Carolyn Resnick's Horsemanship Blog – Horsemanship from the ground up

In today’s classroom there are some things I want to share and a book I would like to recommend that you can read at this time with your horse, if the weather will permit. I will give you the 5th Ueberstreichen Exercise next Tuesday because it is time for us to pause, reflect and witness our forward progress.

Many people are still working on the first two Uberstreichen Exercises so there is no really need to progress to the 5th one at this time. I will extend the classroom to next Tuesday, which is usually a time for sharing my thoughts.

The blog is becoming a classroom where we are all learning form each other from sharing our experiences, while becoming aware of our surroundings in nature like a horse would do. ‘New magic’ is on the horizon, it is happening all around us from our awareness of our horses in the moment. It was what I was hoping to build.

I am watching the YouTubes that I have inspired people to create. I am watching YouTubes where people keep the camera rolling in real time in the environment and holding beautiful vibrations. On their journey with my Method they are filming their moments with their horses and filming their surroundings in nature. In these YouTubes people are filming beautiful skies and streams and happy rhythmic dancing with their horses and watching people doing nothing but experiencing being truly alive with a horse, breathing in and breathing out with long moments of “whisker touching”. I am seeing many scenes of sunlit air intermingled with tree branches and beautiful backlit spider webs caught in autumn leaves.

A man willing to share what is real without purpose other than wanting to make a connection with anyone who would enjoy sharing the moment in his own experience. What I am witnessing is a new song without agenda with horses. It is a song where we are sharing with one another our private moments we have never shared before with anyone. We are learning through sharing, we are becoming a herd of humans. We are helping each other to develop higher horsemanship from sharing our own experiences. We are building a friendship brought together from the love of horses. I am also noticing that horses are behaving differently than they have in the past from our spiritual evolution in magical ways. We are discovering “the new horse”.

I would like to recommend a book for you to read right at this juncture called the “Songs of Horses” by Paul Belasik. It will help you grow your understanding in how to view and create different approaches in how to connect and train horses. It is one of my favorite books of all time. This book allows my soul to soar and to grow and gives me more hope in bringing us all together to celebrate and share the “cutting edge” of this growing symbiotic connection in cross species bonding and dancing between horses and humans. It is a magical read along with being quit educational.

Please remember to check in the comments section so I know you are still interested and reading my instruction. There as been a lot of drop-off in the classroom. If the drop-off is too large, I will return to the regular articles. These exercises are very simple to learn but are very focused and detailed and need to be practiced over a period of time. I can understand why you might lose interest. They may take too much focus for the average horse owner. I love them and I get lost in the details. I like that they are gentle, simple to employ and produce such amazing results for my students who use them.

I do hope you stay interested. Remember, do not do them for more that 10 or 15 minutes a session. Let me know how they are helping you and if you have any questions regarding their application. Remember to sign in even if you have nothing to add. It is my roll call so I can see if you still want to go forward with the free instruction program.

Have a great weekend

Carolyn

Tags: bond, communication, connection, horsemanship, liberty training, respect, uberstreichen

When I look back on my experience with the wild horses, what it meant to me then and what it means to me now, I realize I have never lost sight of the importance of horses and the natural environment.

Horses have impacted our lives throughout history, and nature promotes their well-being through the harmony of diversity. I appreciate life and wait to be in harmony with my environment before I act. To know horses as deeply as I know them comes from my understanding of harmony. Harmony is not made, it is found. Harmony in nature is the most trusted element in life and is the basis of the success I share with horses.

Humans honor intelligence. We spend time thinking. Horses honor instinct. They spend time being in the moment.

Working with horses is one way people can learn to be here now and get in touch with their instincts. We normally think of instincts as base but I think of instinct as being plugged into the universal connection… and when you are, you do not make mistakes!

Instinct is just as deep and rich as intelligence. Animals know what time it is. They do not run around with wrist watches. More and more, people are depending on machines to tell them what is going on in the world. Animals FEEL it.

Horses also have a natural understanding of when individual rights supersede the rights of the community and when community rights supersede the rights of the individual. That is something about which human beings could use more clarity.

Horses have feelings of guilt. It is what makes them trainable. If a horse bites you and by your response you show him that you did not deserve to be bitten, he will feel bad. Horses bite to find out what’s happening inside and the situation and your response shows them. So, working with horses will teach you what is inside yourself

When I began to share my Method, it was because of my love for horses and my love for empowering people to work with their horses in a way that builds enthusiasm and self-worth. But as you can see there is much more to this experience than that. There is a give and take of information that weaves a tapestry of understanding and a foundation of trust.

