Companion Walking & Liberty Dancing Working Together for a Stronger Magnetic Connection
Jun 8th, 2010 by Carolyn Resnick Method
This article is for the Insider Circle and In-the-Box students. I am sharing it this time on the blog page to give us more time on the calls for questions. I am sure my blog students will find some benefit as well.
Companion Walking and Liberty Dancing are two out of my seven Waterhole Rituals. To ensure a good connection with the Companion Walking, you choose your speed and course to keep the connection intact. If your horse loses interest or energy, take a break and then after a while, you can activate his energy by putting him into canter and maintain it until his energy has picked up.
For those of you in the class you can now consider working your horse in a space that is small enough so you can influence your horse to keep your horse going. Now that you have the basics of my method down through your practice, you can begin increasing your horse’s energy for a stronger magnetic connection. If you choose to start working the last Ritual Liberty Dancing make sure that the space you choose to work him in is large enough that the horse still feels he can escape your influence if he chooses. I prefer you to work a horse in a triangle than a circle because a horse feels freer in a rectangle. The more freedom a horse has the more secure he feels and a person tends communicate with their horse better if the horse is more secure. Some horses work well in a small place and others need a larger place to be at there best with you. You can choose what you think will work for you and your horse.
If you choose to start working with the last Ritual Liberty Dancing in a smaller place you want to approach your horse in the same way you did when working him in a larger space. Try to stay away form the fence line.
What you do not want to do is use the fence line to trap the horse in the moment of your request. All you want a smaller place for is so you are able to keep him close enough so you can keep him going if you need to. Your horse is ready for a smaller enclosure when he still feels his freedom and is happy to be with you in the smaller space and very willing to take direction happily. I think Mary’s field is the perfect size for most horses. Take a look at her you tube in the comments section.
Up to this point, you have been focused on the Strings of Connection that the Rituals produced as a way to achieve the magnetic connection. You have not been focused on controlling your horse’s energy. Now you are ready to begin creating the energy of your horse as a way to keep the magnetic connection working for you. Let’s say you want to have your horse trot big and come to a halt. That takes a lot of energy to want to work at this pace so you would ask him to canter in the field freely until his energy is built up and your horse wants to perform fast stuff. If your horse gets too excited, you would then keep your horse way from you until he settles down.
Not using tack or fences to trap a horse in the moment of a request you need to strategize more.. Not using the fence line and listening to your horses feelings and only working with him when he is willing, causes you to pay more attention to the decisions you make and the direction you would choose to take. If you choose to work in a smaller place, it is important to keep the same kind of thinking you have when your horse has all the room in the world to get away for you.
What not to do.
Working at liberty, you are always paying attention to what your horse is thinking and what he will be thinking soon. You are building your mind reading skills. While Companion Walking without tack, you would not walk your horse to some place you know your horse would not want to go or someplace your horse would want to stay. Eg: someplace scary or where the treats are.
What to do.
The way you would communicate to your horse while Companion Walking is that you would choose the speed you think you would be able to get your horse to accept. If your horse wants to walk faster than you, you can use your leadership influence by slow down. Or if he is too slow you would raise your energy and body language, lift your posture, and push to the outer edges of the magnetic connection you are sharing. You can feel this place. It feels like you are sharing a bubble together and you don’t want to step out of that zone. It is what I call the heart area. If you go beyond this place, you will lose your horse. If you see your horse is focused on something ahead that would lose the magnetic connection, you would immediately turn to a new direction to take his mind off what was ahead. If he were walking too close you would halt and wait for your horse to be at ease and then change your course that would cause him to turn away from you giving you more room. If a horse is too close, you turn toward him causing him to move way from you. When he is not close enough you make a sharp turn away for him to cause him to step toward you. You are working with your horse in companion walking the same way a mare handles her foal. She has no tack she can only call upon the tendencies in her foal’s instincts to move away from anything approaching it and to follow anything that is leaving. A mare cannot run after her foal to keep him safe, she can only run away from the danger that draws her foal way from the danger as well. She must plan the path she takes to keep her foal connected.
From the practice of my Method, you start to read what the horse will think before he thinks it just like the mare with her foal. You acquire your ability through working at liberty practicing the rituals and from sharing territory with your horse. From Sharing Territory your brain downloads programs of how to lead and how to be and causes you to focus on keeping the connection rather than wanting your horse to perform in a certain way or thinking that your horse needs to be a certain way for you to feel good or loved or respected. All those qualities are up to you to develop in your horse. You learn that relationship is something you need to focus on for the bond to deepen and from this focus; it will bring to you the best part of life and the best part of others to your life.
