Hi, this is Mark here. As you may have seen, Carolyn’s site has been down the last day or so for which I profusely apologize. At this stage, we do not know exactly what happened. I am guessing it was some sort of hack attack, a professional hazard of working online. Anyway, we have restored a backup from LAST SUNDAY 23rd, so if you made a comment on or since then, it may have been lost. Please go back and check if you are not sure.

Apologies once again and normal service will now been resumed… here’s Carolyn!

As many of you know, I use treating and food very specifically and purposefully in my work with horses. However, in the ‘Saying Hello’ Waterhole Ritual, you do not want to use treats. The reason for this is it causes the horse to focus on the treat and not on you.

I gained a deeper insight into why not to use treats during the Hello Ritual from the dog whisperer, Cesar Milan. Watching his TV show, I learned more clearly the way a dog’s mind operates. I was feeding my food-aggressive dog, Apollo, the way Cesar suggested and now that I have … Read more

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Positive leadership behavior is using leadership that a horse would appreciate and would be willing to accept. Positive leadership behavior would be to ask and not to expect and to encourage if you are not getting what you want, and then, if you are not getting what you want, change the subject to something that would bring relaxation, trust and harmony to the horse. A good rule of thumb is to train in short windows of time with lots of pause at liberty or on a loose line.

As horse owners, we need to shape a horse’s behavior to fit in harmony with us because of practical reasons and keep their pecking order personalities social and respectful. We need to set an example for our horse in the kind of leadership that we would like him to offer us. This way, the horse learns to treat us exactly like we treat him in regards to leadership. This creates a 50/50 partnership, with the exception that we are the ultimate leaders of our horse because we are setting leadership by example. Captivity requires leadership.

Even very fearful horses can become pushy. At this time of Marilynne’s training, she has become pushy … Read more

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I have a new haflinger mare named Marilynne that I have taken into training to help with the Insider Circle program courses I am currently teaching. When I brought her to the ranch no-one could put a halter on her because she would not allow herself to be approached. It was not an easy job for me to get one on her but I did and she is now here at the ranch with me.

Marilynne is a special case because she is very fearful and not the kind of horse that I recommend for beginners doing my course for the first time. I will have to proceed at a slower pace with her, which will help you to see the many details of my Method.

To her credit, Marilynne is smart willing, and easy to train if she doesn’t get scared. Her previous owners thought that she was difficult to train because she did not respond well to their aggressive training approach, which they subjected her to over a long period. They aggressively round penned her, chasing her at top speeds with her head tied to her saddle while lunging. As punishment, they left her tied in a stall … Read more

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When a horse is responding to me from my influence, I am focused on what he or she is feeling in the moment. I want my horse to be engaged so that I can develop his interest to dance with me with enthusiasm, looking forward to the adventure and challenges that face our growing relationship. I want the partnership to be a co-creative adventure. When I listen to my horse in each moment, I can capitalize on furthering the relationship and his performance by making adjustments to my leadership approach and the horse’s program. I adjust my leadership and the program to fit the evolution of the horse’s dance behavior while at the same time building his interest in learning and performing.

Every time I am training, my big focus is on evolving my skills of connection and courtship to keep the dance alive. I also focus on being sure that I bring my horse enough fulfillment of his need for companionship and connection, which is important to a horses psyche. Sometimes courtships are not smooth and we often make mistakes and in turn make over-corrections. It is through the “making–up” that we re-establish the bond that makes our connection … Read more

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Today’s blog comes to you courtesy of my apprentice, Lila.

Working on the ranch as Carolyn’s apprentice student I am having many opportunities to appreciate the subtleties of the Waterhole Rituals and learning what creating willing relationships with a horses REALLY looks like.

As a professional consultant and coach, working at training people for the past 25 years, working intensely with horses for the past 12 of those years, I feel that I have a good grasp on what it takes to create willing partnership in my students and trainees etc. But that being said, I must tell you that what horses are showing and teaching me is dramatically expanding that understanding.  I want to share with you the continued evolution of what my horse Sebastian and I are creating together.

Some of you may have heard about my experience with my horse Sebastian at liberty in the arena a few weeks ago; how I was playing with him looking to see what training opportunities would evolve.  We played with a barrel and I learned about the power of focus and sharing leadership though reciprocal movements.   As I have observed Carolyn with horses I see that with some horses

… Read more

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When I first got Apollo, I decided I wanted to see how a dog breeder would handle him to give him a bath. I wanted to see his behavior toward a bath so I would not make any mistakes and start a behavior in him that I was responsible for, that would develop a bad connection with him. I learned a lot. What I learned is that she talked to him with sweet tones every minute that she was bathing him helping him to feel secure. When he got too whiney and nervous the husband would come into the room and poke a finger into his rib cage and say “Settle down.”

To my surprise, Apollo responded by settling down and the wife would then would go back to sweet talk. The husband’s energy was on the muscle but calm and direct. They had a plan. One of the reasons it worked is that down deep inside them they knew it would. Because of this, it influenced my dog to accept his bath like they expected him to.

I learn by watching, reading, experiencing, practicing and the big one, evaluating. From evaluation, I can usually come up with a plan … Read more

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I am offering this blog page to a student of mine, a long time self-realization coach using horses, Talley Hutcherson. The reason this story is important for you is in the way it may improve your understanding of the need to assess a situation for yourself and teach you how to approach your horses in times of lost connection.

I want you seeing your broken connection from the horse’s point of view because from this point of view you will create a game that will bring back the connection and train the horse for new behaviors at the same time, like Talley did for her journey on her new career. I also what you to see that the exercise she chose to use is a great way to put a strong gas pedal onto a horse and to teach a horse what a good idea it is to move way from you when you ask the horse to move way. The lesson she chose teaches so many things to the horse. This is another reason why working horses separately is a good idea. Enjoy!!

Carolyn

From Talley Hutcherson:

As a student of Carolyn’s I am always concerned about being creative

… Read more

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