When we learn to be in the moment with a horse, we are not only honoring his spirit and gift we are giving ourselves the opportunity to connect with a power beyond ourselves. It is like letting go and watching a mystery unfold before you. My Method encourages you to make this commitment to yourself and your horse and build a harmonic relationship of trust that honors the intelligence and instinct of both horse and human.

Carolyn

Tags: connection, harmony, instinct, respect, trust, wild horses

Today I would like to share with you a video by one of my students using the Uberstreichen Exercises. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

This video clip I made yesterday.

I put the camera up in a tree and started. Before starting I have been reading on Carolyn’s UE Thursday blog and I had printed out the first two exercises and read them over a couple of times and also watched Farah’s and Carolyn/Alexandra’s videoclips on UE. So after the theoretical preparations, I did the mental preparations which was to clear my mind. I clear my mind by watching some video clips of horses, it can be the Unbridled Spirit Videos or listening to a few music pieces. I did not watch the Waterhole reflection DVD yet of Carolyn, but this is the kind of video you can use to clear your mind.

You may notice in the video that I am not distracted of the other horses and I am very focused on what I am doing. My mind is right there 100%. Through my journey so far with Carolyn, one thing that has surprised me the most is how much of what you want to achieve is in your mind. Clear your mind, set your mind and then through the Waterhole Rituals you can “just do” new exercises with out “training”.

This may sound a bit strange but through clearing my mind, sharing territory and doing the other Waterhole Rituals some times, I could make this UE video clip with no “UE training”. What you see in the video is the first time these two horses are doing UE.

I started with giving love and thanks to my horses. That prepared me for working with them, other times I start with sharing territory or a game or exercise to tune focus and attention, it all depends.

Prior to starting the UE, I have worked with the Waterhole Rituals for about two years. Before I have trained basic classical dressage from the ground while I lived in Denmark. The idea of the UE reminds me of these exercises where the goal is first of all to get a “loose relaxed” horse in the head and neck. But there is a very big difference in achieving this smoothness.

I like the UE because it is very logic way to smoothen up and prepare the horse for training. How we are taught to start the UE is through very small steps, asking head a bit down, moving the nose a bit, walking and stopping, lowering head a bit. I like all theses small steps and all the details it really works for us.

The Waterhole Rituals have prepared us and the horses fully trust “giving their heads” to me. We can together focus on what we are doing and not all kinds of other things, so through the Waterhole Wituals we have reached a unity that enables us to continue learning together because we are connected.

I was very focused on the timing, the 5 minutes, the 7 seconds, the 15 feet and the 5 seconds and had gone through this in my mind a few times before starting. I took a deep breath and counted to seven. I walked over the lawn to the horses and counted 15 feet.

I was thinking of what not to ask the horses this first time with UE and that was not to do the 8 figure with the nose and also ask too much arch. I know that most likely my horses would take a step back if I asked for the arch. When Carolyn had watched this video, she me realize that the horses had offered a bit of arching without me asking.

Isn’t that amazing?

The next times we work with the UE I will carefully ask a bit of the nose 8 figure and the arch.

I can be reached at stina@richmondvaleacademy.org.

Love Stina

Do you see what a great response you can get from your horse if you start with the right preparation? As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog post Liberty Training to Riding Your Horse, maintaining the connection is key to whatever you choose to do with your horse and if you couple this with focus as Stina did, you get great results. Well done Stina.

Have a great weekend

Carolyn

Tags: body language, bond, connection, leadership, liberty training, Uberstreichen exercises

I have many friends who are trainers, coaches and skilled riders, who I enjoy talking with on the subject of horses and how to get along with them. Yesterday morning I was having a conversation on the phone with Vincent Spiaggia a friend of mine who is a lifetime student of horses and teacher of horsemanship, like me. Many times we get onto the subject of the different methods of training that have been used over the ages in horsemanship, dressage and other schools of training. Talking with Vincent is always a rewarding adventure.

We were both remarking on the fact that if you choose the right approach with a horse when riding, then less training is necessary. Also how training from the ground translates so beautifully to the saddle if you take the right approach.

The key to this is to have the same considerations in the saddle that you have from the ground, then the connection you have with a horse trained at liberty will translate to the saddle. People who don’t believe that groundwork does translate to the saddle, do not understand the importance of relationship and the true significance of partnership with the horse. From a well-developed partnership, the horse has a much better ability, desire and willingness to be ridden and a better understanding of your aids when riding.

Even those who understand this, sometimes forget that horses are not like cars, which can be driven from a totally cold start. We must never take the horse for granted by expecting him to perform under saddle as well as he does from the ground without any preparation. We must always look to maintain the connection and so today’s blog looks at how you can do this.