Giving freedom to a horse causes you to think like a horse whisperer. My Method working at liberty causes you to develop your skill as a leader that is desirable to everyone in your life. You learn how to not expect anything but what you have right now and to be able to read your horse better.
Horses are great guideposts in shaping our attitudes as leaders, friends and partners.
There are three operatives in keeping the connection; Push, Pat and Pause, they are used in courting, shaping and relaxing. In leadership, you court instead of force. In moments of connection, you shape behavior instead of repromand. In freedom the pause and push creates the magic and the draw.
If you can train a horse at liberty, you learn how to lead without force. You are never disappointed with your horse’s behavior because you have no control over it. You learn the importance of predicting what your horse might decide to do next. You learn how to please your horse without losing his respect and how to adjust his attitude to be respectful and connected.
If anyone is watching you in the training of your horse, it looks like a dance not a drill. It is important that your horse enjoy his training most of the time. Not all the time! If your horse is always getting his way, the horse will not develop good coping skills for life and would not have a desire to fit in with you. Just the right amount of challenge makes life enjoyable and more rewarding as well as wanting to fit in. You want the training to continue to grow the bond and the respect. If the bond and the respect are growing you are on the right path. The dance in harmony and unity is the out come.
I hope you find that helpful.
Carolyn
No related posts.
Dear Carolyn,
After reading this post Tuesday evening, I could not wait to get out yesterday morning and play with these ideas with Z. I took him to a smallish (100′ x 300′) paddock that is the closest thing in size to Mary’s place that I have available. It is bordered on one side by woods and occupied at night by a yearling colt and an older gelding, but vacant during the day. There are lots of interesting smells and sights there that Z is not familiar with, because his barn and pasture and our usual playground is nearly 3/4 of a mile away and we only ride up there occasionally.
When I brought Z to that paddock yesterday, he was too distracted by the new environment to maintain much of a connection. So I scrapped my plan and sat on a log and shared territory, thinking we’d start to get more active when he gave me his attention. I sat there for about an hour, eventually getting my camcorder and watching DVDs of some of our previous sessions. By the way, I see much I want to change in my body language when I watch video of myself, little movements I was totally unaware of that seem like unnecessary “noise” when I see myself making them.
Z took a long time to relax and come stand by me, and even then lifted his head with concern when a big woodpecker began doing its thing, loudly, to a nearby tree, a sound he probably hears every day. Z never really relaxed and gave me his full attention, so I ended the session on a quiet note, having just shared territory and not even attempted to ask for more energy.
This morning was also very different from what I planned. For one thing, I got a late start, which in Florida in the summer has dire consequences because the temperature rapidly becomes really unpleasant. My mother, who is 88, was with me, sitting in the car. I “companion-drove” Z (at liberty, very cool) from his end of the farm back to the same paddock and drove the car right into it so Mom could have an unobstructed view from the car. Again, Z was distracted by the new environment, but significantly less so than yesterday. We shared territory for a while, then started to play. I did a few hellos to build rapport, then drove him from behind for a while at a very relaxed amble, then moved into companion walking at a comfortable walk. He was a little more distracted than usual, but reconnected nicely every time I asked him. All was going well until I asked for companion walking at a trot, something we do all the time. But this time he lagged, as if it was just too tiring to keep up with me. I moved behind him and sent him away at a canter, and instead of boomeranging back at a canter like he usually does, he trotted back slowly, even when I backed up pretty fast. The next time, I sent him out with, I thought, more energy, but he returned even more slowly, falling down from a trot to a shambling jog to a walk even though I was backing up as fast as I could on that uneven surface. It was almost 11:30 in the morning by this time and very hot and humid. I decided not to push it, went back to the car and sat in the air conditioning for a while. Z stood next to the car with his nose resting on my arm in the open window. Everything felt peaceful and nice between us, but so much for today’s experimenting with increasing energy.
The really odd thing was that as I drove back to Z’s pasture with him along side the car, he seemed full of energy. I increased speed until he was cantering along and he did not lag a bit. Of course, we were heading back toward the herd, a big draw, but he did not leave me or pull ahead, which he easily could have done. Nor was he the too-hot-and-tired-to-put-much-effort-into-anything horse he had seemed ten minutes earlier. I’m not sure what this means. Maybe it was me who was too hot and tired to ask for more energy from inside myself, and he was matching the real me and not the me I thought I was or wanted to be. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll start at an earlier, cooler hour and see what happens.
Hi Carolyn and every body
I’ll do my best to make a video..
