Hi again. Thank you for all your interest and kind comments about my new Waterhole Rituals Insider Circle Program. I was delighted that it proved so popular with you and in fact it sold out. We therefore decided to run a second class for all those who could not get in and you can sign up for this now at the Coaching page. Both classes will begin towards the end of May.

Right on to today’s post and I’d like to talk about something we will be talking a lot about on the Program and that is developing the connection with your horse.

To keep this magical connection you share with your horse each day and out of respect, you should check in to see if he is still feeling the bond he shares with you. Have you unknowingly violated his trust? Do you need to re-establish the trust before you begin your work? Does he want to join in with the activities you have planned for him? Does he run to meet you at the gate because he is looking forward to your work together? If you can lead him without a halter and he will swish his … Read more

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Hello and hope you had a nice weekend. Today I am delighted to announce the launch of my brand new training program I’m calling the Waterhole Rituals Insider Circle Program.

I’ve put together the course because I’ve been getting so many questions about the Rituals from people who want to know how they can develop the true working bond that we all seek. Once you have this, your horse becomes your willing partner in your performances together, whatever they may be for you.

You and I will spend 16 weeks together (via telephone) as I walk you through each of the Rituals so that you fully understand them all and how they all work together towards your goal and the results you seek.

So let me tell you about the Program and what we will all be doing together. It consists of the following elements:

• Pre-Program workbook and an audio CD of an introductory talk on the Rituals that I did with Anna Twinney
• 7 x 1 hour Group coaching calls, which will be a mixture of instruction, question and answer and open discussion
• 3 x ½ hour Group follow-up calls to check on progress and make adjustments
• The

… Read more

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Today I’d like to continue to talk about the ubstreichen excercises I use.

The exercises isolate and address blockages in the horse’s body, whether in the neck, jaw, shoulders, back or hocks. Once the horse performs the exercises easily and properly, he will be in front of the leg. I have found that the exercises’ greatest benefit appears in their use before competition. They enhance the horse’s way of going, its attitude and desire to perform.

Clarity of aids is the key to a horse’s willingness to perform. A horse commonly gets turning rein aids mixed up with supplying rein aids and half-halt aids. We can hardly get angry at a horse for turning off to the subtle differences of our rein aids and leg aids. Many times, when asked to supple, a horse will drift in or out of the turn because he thought the rider was using a turning rein rather than a suppling rein. I believe most performance problems are caused from the horse’s lack of understanding, which can create defiance.

Some individual problems can occur. Aggressive horses with big performing gaits can find it difficult being submissive to rein aids when they are at the top … Read more

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Hi again. A week or so ago I mentioned my uberstreichen excercises and many of you wrote in asking more about them. Well, the good news is that I have just given the green light to produce a series of DVDs on how I use them. These will be coming out later in the year and in the meantime, here is a piece I wrote about how the excercises can help with dressage.

Uberstreichen or more correctly, überstreichen, comes from German although there doesn’t seem to be a literal translation you can use (unless you can tell us otherwise!). What I like about the exercises are that they can be used on all horses no matter what level of training they have received. The purpose of the exercise are to enhance the forward expression of the horse’s gaits. They improve collected and extended gaits by giving the horse the ability to perform with ease. They support the horse’s way of going by removing locked muscles while simultaneously schooling the horse to respond correctly to rein and leg aids.

The eight uberstreichen exercises are exaggerated requests of the half-halt. There are eight because they cover the different ways we want the … Read more

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Hi and thank you for all your lovely stories, photo’s and videos from Tuesday about working with my Method. Sorry if I haven’t replied to you yet, I will try and get to you.

It is only natural when we learn something new to have many questions and I know how frustrating it is not to have these answered. As you start to work with the Waterhole Rituals therefore, I really want to support you and so I am thinking of putting together a program that will enable me to walk you through the Rituals and then answer any questions you may have as you go along. We’re still looking into this at the moment but if you have any questions that I haven’t answered or any suggestions as to how this would work best for you, then please email Mark at info@carolynresnick.com.

The other day I was asked how my Method fits in with Natural Horsemanship and afterwards I thought the question would make for an interesting blog post. So this is the written up and expanded version of my answer.

In the initial relationship, rather than training a horse, my desire is to create a spiritual connection, … Read more

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Thank you everyone for your ‘birthday’ messages, encouragement and all the energy you have all personally brought to my site. When I share with you my knowledge of horses and how you can develop a connection for all your equestrian pursuits, my focus is to empower horses and humans alike to connect in partnership with one another, in harmony and understanding. I want to support all the different formulae and methods of training for self-reliant people. My focus is to help you to develop a communication system with horses that enables all other methods to be easier to apply. Last and most important of all is to help you to develop a connection to the heart and soul of the horse by following a path of harmony and unity.

As I indicated last week, to work with a horse you need some amount of natural leadership ability to create trust, respect, loyalty and harmony in a working partnership. The good news is most people have this ability to draw upon from their own life experiences.

How I improve situations for people who think they have problems with their horse is to focus on what is working in the relationship and … Read more

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Hello. Today is the first birthday of my very first blog post on April 9th 2008! It’s been quite a year here on the blog and I have really enjoyed all your comments and all the interaction and discussion that has developed. Keep it coming!

If you have any suggestions as to what you’d like to see or hear from me, then do let me know (by posting a comment!) and I will do my best to provide it.

I would also like to say thank you for all your kind words and support. It’s wonderful to know that my Method has touched so many of you and is making a difference in your life and that of your horses. I feel very blessed.

On Tuesday, we were talking about having natural leadership ability and the importance of this when working at liberty. Let me explain what I mean.

Someone called me and asked if they could get any benefit training their horse with my system from watching the DVDs alone even though they did not have previous horse experience. So I asked him some questions and from his answers I felt safe to say I thought that in his … Read more

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