Things to consider:
When you have trained in a certain area, it is a good idea to start riding in the area he is familiar with in the first weeks of riding. When you get on your horse, spend some time sitting on him while you ask him to stand quietly. You want your horse to adjust to you sitting on this back and to feel safe doing nothing before you ask for something other than halt. Take the opportunity as you are sitting there to feel what your horse is thinking and what kind of energy he is holding while you are sitting on him.

Every moment you are with a horse you need to keep and eye on what he is feeling and thinking. Is he relaxed or is he nervous? If he is nervous, get off and wait for him to relax and then get back on again. Do this until he is completely comfortable with you on his back and you are comfortable. Even though your horse is well trained at liberty, he still must adjust to you being on his back, this is a daily consideration.

Don’t think of riding your horse if you are in a hurry and unfocused and if in the moment your horse is not feeling comfortable. Warm your horse up from the ground before you get on his back. Before you get on, you need to check the mood of your horse and his feeling towards you in the moment. You want to make sure your horse trusts you, respects you and that he is focused on you. He must be willing to hold the right energy and understand your requests in order to perform what you ask of him. If your horse’s energy changes in a negative way when you are mounted on him, get off or pick a task that would bring back the connection in unity.

When you begin to ride, choose things that are very simple like walk, halt, go, stop and simple turns in the areas he likes to travel in, just like you did on the ground. Ask your horse to take directions, just like you did on the ground. Ride your horse for a short time and build the time you are on him, just like you did when working at liberty on the ground. Always train in short segments at first and build up.

If you approach your horse with the same consideration you did from the ground and always look to maintain your relationship, you will find that your groundwork does in fact translate.

A tip when you are riding:
Ask your horse to move forward with your voice, with your intent, with your thoughts, your focus and from your seat and legs. When the horse starts forward, choose the direction you want the horse to go. Find out what direction your horse wants to go then ask him to go in a direction that you know you could get him to go easily. Choose the direction that would create the best connection.

Ask for halt if your horse does not listen to your directional aids. Wait until you can get him on a dropped rein and when the energy feels good and then direct your horse in the way you want to go. You might have to stop and ask again several times. Ask your horse to take the speed you choose rather that the speed he chooses as this way your horse will stay focused on following your lead. When I start a new horse I also ask him to turn in large serpentines on an unpredictable course so he is focused on following the path I set for him. I like to put tires down and ride around them so the horse has a job and sees the reason I am asking for the turns or I stay on a 20-meter circle.

If at any time the horse does not respond well to your direction, go back to liberty work and build the magnetic connection and the horse’s interest to follow your lead once again. Any time the horse is not responding to your direction, it can be fixed by choosing an approach that would create willingness. If your horse says “no”, don’t persist, do something that you know that bring back his willingness. If this does not work, seek guidance from a suitable coach.

All the groundwork you have put on your horse should give you an ability to make good choices on how to manage your leadership and how to set the dance that will give you the true support of your horse when you ride. It is the same when you ride at liberty, you need the seven heartfelt strings of connection to be there for you. You maintain the strings of connection by the choices you make when you ride.

Carolyn

Tags: bond, communication, connection, horseback riding, horsemanship

Hello. So sorry if you were expecting a blog post yesterday but it was one of those days and I didn’t get round to finishing this till late. Anyway, here is the fourth Uberstreichen Exercise for you to have a go at.

Before I get into it though, each time you practice the exercises, start them from the beginning and do them in order. Remember your horse needs to be willing and in a good mood before you start. Before I start training, I spend at least 15 minuets Sharing Territory with my horse in whatever place he is kept. This way the glue and the connection is always re-established. Stand in front of your horse on a dropped line when you begin each session. Pause for at least a minute and then walk around your horse. If your horse begins to walk off, take the rope and lead him back to the spot he was standing. Hold him for a moment and then release him the moment he is still and say “whoa”.

So, the fourth Uberstreichen Exercise is done like the third exercise with an addition of a halt when you are asking the horse to carry his head down.

Start by putting a marker down anywhere on the circle pattern that you have been walking him on. At this point you will have done the third exercise and for the fourth exercise you are going to try and stop your horse at the marker. When you get a few steps away from the marker ask your horse to slow down with his head held low like in the third exercise and then ask him to stop right over the marker. Bring his head all the way down to the ground, hold him there over the marked spot for a count of 7, then release to a non-influencing looped line, and repeat the whole exercise. Once he can do this, ask him to stop every 20 feet or so in this manner. You can also use a carrot as your marker once or twice if you like. When his head comes to the ground from your pull he gets to eat the carrot. What fun!!