Thanks for your inspiring mails.
Tine
Insiders Circle
Carolyn,
I have only ridden Yowahtee this past couple weeks, since January, because of a herniated disk in my neck. January was when I had time to read your book and really discover you, this blog, your DVD’s, etc…and begin trying to do some of the rituals with Yowahtee. Then you offered this class, and I was thrilled.
Today, I went to the barn, shared territory and said hello with Yowahtee for a couple hours ahead of a riding lesson. Since I have come back to riding a couple weeks ago, I have focused completely on riding with feel and the heartstrings of WHR connection. Once I tacked him up, I companion walked with him around the arena, envisioning us in a connected bubble. It was wonderful. Then I rode in my lesson and it was the most amazing lesson I have had, not because of the content, we were only walking, doing sitting trot, posting trot and going over ground poles, but because of the connection we had. It was as if we were in a continuous conversation, with each of us enamored with listening to each other. I know that this has occured because of the connection we are building with your rituals.
It was amazing and felt dreamlike.
We companion walked before I mounted and we continued into companion riding. Simply AWESOME! Thank you! I know we are going to love dancing together side by side at liberty and making a dance while riding when we reach that stage, because of the even deeper connection we are growing in your class.
Thank you! You are a gift and a blessing.
Connie
Dear Carolyn,
just checking in. I miss last year’s Insider Club…..
Thanks for bringing up the mare/foal relationship in this context. As humans we tend to think of grabbing when it comes to leading, and using tack makes that tendency stronger, but it is the movement of push and draw (like ebb and flow) that constructs leadership with horses.
Best wishes,
Christian
Thank you Carolyn for your response (12,11). I can see that being able to bring the energy back down to calm is so important and the companion walking should be first and foremost as a solid foundation to the higher energy dancing.
Regina
Dear Regina, 11
That is what it is all about. Be careful to do companion walking so you do not lose it. Once they start liberty dancing it can be a habit that you do not want so you need to very it up. They can get like dogs that get obsessed with fetching a ball.
Hi Carolyn,
I’m an Insider Circle Student. I love this post and will tell you about my companion walk/liberty dance I had with my 4yr old Micah. Moon was on the other side of the fence. I walked out to ST with Micah. I sat on a log and he immediately came to me and wanted interaction. I got up and he joined me in a walk (away from Moon). I felt very connected to Micah and his full attention was on me. After a time and as a whim I asked him to go trot which he immediately cantered off a short distance and chased the dogs and bucked. Then I asked him to come in, and I was using a lot of body language and enthusiasm during this. Well he cantered right toward me and I stepped toward him to establish my space. He stopped on a dime, reared and politely stood. We connected again in a calm way and I asked him one more time to go trot and he did it again and came back to me! I was so happy because he could have just left me and ran back to Moon any time. And we were in about 20 acres at the time. I was amazed that I could keep the connection without tack or fence!
Thank you!
Regina
Carolyn
thank you for sharing your insider’s circle post with the rest of us.
Insiders Circle
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you for the informative and interesting information. I am looking forward to working with Yowahtee on these things and working to increase the energy.
I haven’t been able to be with him as frequently as I am in the middle of my son’s high school graduation and his graduation party. He graduated last weekend and next weekend I will have an open house.
However, today while working on some chores at home, I listened to your Liberty Training DVD again and was amazed at how much more I understood and connected with since being in your class. It was really interesting for me to see the energy and be reminded that there were no treats used in this video. I think once I introduce carrots to Yowahtee, he has trouble not thinking of them when I say good boy, and has hopes when I praise him of there being one for him. Watching this video today was very helpful for me to see.
I really just wanted to check in and let you know I am still here.
Thank you for everything you are teaching and sharing with us. It is an amazing journey and I love the endless depth of learning and bonding that comes with your program.
Connie
Dear Carolyn,
Thank you for another good post. I have not checked in for a while because my Fjord foundered – bad, and I fell and hurt my tail bone. Erick, my Fjord, is recovering quite nicely, and I am a little more mobile myself now.
I really liked the “Push, Pat & Pause” word picture. The more I work with horses, the more I realize that they learn in the “Pause”. Reading this helps me remember to slow down and take note.
I also thought warning us to keep free of the fence line was stellar advice! I have a student that seems to constantly be working her horse, too close to, or into the fence line. I think she forgets where she is spacially, but the horse doesn’t. I told her if she was trying to “Push” me into the fence line continually; I would have some BIG trust issues with her. She is improving, and her horse is becoming more willing.
