Posted in Advice, Clinics on May 31st, 2012
Playing with Mustangs
Neda DeMayo the visionary and founder of Return to Freedom ~ American Wild Horse Sanctuary and Robin Gates have been long time friends and students of Carolyn Resnick. Robin was interested in working with mustangs and bringing them along in the Carolyn Resnick Method.
Hi, my name is Nicole Tomlin and I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Neda when Robin and I traveled to Lompoc to pick up a mustang about a month ago. We went to get one and brought back two.
Oso is a spicy Dun whose family is from the Sulfur Spring herd in Utah. Me-Too (the name should be self explanatory) is a roan whose family was from the Heart Mountain herd near the Montana/ Wyoming border. After the mustangs arrived at the Rising Moon Ranch, Robin and I began by just spending time and being near them. We would scratch them when they would allow it yet nothing was asked of them, nothing at all. Soon they would nicker to us as we walked by, earning carrots for their communication.
Every day is incredible with the mustangs. They truly are sacred beings. They are great teachers and carriers of wisdom. It
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Posted in Advice on May 24th, 2012
How to Send your Horse Away when he Doesn’t Want to go
I want to address a big concern that many horse loving people have when working with their horses at liberty. This problem does not exist for wild horses and their new human partner or even newly born foals or for domestic horses that live in a natural herd. However, there are a lot of horses and humans having this problem. The problem I want to help people with is how to drive a horse away from you when you are wanting to get the life up in your horse for liberty dancing. By being able to do this, you can really have some fun for you and your horse. Dancing with your horse at liberty you get some exercise and bonding time in play like the boy in the movie “The Black Stallion” when he danced with the Black Stallion on the beach.
To understand why it is important to send a horse away, when he does not want to go, will give you courage to make it happen so you can enjoy the magic. By sending a horse away at the moment he wants to leave you … Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 17th, 2012
Valuable Life Lessons that Contribute to Your Well-Being from Training Horses
Horses are changeable in their attitudes and emotions from willing to unwilling, trusting to fearful and relaxed to hyper. Basically a horse’s nature is dynamic, cautious and willing. That makes sense; we are a lot like that ourselves. Horses have two changeable behaviors. They will fluctuate from trusting to not trusting and from social to anti-social…again a bit like we 
are in our own society. They also seek leadership and live in communities and family groups…hmm, a bit like us. However, when they feel secure and have enough space, food and water they live in unity and harmony with one another.
They are very social and caring and are outwardly affectionate. They seek unity and harmony with one another, most of the time. Once we have formed a deep cross species bond with a horse, it will be deeper than the one we can share within our own species. When we share this cross species bond, the horse shows us how deep our feelings of friendship can truly be. If we choose to look for this connection with all things, our personal well-being and appreciation for life are enhanced. … Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 10th, 2012
Eye exercises for your horse and how to develop the weaker side
Test your horse and see how your horse is using his eyes when traveling in a circle. If your horse is working well in both directions; when he is going to the left, he will use his left eye to guide him into the circle and when he is going to the right, he will use his right eye to guide him. If your horse is not working well in one direction, it often times can be corrected by eye exercises.
Put down a bucket of food, walk your horse in hand around the bucket of food and then turn him towards the bucket, in a tight circle. As you are approaching the bucket, make sure that you only let him see the bucket with the one eye, using the eye that is on the inside of the circle. How he goes up to a bucket reveals allot in how he responds when you ride him in left or right circles. Does he try and turn around and face the opposite direction when he goes to put his head in the bucket? If he does, it shows that … Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 3rd, 2012
What not to do raising a foal and how to develop respect
When a foal is born, he is born with all his instincts intact. But he can loose his instincts quickly by how he is treated by humans and even his own mother. He has a natural desire to stay with his mother when he is born. From his instincts and his mothers behavior, he learns very quickly that he needs to keep up with his mother rather that his mother keeping up with him. This helps his ego not to get out of control; it keeps his herding instincts developing.
One of the first lessons he learns from his mother is when it is alright to nurse and when it isn’t. This is a very valuable lesson. Right in the beginning he learns how to fit in and how to problem solve and work around his mothers needs. His mother can shape his attitude by teaching him that he can not always nurse when he wants to. He must learn to cope and listen to her wishes.
Learning how to fit in gives a foal an ability to learn new lessons easily. If a foal does not get … Read more
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