Use the carrot treat only once or twice, not more. Treats can take away the horse’s work ethic, his focus off the goal and onto the carrot. We need to keep building the rhythm in connection between you and your horse.

It will take time for you to develop your skill, so again think of it as practice and discipline. You and your horse are developing team-working skills with one another. When your skill grows from the practice of the exercises your riding aids will improve.

How this exercise will help you is for example when you are riding in dressage as it will help the horse to stay supple while coming into a halt. Horses often confuse the halt request and the supplying aid. When this happens the rider begins to ride more aggressively by putting on more leg aids with stronger rein aids in an attempt to get the horse to respond properly. The horse then responds by bracing and becoming locked in the neck when he halts. Some horses will over-collect and run through the bridle. The horse has no idea that the rider is asking for halt. When riders can fix these problems with stronger aids, the rider then learns to be more aggressive and the philosophy of dressage flies out the window. I developed this exercise for the horse to being able to distinguish the halt request from the supplying request and to be able to respond to both coming into a halt.

A tip for you in using rein aids when you ride: When giving a request with the reins, they must be released after the request for the horse to be able to respond properly so the horse can be in self carriage. If you are coming to a halt, slow the horse first and then ask for halt. Think of it in two stages of request. Do not ask for halt until you have successfully slowed down the horse and the horse will stay slow in self-carriage.

A well-trained horse can perform only as well as the rider can ride. A good thing to give your horse is “no-fault insurance”. When things do not work out, it is usually from not asking the horse in a way he understands.

If you are doing well with the third exercise and your horse is responding, then the fourth exercise should flow on naturally from that. As always, please check in and let me know if you are experiencing any issues with this or any of the other exercises to date.

Enjoy your weekend and go easy on those carrots!

Carolyn

Tags: dressage, halt, reins, self-carriage, sharing territory, Uberstreichen exercises

This was a very good question from Elizabeth in Thursday’s classroom and I thought it would be useful to share my answer with you too.

Elizabeth’s question was how the 7 steps of liberty training I taught in my first video Liberty Training are related to the Waterhole Rituals. Well, the short answer is that they are basically the same although I have obviously continued to develop my Method a great deal since that first video came out. For example, the 7 steps of liberty training I taught back then didn’t incorporate treats as a training aid and the video did not go into as much detail and had fewer related programs.

I realized over many years that I needed to give people more information on how to use my Method because most people have little practice in interacting with a horse without fences or tack. I needed to find a way to give the horse more reason to want to connect with a human and “food” was the answer. By introducing the use of treats, it helped to develop the bond and keep the horse motivated to figure out what the person might want when the person was not clear and giving mixed signals.

The Liberty Training DVD helped a lot of people all over the world for twenty years or more and I continue to sell it to both long-time and newer students. Some people do not want to use treats and some horses actually don’t work well with treats. Some people, after they have the Waterhole Rituals down, would like to develop their skills even further where treats are not used. The original Method still serves a purpose for many people but I would not suggest it for new people just starting out.

In the beginning, there were many reasons that I did not use treats, one being that the horse world was all in agreement that treats for training were not acceptable. Horses do not use treats to develop a bond or so I thought. I wanted to be sure that my horses were truly bonded to me and not to the treats. I wanted the horses to want my company and bond to me as deeply as horses bond to one another. I was looking for loyalty. I wanted to trust that the bond and respect happened like it does in nature where there are no fences. I also did not want to use any sort of manipulation that you would not find with horses in nature. I wanted to prove to myself I had a real ability to communicate with a horse in the same manner horses communicate with each other. I wanted to prove my theory that the instinctual social rituals of horses that I discovered could be used by people to develop a working bond with horses. I needed to determine if I could train a horse exactly the way horses trained horses, by creating a working bond that would open a natural door enabling me to ride them. This did not, in my mind, include using food as horses do not “bribe” other horses.

On further reflection however, I realized that significant communication does occur amongst herd members in relation to food. Rather than bribery, it is based on setting boundaries around access to food. After running a herd mate off a food source, a horse will then share the food with the displaced horse provided appropriate respect is shown. This sharing, including whisker touching ceremonies, clearly involved a food reward.

So I then realized that food does play a natural part. I had seen the whisker touching ceremony as a separate interaction from the horse’s ceremonies of establishing personal boundaries. By shifting my viewpoint, I discovered that horses give food rewards and this gave rise to the answer on how to use food rewards and consequently how The Seven Steps morphed into the Waterhole Rituals and how they differ.