Previously, I wrote that my mustang, Lyle, was really giving me trouble. I have since dissapated the problem by working with him on very small things that require lots of thinking on his part. He is now running to meet me again, and asking for “something to do”. That boy has a LOT of play drive, and I just needed to figure out how to keep his mind and body busy. He has also become much more affectionate. He gave me his head to hug the other day – something he doesn’t usually offer. I continue to enjoy your blog.
Toni
Things going pretty smoothly with the Jacks. The owner of the barn where Gunner was recouping from his abscess surgery has been watching me play with my horses, and asked me to take over the ground work of two of the horses at the barn, the Jacks. Big Jack is a large paint horse, who never showed much liking for humans. Pepper Jack is terrified of everything, and a horse I never would have thought to actually ride. We’ve been playing for about a week and a 1/2 now. They live in a box stall with a small run attached. Their toplines are non existant, both around 8 years old, but they look more like 28. They simply stand and wait for time to eat. It is nothing short of solitary confinement. Their stalls open up to an alley, that connects the barn to the indoor arena. If I open the south door of the arena, it opens up to a small pasture, and freedom.
I can now open the doors to their stalls, point towards the indoor arena at the end of the alley, and they both trot on down to their 2 hours of freedom, mud rolling, grazing and play time. It’s like watching kids run out of the classroom the last day of school.
That indoor used to hold a lot of tension for these horses. Drilling, lounging, and just a bigger box. Now that arena is a two bedroom play pen, one bedroom is a small pasture and they both run in and out of the indoor, squirting out the door and back out into the sun and green grass. It’s still a place of fear for Pepper Jack. He doesn’t visit the indoor often. Still, too much pressure in this small box. He isn’t ready.
If you were unaware, you’d think it was Big Jack that had made the most progress. But it’s little Pepper Jack that has made the biggest strides. Our first day he jetted to the other side of the arena, frantic. It’s always been a place, like I said, that has held great anxiety for him. Yesterday, he shot down that alley, and headed right for his little pasture. He willingly said hello, trusted me to approach with a large horse weed, after Big Jack took a bite, that is. I can touch him anywhere, and he moves with the slightest thought from me. He responds with my mind. Just my mind. He invited Tequila to play over the fence, and I’ve never seen him play before. I’ve known this little grump for four years. He’s never played. He companion walks, leads from behind and his reciprocal movement is lovely. No, he hasn’t invited me to play, and his confidence isn’t where it needs to be for me to invite him. Soon.
My chair is in the right side of a large doorway, between the pasture and the arena. Big Jack will come racing in, run around the arena and jet back out to the pasture, with much exuberance. P Jack wasn’t that crazy about playing with him, so the next time he came jetting in, I stood up and walked into the middle of the arena. He went into robot and I guess he expected me to lounge him. I walked over to him and threw him a snakey neck. Ears forward, eyes roll my way, a question! Another snakey neck, I nip him on the side of the mouth, and run off like a crazy woman. Jumping, bucking (as best a two legger can buck without falling on my a$$) It took a couple of invitations from me, but he finally took off running, neck arched, threw me a snakey neck, kicked out and we were off! I did a much smaller circle in the middle of the arena, but matched his rythm, which he took note of. We had a blast. We danced! We jetted on out to the little pasture, stopped and grazed together, nose to boot. He gave me a great companion walk, later on.
What I’m shooting for is a relationship with the horse as the horse would be with other horses. P Jack is a right brained introvert with humans. Fearful, spooky, unconfident, a little scarey. With other horses, he’s a left brained introvert, calm, more whoa than go, mellow little guy. Big Jack is a left brained introvert with humans, and I think maybe it’s his way of shutting humans out. It takes a lot to get Jack to move under saddle. He is obediant, slow, boring. With other horses, he’s a left brained extrovert, playful, exuberant, silly, dominate, and lots of go. The more I do this, the more I see the horse they reallly are. They are beginning to trust me, and that gives them the opportunity to give me who they really are.
