Preparation to participate in the project and in the experience of transhumance
Transhumance is a very intense experience that requires preparation and great management of the group of horses and people. That is why we have created the Transhumance School. Going through the two-day basic training that we propose throughout the year is an essential requirement to be able to participate in our transhumances.
Based on our experience, we transmit and share guidelines and experiences on these topics:
- Purpose of Transhumance.
- Motivation and values of the Foundation.
- Group dynamics and cohesion (people).
- Mindfulness and presence work (ATB). Breathing with what is there (Fitzmaurice Voicework©).
- Body work, emotion, breathing. How to manage nervous activation in moments of intensity (yoga, meditation, Somatic Experiencing©).
- Horse welfare.
- Bases and foundations of communication with horses.
- Training conscious horsemanship and outdoor riding with @Cavalls Guiabosc Baridà.
- Learn to move a group of horses.
- How to interpret maps, GPS and route directions. Organization of the horses on foot and in the assistance car: provisioning, production, preparation of fences and water for the horses, anticipation and safety at crossroads, roads, coordination with the police and local police, traffic stop and safety of the horses' passage.
Horse welfare during Transhumance
Transhumance can be done on horseback or mounted. And we need profiles for both types.
Why ride? When horses pass a path or in a direction for the second time, they already know where they are going and the pace that the herds take is often inaccessible to people. On the ground, we can lose the horses. They would reach their destination alone, but we cannot allow them to cross roads alone that today have fragmented the transhumance paths. The only way not to lose them is to go with them, and this is only possible by riding.
For horses, it can be more annoying to have a person pulling a rope to force them to walk at their own pace than to have a person on top, who rides without interfering with their movement, and with respect and knowledge of the horse's biomechanics and soul.
The Foundation's horses are not ridden, except in specific cases (horses that are prepared and accept being ridden) and occasionally during the transhumance period. The mounted guidance is provided by the professional horses of Cavalls Guiabosc Baridà.
We work with conscious riding, without irons (bitless and barefoot) and we use light, specialized and ergonomic saddles.
Horses are organized into herds and groups that we respect at all times when deciding the order of the horses for transhumance.
We work with nature and not against it, listening, favoring and taking advantage of the dynamics that horses offer us.