In my original DVD I did not go into as much detail with people. Because in my life at that time people were not that interested in horse behavior, they just wanted the connection they saw I had. Some people thought that I used a round pen for training. In the DVD it shows me working in a round pen part of the time to instruct the viewer. In fact, I only used the round pen to have the camera set up I needed to show specific points of the training. However, I do use a round pen to train a horse but much later in his training after the bond and respect are established and we have developed a partnership and teamworking skills at liberty with my Method. Then I use the round pen to develop the gaits of the horse, to develop three speeds of walk trot and canter. Once the bond is firmly established, the round pen can be a relaxing place that brings out a great work ethic in a horse because there is no place to go, so the horse gets into the rhythm of the gaits in walk, trot and canter nicely.

As any method develops over time, there will be changes. My Method has changed to more support the growing interest in bonding with horse which was always my interest anyway. Using food speeds up the bonding and exposes the aggressive side of a horse more than it would without food. It is important to find his dominate nature so you can shape his behavior into being polite and respectful. The process creates friendship. The Method works a lot faster and is easier and more supportive.

Another thing that is different is that nowadays I put a lot more emphasis on “Sharing Territory” and what can take place in these moments that is so valuable. I cannot stress too highly the incredible benefit there is to just spending time with your horse. You should never under-estimate the value this will bring you and I advise you to not to skip over this Ritual because you think that nothing is happening – because it most definitely is.

So, what do I use today? I use treats and if I find a horse that works better without them, I have the old method to fall back on. I cannot tell you how fulfilling it is for me to have the ability to win the trust, then the bond and then the respect with practically any horse and to then be able to move into a working partnership that is more dependable than even a well trained horse.

Which Method is better? That is a hard call. The Waterhole Rituals DVD does not need the Liberty Training DVD to have clarity. I made the Liberty Training DVD to be used with my clinics and so it needs more support from me. The (Introduction to the) Waterhole Rituals DVD was developed to stand alone and is obviously more my current style and approach with horses. Working a horse without treats definitely honed my skills and the Waterhole Rituals brought about a closeness that cannot be denied and is based on greater knowledge of horse behavior.

I do not therefore recommend the Liberty Training DVD over the Waterhole Rituals DVD for the reasons I mention above. It is however a part of my history and I’m sure the more experienced among you will still be able to learn something from it as you would by watching any experienced horse person at work.

By the way, several of you have been asking about when the full DVD set of the Waterhole Rituals is coming out. Unfortunately we have suffered some delays and setbacks but I hadn’t some positive news the other day about my former videographer perhaps coming to work with me again so I will let you know how that develops. In the meantime, if you have any questions on the subject of the 2 DVDs we talked about today, please feel free to ask and I will pick out several to answer.

If you have any topics that you would like me to write about on my Tuesday blogs, then let me know and maybe I will pick yours!

In fact, lets make it fun. For everyone that sends in a topic along with a self-addressed envelope (address below), I will send you a pair of UE whiskers. The whiskers are the small straps you attach to your horse’s halter that you use to do the UE exercises with. I will be selling the whiskers in the future for $10.00 a pair, plus shipping. We also will be sharing the pattern in how to make them out of leather although many people just use shoelaces. I look forward to hearing from you as ever.

Carolyn

P.S. Please send to your self-addressed envelop to my shipping address: Carolyn Resnick Method, 947 Eldorado Dr., Escondido, CA. 92025, USA.

Tags: attention, body language, bond, DVD, horsemanship, Uberstreichen exercises, Waterhole Rituals

The purpose of the third UE exercise is to teach your horse to lower is head while he is walking. The third exercise is done in the same manner as the second exercise. You will start each day with the first exercise and then when it feels good you move on to the second exercise. When you feel the horse is really connected and listening to your “rein aids,” which are the requests you give your horse through the halter and the rope, you then move to the third exercise.

Start yourself and your horse in “companion walking” on a none influencing looped line on a 20-meter circle. Do some walk-halt requests to get the connection in rhythm and team work going between you. Halt about every 10 feet. When your horse would slow down and speed up with you in companion-walk without the influence of the rope, you can begin the next part of the third exercise. While you maintain a steady speed in walk ask your horse to lower its head while he is walking in the same way you did the second exercise. Lower you head and tuck your nose a bit and request that your horse does the same by pulling on the rope downward.

Take a hold of the rope lightly when the horse will take the pressure increase the pressure and milk the rope a bit with little gives and takes and then when the horse responds in the slightest way let go, put your body up-right and relax and keep walking. When your horse responds, say “good boy” or “girl” with a lovely tone of appreciation. Then relax, breath and mentally shake off any up tightness that may have occurred from the interaction and exercise. Do not ask again until complete relaxation and precision is gained back in companion walked.

