strategies for building their confidence. This is normally done through a combination of groundwork to rebuild the relationship and safe, gentle rides that gradually stretch the comfort zones to within acceptable boundaries for horse and rider.
Equine centre and livery
Whispering Sanz is a 100 ha facility, divided into smaller paddocks of between 5 ha and 20 ha. To ensure that the horses live as naturally as possible, all of them live out 24/7 with access to shelters if they choose. This enables them to live as horses were meant to live, graze and play.
At night, they are brought closer to Sandi’s home from which she has a bird’s eye view of them all. During the day, they get turned out to roam at will but are brought in twice a day for grooming, checking, medication, treatment and supplements.
As far as possible, natural herd structure is encouraged and the herd disciplines all foals and new arrivals, teaching them appropriate horse manners in a supervised setting. If necessary, smaller groups are created to protect vulnerable horses.
The psychological improvement in their horses is the most frequent observation of new livery clients. This is due to natural living, positive herd dynamics and knowledgeable handling by Sandi and her team.
For the human clients, there are two dressage arenas, two 20 m round pens, a 75m x 75 m “playpen”, secure tack room and ablution block.
Clinics and rides
Once a month, Sandi runs clinics that are mainly aimed at foundation skills for small groups of clients to ensure individual attention.
Every weekend there are several structured trail rides for livery clients (and visitors) aimed at working on developing the relationship between horse and rider, building confidence, improving balance and also having fun! Sandi also uses these rides for schooling green or recently backed horses.
With 100 ha, plus access to neighbouring farms, Whispering Sanz offers incredibly scenic and safe opportunities for you and your horse to have fun in a professionally managed and sympathetic environment – and to do it the natural way!
For more information, contact Sandi on 082 777 9922.
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