This week we have a story from Natalie van Andel (Italy), sharing the inter-species connection between a horse and cat.

After having been coached deeper into Carolyn’s method by Alessandra Deerinck in Italy, Natalie went to Carolyn in California for an intensive one month in-depth apprenticeship and came home as a suggested trainer in the Carolyn Resnick Method. The following is a copy of the letter she wrote to Carolyn about this event and a few videos of Fulmine (the cat) and Lenoir (the horse), who spontaneously started interacting, and how their relationship evolved to a natural and spontaneous ride of the cat on the horse.

Dear Carolyn,
Lately I have been so lucky to see the evolution of an inter-species connection that brought to the spontaneous invitation of Lenoir (the horse) to Fulmine (the cat) to mount his back. These events proved to me undoubtedly that horses indeed have an instinct to be ridden when the connection is there. As you always say. Something I did believe already before, but had never seen happening so clearly right under my eyes. During the Christmas period Elke and her family went for a holiday to Stina in the Caribbean. I continued

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The Hello Ritual is a ritual I use a lot. It is so important. The Hello Ritual has the power to keep deepening the bond as much as Sharing Territory with a horse does. How you go about saying hello is important. The Hello Ritual needs to be performed with feeling and sensitivity. In your approach you can carry on a conversation with a horse by when you step toward a horse or pause or back up and walk away. It is a dance to show a horse your good attentions and respect for his feelings. It exhibits your intentions in respecting his personal space. It shows your horse that you can read his feelings when you respond to him like he would want you to.

This ritual is most useful for working with wild horses that do not trust people. It is a real ice breaker. It works with all creatures. It is the strongest dance of respect I know off. The dance of the hello ritual really pays homages to the rights of animals. It will help you inter the other side of nature kingdom. In this world you can experience unconditional love. Here is a video that … Read more

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If this is your first visit welcome and thank you for visiting my blog. I want to explain to you the purpose of my method and my blog. I hope that my long time readers may also get some benefit from me defining my purpose and history yet again. Each time I write a description of the purpose of the blog and the history of my method I think that I add yet another perspective that might be important to you in some way.

How I Developed My Method

I developed my Waterhole Rituals Method by watching cohesive bands of horses in nature interacting together around water sources and how they raised their young, developing bonds, and how they made their daily social adjustments through rules that they follow regarding pecking order. I also learned how they develop their ranks through daily rituals. These rituals are the rituals that I teach in my method.

Early on I learned that their pecking order was not a survival of the fittest but rather a way to have clear ranks for the purpose of survival and to create harmony and unity. I found that lead horses were not the strongest or the most … Read more

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*This week’s guest blogger is Alessandra Deerinck, Certified Carolyn Resnick Trainer, California

THE HORSES AND I.

Just recently I had a chance to see people and horses smile! I was watching two of my students, Vivian and Brent, work with the Waterhole Rituals and a new horse I have in training and it took my mind a few years back in time, when I first met Carolyn. At that time the experience I had was the sight of a human being and a horse understanding each other and interacting in harmony. From the very first moment watching her work with that horse, I was inspired and became determined to learn what she had discovered.

Now, watching Vivian and Brent work with their horse, I feel deeply grateful to Carolyn for empowering me to be their teacher. In fact this happens every time I watch my students and their horses work together. Vivian, Brent and the new horse were experiencing the same feelings I had when I started to study with Carolyn and realized that she had found a true common code between human beings and horses. Anyone that has this experience is deeply touched. In fact, one of my students … Read more

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The Left Brain vs. the Right Brain

There is the left brain and the right brain. This idea helps me communicate with my students and understand how to approach a horse in the moment. Being a linear thinker, using the left brain, a person would need to follow a specific formula for training a horse. Where a right brain thinker would be more creative and be able to come up with solutions and be more focused on the relationship with a horse rather than the goal.

Coming from a more creative empathetic approach, a right brain thinker, a person would have a more natural ability in knowing how to approach the training of a horse. For example: when to let a horse settle, when to change the subject to something that would be more desirable to the horse, when to press on or when to pause; and how to keep the horse focused, willing and respectful.

Horses would like a person to take a right brain approach because it is more friendly. With a left brain approach a person would not be so flexible in dealing with the conditions and moods of the horse in the moment. Horses naturally work … Read more

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