Before you ask again check your horse’s attitude and energy. If he seems to be falling asleep wake him up with some walk-trot work in “companion walking” on the circle until you feel the energy returning. If he is high then do the first exercise to bring you horse back to the mid range energy he would need to feel connected willing and focused.

If your horse has trouble lowering his head in walk as you are introducing the third exercise just ask with a stronger pull that you know your horse would tolerate and then slowly release it and continue walking. Don’t wait for a response just ask and release, when you release try not to release in the moments of more resistance, release when there is less resistance but your horse does not need to lower his head. Your horse will drop his head eventually. If he doesn’t you are not asking in a way your horse can understand you. At this point, you will need to experiment or get help.

In the beginning ask your horse to drop his head for only a short moment while you are keeping the pace together. As your horse progresses ask for him to hold his head down for half a step. When his head is down keep the floating hold rather that a firm contact hold. Practice this for a while and then progress to a full step floating hold that he would carry his head lowered and possibly tucked slightly. Ask for the tuck if you think your horse would respond to that idea, if the horse does not offer a tuck do not stay on the subject, be happy with the horse lowering it’s head only. Continue asking for more steps in walk with a low head. Do not ask for more than five steps with a lowered head in a floating hold.

When the head is low and where you want it always have him in a floating hold which has the feel of a looped influencing line but your line looks like you are on a contact line because little slack can be seen. The reason you do not want a lot of slack in the line is to be able to signal the horse in the moment the horse would begin to raise his head. When your horse is in self- carriage with a low head travel with him in a low posture as well. When you are not asking him to lower his head carry yourself in and up right posture so that when you lower your head he will see the difference in your frame which he will see as an invitation to match your posture.

Energy connection, energy connection, breath and stay steady on course, Feel the rhythm that keeps the connection in the partnership.

Think of your horse as a sail boat and your request is the wind in your horse’s sails. Have the energy you want your horse to have in each moment will cause the horse to respond in kind. Put on music, train your horse in rhythm to the music, breath, and relax. Keep your horse to your momentum and give many breaks.

Carolyn

Tags: attention, body language, connection, liberty training, partnership, Uberstreichen exercises

Hello. Today I have a story for you about the power of patience, persistence and also respect, which I hope you will find very revealing.

I was once asked to work with a well-bred warm blood mare who was extremely dangerous to be around. She would charge open-mouthed, intending to bite hard, at whoever came into her space.

She was in her stall-sized pipe corral when I arrived. I spent some time nearby and then approached her to say hello. The mare charged at me, fully intending to bite. I jumped back out of her reach and personal space and waited for her to process what had just happened.

After she settled down, I approached her again. Again the mare charged at me, prepared to bite. Again I retreated, and waited for her to settle.

We repeated this sequence what felt like 50 or 60 times … so many that I lost count. Again I began my approach, and this time the mare let me come right up to her. She breathed on my outstretched hand and allowed me to gently stroke her face. After that, she never again attempted to charge and bite anyone.

This story illustrates the power of saying hello as a lead horse does. What this mare needed was to feel that she had some control over her personal space. She needed to feel that she could say “no” to a person’s overtures and have that “no” respected rather than punished. I gave her many opportunities to say “no” that day … as many as she needed. When she was satisfied that her “no” would be respected, she was able to say “yes” to my greeting.

Do you have any stories about connecting with a new horse you would like to share with us?

Carolyn

Tags: connection, pecking order, personal space, respect, trust

I’ve had a change of heart. I previously said you should master one exercise before moving on to the next. However, as the second Uberstreichen Exercise is a lot easier to do than the first, I’d like you to give it a try to see how your horse responds, even though he may not yet be able to do everything I mentioned with the first exercise.

When you read about this second exercise though, it will seem easy to do but don’t be surprised to find out that your horse will need training and practice. Please do not get frustrated and quit. At first, your horse may do the exercise easily but be a little harder to control. It is part of the process so be prepared.

You can do both the first and second exercises at the same time. The second I believe will help you to complete the requirements of the first.

We are going to add another 10 minutes to your exercises. As you advance, no more time will be added to your practice time. Remember as you are practicing the exercises to continue to do your usual program of riding and training with or without tack. The Uberstreichen Exercises are made to benefit all equestrian pursuits, meaning you can add them to any existing program. You should notice an overall improvement in the other things you do with your horse from your practice of the UE.

Do not work with the program on the days your horse is not super willing and behaving like a well-trained horse that is focused on you and in a good mood.