The freedom to leave has made a huge difference in how they see me. To be able to leave and go to a little piece of heaven, and I’m ok with that? Mind blowing. That I encourage them to decide what they want to do, that they have choice, and I respect their opinion! I’ve been doing the rituals for about a year now, and almost daily. I’m learning to anticipate, and read the horse, just as they do to one another. It’s getting easier to become one minded with them, and there’s my connection, right there. Just like the movie, Avatar, it’s like we plug into one another. I open my mind, which is empty of agenda, and they open theirs, which is full of trust. I’m sorry this is so long, but you have to know, keep dong this. It awkward, at first. You want things to go faster, but how fast can you let go of your old self? How long does it take your mind to let go of all thought, be in the present moment, and open the door to the heart of your horse? You have to let go of who you think you are. You are much like that horse who acts differently in the company of humans. It’s not you. It’s who you present to protect yourself to other humans. You don’t have to put up those walls with a horse, you know. You can be who you truly are, that child like innocense is safe, the boy with the black stallion lives within you. Let go. Surrender it all and give it to your horse. He is your soft place to fall, your teacher, your confidant, all that you dreamed could be. It’s all inside, waiting, just like your horse. The whr’s will teach you how to do this, without sacraficing your dignity, and will give you healthy boundaries to keep you safe. They will teach you how life can be lived, even in the company of humans, as a lead horse. It will change your life.
Hi Ms. Resnick,
Great, thank you so much! I just ordered a video camera this week and it should come next week, so I will try to get a YouTube up soon so that you can look at it.
Thanks!
Hannah
(In a Box)
This is such a complete post! Everything is in it in a nutshell
. It is very timely for me too because I have been confused about something I did with my mare Kría. I think I already figured out what went wrong (so much for the trial and error 
) but reading your post makes it even clearer, especially this clue: “Your horse is ready for a smaller enclosure when he still feels his freedom and is happy to be with you in the smaller space and very willing to take direction happily.”
I will write in the questions section what happened, with a YouTube.
Dear Hannh,
The blog just before this one is how to handle your horse when the connection gets broken. You can find your answer there. This blog is about how to companion walk with your horse when the magnetic conntion is in operation. Send me a you tube. I thing you are having another problem but I do not want to comment untill I see it.
What a helpful blog. My pony Rainey is doing nice beginning Companion Walking. Snowy and I are still negotiating leading from behind. (Robin Gates’ clinic this weekend was very helpful.) But I have the same question that Hannah does. How do you keep the focus when the horse (like Snowy) is so easily distracted and “lets” everything spook him– Often it seems like a kind of disrespect or lack of acceptance of my leadership.
Thank you.
Virginia
What an informative post! It was helpful to read about some of the specifics, like “Push, Pat, and Pull,” and ways to help increase the connection during Companion Walking.
I have a question about it, however. Sometimes when Companion Walking, Maia will suddenly get spooked/very distracted by something scary, and will break the connection. When that happens, would you suggest I just walk away and return to Sharing Space? Or should I go into Eye Contact to get focus back?
Thank you!
Hannah
Dear Candle,
Send your horse more forward before he start to really slow down and turn in. Only ask for two circles at a time. So he does not feel over worked. As time goes on you can increase the amount of circles you ask for.
Thank you, Carolyn, for this very liberating description of how to get where I so much want to go. I cannot wait to go out and play tomorrow morning with these thoughts in mind. I finally glimpse, I think, how I might get a high level of energy while keeping an intense and focused connection. If I am understanding this correctly, one of the keys is to use an enclosure large enough to encourage free forward movement but not so large as to let the horse, who initially equates speed with energy, get so far away from me that our connection becomes attenuated and finally lost.
I have a video I will post as soon as I can figure out how to get it off the tiny camcorder disc and onto Youtube. It shows me playing at liberty with my gray TB Zar in an 80 acre field a few days ago. Most of the time he is cantering or galloping alongside me and our connection is so intense that when I stop suddenly, he slide stops and wheels instantly around to come back next to me, obviously totally engaged and enjoying the game with every fiber of his beautiful body. The catch is — I am driving my car and he is running along side. It was the only way I could imagine to keep up with him without restraint when I invoked his energy and got thoroughbred speed. And it works nicely, as far as it goes — we both enjoy the car game greatly and he gets a fine workout while I sit with air conditioning blasting. But I never manage to keep the same intensity of connection while asking for big energy when I am on my own two feet. At least, not for very long. I can keep a low-energy (walk, peanut-pushing jog, medium trot, relaxed lope) connection pretty steadily in open spaces. But if I ask for a sustained rythmic canter, he usually stays on the circle for a lap or two, then slows down, loses focus and comes in to me, asking to stop. If I increase my energy and drive him forward when his pace is about to slacken, he responds by increasing the speed and size of his circles until he spins off into the distance and our connection is lost. This does not happen in a round pen, of course, but we rarely play there any more because it was feeling too robotic even before I took this course, and now I understand why. We mostly play in open fields on the farm, which I see now may be responsible in substantial part for why I have not been able to have both strong connection and high energy at the same time, except when I can keep up with him in the car. I literally cannot wait to get out and experiment with upping the energy in a Mary-sized enclosure.