Spend 10 minutes on the first exercise working on the arch of the neck standing in front of the horse and then another 10 minuets on the second exercise.

You will never work more than, 20 minutes a day on the UE.

For the second exercise, start out walking your horse on a loose line in a circle of about 15 to 20 meters diameter. Choose the size of the circle that is the easiest for you and your horse to do together. Do this for 5 minutes. You should have a magnetic connection in walk, which means that the horse will naturally move with you around the circle at your side and stop and go when you stop and go.

Remember these exercises are for advanced horses that can perform the Waterhole Rituals or pass the test I laid out in the beginning of the course.

As your start with companion walking, halt your horse about every 15 feet around the circle.

Halt on a dropped line and wait there for a count of 7. If your horse moves off, use the rope to bring him back and put him on the exact spot he was standing on and get him to stand there on a dropped line. Take all the time you need till the horse learns to stand exactly where you tell him.

After 5 minutes of walking and halting around the circle, you can add the next part of the exercise. When your horse is at a halt, take the rope about 10 inches down from the halter and gently pull his head down by give and take. Take a hold of your horse more than give until your horse’s head is waist high from the ground. His ears can be above your waistline. Lower your body down when you are asking him to lower his head. Both you and your horse should be stood parallel. When his head is down where you want it, release the hold. If it comes up, bring it down and release the hold. Practice this head down in a halt position for no more that 10 seconds and then ask him to walk with you on a dropped line for another 15 feet. Repeat this for 5 minutes.

If your horse stalls in his companion walking or does not want to go forward from the halt, use the reed behind you and tap your horse forward with it. Make any adjustments you need with the rope and always work on getting the horse to a dropped line when ever you can.

Try to keep your horses head straight when his head is down and do not let him look off to the side. Use the pull of the rope to make the adjustment.

As your horse is more able to do this exercise you can start asking him to lower is head and to tuck is nose when it is lowered.

You want him to learn to hold his head down and tucked on a dropped line for a count of 7 only. Take as many days as necessary to get to a count of 7, there is no hurry. The longer the horse takes to learn what you want him to do, the more effective the UE is to the overall performance of the horse. When your horse comes out of “the tuck” or raises his head, use the rope to guide him back. When his head is where you want it, release it and wait until you need to bring him back to the position you want him to be in.

That’s it. We have now completed the second UE and I hope you find this exercise a lot easier than the first. After you can do this exercise easily, I will explain why I chose it but first you have to go out and try it!

Carolyn

Summary of the Second Uberstreichen Exercise

• Start out 5 minutes on a circle on a dropped line in companion walking position, your horse at your side.
• Every 15 feet halt your horse and try not to use the rope unless your horse is clearly not going to stop. Go back to the dropped line.
• Stand at a halt for 7 seconds and walk on.
• Next 5 minutes, ask the horse to lower his head at the halt, repeating the same pattern.
• When your horse can do this, you then add the nose tuck as part of the exercise.

Tags: companion walking, dropped line, Uberstreichen exercises, Waterhole Rituals

I want to thank you for reading my blog over this past year. I believe you are a part of a group of equestrians who are on the cutting age in supporting the horse’s journey with humans. It is an ongoing pleasure for me to be on this journey with you.

I know many of you have your own web site, school, healing practices and products, are competitive riders, trainers and animal communicators. I firmly believe in the strength of community and I invite you to take this opportunity to share in the comments what you offer to the horse community and how our readers can find you.

You might also like to share a story of how the magic of your work has helped people in making a better connection with horses. Please also share any story you may have of how horses have improved your life and how you have improved theirs. Everyone likes to read personal stories, so please share yours, no matter how insignificant you feel it may be. I developed my Methods from these moments people would call insignificant.

Through my blog and my Methods of training, I have developed connections all over the world and have had the opportunity to work also with many people here at my ranch in Escondido California.

I would like to publicly thank a great many people who have supported me this past year and have made a list of them at the end of the post.

I also want to thank all you who took my Insider Circle Program and In the Box Programs, for banding together through the Insider Circle Club that developed afterwards. The Club helped the community stay together and lend support with the evolution of each other’s liberty training and dancing. Community connections and supporting one another on a national level is the wave of the future. I feel blessed to be a part of this enthusiastic growing community of humanitarians.

I enjoy coaching both beginners and professionals in my Method. The Insider Circle was full of both and I believe this mix was a great part of the success of the Programs. It is always rewarding to help new people working with horses and it was also informative for the beginners to see how the Method helped professionals get a better connection and performance with their horses.

I read the other day that, with the right teacher, learning is the highest form of entertainment. As an instructor, my life is a playground and my students and horses are my close friends. I want you to help you find and use your personal power and freedom to be creative when using other training methods, rather than follow rules which clearly seem to offend the partnership with your horse. I believe and teach that you should use rules in a way that best serves you and your horse and not let the rules beat you both down.

I have seen horsemanship rules make a person feel stripped of their own personal truth and what they know of right and wrong. Training horses nearly always seems to boil down to these rights and wrongs, of ethics and how a horse needs to be lead. There is little written on how to train a horse by developing a bond through companionship activities, in a way that is truly natural to a horse at liberty. I am therefore currently in the midst of writing such a book and hope to have it published later this year. What I want is to contribute to the world of horses is a method that develops the bond, where training deepens the friendship and brings entertainment to the horse.

I am still holding a dream for the Sorraia Center. It is a tourist center designed to bring awareness and understanding of the culture of horses and our journey with them through the ages. The center supports a school that offers study programs on herd behavior, leadership and communication of horses through the study of the herd rituals of horses that build their community. There is a study program in how horses raise their young to fit in to herd society.

There is also a study program that highlights the difference between lead horse and dominant horse behavior. Students learn how to integrate into herds of wild horses, to develop a working bond and to train them in my Method without tack or the need for fences. When they have made a bond with a horse in nature, then they have an opportunity to advance their skills in horse training by continuing on into bridle-less riding and lastly into dressage training using my Methods.

The school is funded by the public visitor center income. All students are on scholarships, so no one is denied an education because of a lack of funds. This is most important to me. Education should be freely available. Through the school curriculum, a student learns how to be truly functional in community activities. It is the aim of the center to produce fully realized humanitarians with a strong desire to be a leader. For we learn how to better support others through our leadership in community.

My secret to training horses is knowing that horses have a natural desire to bond with humans. They have a natural desire for community and their greatest need is for companionship. When horse people can understand this, they will discover that horses are very easy to train indeed.

Through time spent with them in companionship and in quite solitude, horses have given me an understanding of all things on earth. Now through my blog and all of you who read and contribute to it, I feel I am supporting the evolution of kindness that grows partnerships that know how to get things done. I am a natural humanitarian and love what I am doing, and feel grateful to be able to bring my Method to the forefront of the equestrian world. It’s wonderful to see that the world of horses is turning a corner, and looking at horses differently now. Rather than seeing how they can support us, it seems people now want to pay the horses back for their years of loyal service to us. From a horse’s need to bond with humans and from humans becoming more aware of the integrity of a horse, a new community between horses and humans is emerging. We are all entering into a new era with horses. I feel blessed too to have the opportunity to see such changes happening in my lifetime and to be a small part of them.

Please remember to write your stories in the Comments section and may I wish you all the best and a very Happy New Year!!

Carolyn

Here is my roll-call of thanks:

• Jeannette Correia – who handles my shipping and in office work. Without her support, the ship would simply not run.
• Mark, Elke and Tessa – for all they have done personally, running the blog, handling the many details in my growing classroom and helping to spread the word.
• Alessandra Deerinck – my apprentice student, with whom I have worked with for the last three years. I also what to make you aware that Alessandra is now certified in giving clinics in my Method, both here at my ranch and in Europe. She is a human dynamo and is currently writing a book on retraining racehorses using my Methods amongst many other projects she is persuing on my behalf.
• Stormy May – for her work to bring this new era to the attention of the world through her film “The Path of the Horse” and for choosing me to be a part of the film.
• Liz Mitten Ryan – for sharing her connection with horses and for her workshops from her ranch in Canada, which has become a healing center where horses heal humans.
• Stina Herberg – for her work in the Caribbean and her lovely videos and for the workshops based on my Methods.
• Stuart Camps – for his programs for the camels.
• Kim McElroy – for helping all me and many others to find and unleash our ability to draw horses in a new way.
• Connie Funk – for her great book, “Beauty from Brokenness” and for being an advocate of my Method.
• Linda Kohanov – for her book, which I have been using as my teaching aid for my self realization workshops.
• Robin Gates – for her programs in Santa Rosa on my Method.
• Shelly Martin – World Champion cutting horse trainer and student in my Method and Panadero, for spreading the word through exhibitions where they dance together at liberty, in a true loving connection that demonstrates the new relationship we can foster with horses.
• Julia Felton – who came over all the way from the UK, studied with me for 5 months and put together the wonderful Blog Collection Vol 1 book, which is receiving a lot of great reviews. And if anyone from the UK wants to learn my Method, then please do get in contact with Julia via the blog.

Tags: bond, community, connection, humanitarian, student, truth