Horse Training at Liberty with The Carolyn Resnick Method
Mar 15th, 2012 by Carolyn Resnick
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.
A perfect balance in nature for horses to live in harmony and unity with one another
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 dominant. Bringing this information to the public eye I felt was important for the horse world. It is my contribution to the horse world and what I want to be remembered for.
When I Started Sharing the News about Lead Horse and Dominant Horse Behavior Being Different
Since 1978, I brought this information to people through my clinics by giving tours across the US, my DVDs, my book Naked Liberty, and my programs from my ranch in Escondido, Ca. and now from my blog. I am pleased to see that what I have been sharing about herd behavior, pecking order and the difference between dominant behavior and lead horse behavior has become accepted and has helped horses and humans to get along better. I believe this news is the most important piece of the puzzle in gaining a working bond with horses.
The care taking nature of horses
I discovered that the lead horse was not self serving. A dominant horse is all about holding the highest rank he can and is very self serving in general. The lead horse is focused on the well being of his band. A dominate horse can become a lead horse but when that happens he starts to learn that being dominant and self serving will drive his band away to go join other herd. He must change his ways. He learns that in order to keep the peace and the loyalty of his band he must become a care taker to keep the peace, order and harmony. I know that there are bands that are not harmonious, but in time they will be. If this is not the case, humans have played a part in their upset or their resources are not in balance with the needs of the herd community. What I like about my method is that the leadership of the human can not come from a dominant approach; he learns like the dominant horse, he must use care taking leadership to keep the willingness of his herd.
The Freedom at Liberty to Escape – Brings on the Magic!
Working with my method, giving a horse freedom at liberty to escape his training and to break the connection, gives a clear advantage to a horse being able to choose when he would like to relate to a human. This causes a horse to participate with humans more willingly and develops a strong desire to learn and perform. It brings out a horse that is nothing like what the equine world is familiar with. From the horse’s ability to stop the influence of his human partner puts a clear understanding where your priority needs to be to be able to have a true partnership with a horse and to be able to train a horse with ease.
In general, humans learn that horses have amazing intelligence and work ethic without having to learn that he, the horse, must do what he is told because his human counterpart is stronger. You can read a horse much more clearly when the horse is free to respond or not. Relating with a horse by giving him freedom to stop your influence, your natural guidance system comes into play and your approach begins to be more suited to your horse. Being equipped with the Rituals gives you a path that will bring about a language and loyalty that is needed for the training of horses.
Space and freedom to connect brings the magic!
Developing a Bond with Horses
When I first tried to communicate with a horse using the process in how horses develop a bond, horses worked for me like magic. I could see that anyone was going to be able to experience the same thing I did. I could not wait to share what I had discovered with the world. Right off, the horses responded to me better than they did with one another. I found that from my connection I had developed with horses, using their rituals was the missing link to the ease of training a horse. Training was more of a conversation with the horse explaining what I wanted him to do and the horse understanding me easily and wanting to follow my directions.
Practice, Practice, Practice
It takes some practice for a person to learn how to communicate and train with my method much longer than for a horse. The reason it was so easy for me was created from the years of observation I had under my belt. It had nothing to do with my special ability.
In a few months, from my personal guidance, you can learn how to connect and create a working partnership with horses that took me years to learn. I am amazed at what I have been able to teach in my three day private clinics. I find that a person in three days is able to connect with a horse and develop a working partnership with my method. I also like to spend some time with a student in how to analyze what a horse is thinking and to read a horse’s personality by offering many kinds of types of individuals. After getting a foundation of the method my students can further develop their education and continue on to advance their skills for liberty dancing, to training horses for bridless riding and dressage training without spurs or whips. It is amazing what you can do bit by bit, pardon the pun, and I am here to support you on your journey.
Fun and learning at the clinics
I would like it if my program would become so interesting to you that you would be willing to take the time to learn how to ride a horse from the practice of these rituals.
I would also like it if my blog is helping you on your personal journey for self discovery through the training, communication, and bonding with horses. I would like it if your life would have more meaning from becoming an amazing horse communicator and trainer from my guidance.
It’s Not Enough
I see many people happy with the little they get from by blog, book and DVDs. I am happy they have offered so much guidance but frankly it is not enough!
To really connect with a horse, as I’d like you to, you need to experience direct guidance with me from the rest of my programs; whether it be the online courses, clinics at my ranch, phone coaching or apprenticeship programs. My school is a self-realization horse training program that focuses on meditation, social development, training, and dancing with horses. It is a companionship process that connects to very heart of the horse.
Have a great weekend. Watch out for new horse and human sightings. May the horse be with you!
Warmly,
Carolyn
Example of Care Taking Leadership in Nature. It’s not just a dog eat dog world afterall:
Related posts:
Dear Carolyn-
I have just completed your book, Naked Liberty and am so eager to learn more of your method, so this article was perfect for me. I saw this leadership dynamic unfold in my own small, not wild, herd of 4 horses. Had I not had the the knowledge gleaned from your book, I would have missed out altogether understanding the amazing transformations that just occurred with my horses. But let me first pause to extend my deep gratitude to you for providing me with insight to see a most amazing answer to much prayer.
A bit of history to provide context: I have 4 horses. DeeDee is a 22yo quarter mare who I have owned for 20 yrs. I trained her using the John Lyons method. She would never bond with me, but she is smart and can be ridden, although as time went by she became more undependable and eventually dangerous. (I have owned many horses during my life and I am now 60yo and none have turned out at all like her.) I was heart broken over my failure with horse in every area. I finally just turned her out to be a pasture ornament. About 6 years ago I purchased a 3yo Percheron gelding, Rocky. I was crushed over my failure with DeeDee and had lost most of my riding confidence and horsemanship confidence in general. Rocky was easy to ride and gentle to handle. He is now about 9yo. About 4 years ago I was given a small Arab cross mare about 25 yo named Grace. She was a rescue. Left to starve in a pen. She would only allow her neck and body to be touched. She was basically calm, but would quickly kick if she felt threatened. Rocky soon became a very dominant horse and would kick the mares at feeding time so I put him in a large but separate pasture. This arrangement worked well until…. This is the context of my story.
Last December I was gifted with a lovely greenbroke 5yo Missouri Foxtrotter mare named Teila. She is very submissive. As soon as I put her in the pasture with Grace and DeeDee, DeeDee began to seriously control her and dominate her. So much so that if I would approach Teila in the pasture, DeeDee would rear and try to paw me. It was dangerous and no fun. She had taken over my new horse and would not allow me to bond with her. Not knowing what to do I put DeeDee in another large pasture alone. I was very unhappy that my horses could not be a herd and that everything had become so complicated. During the next few weeks I found Carolyn’s wonderful training comments online so I started a little bit of leading with a slack lead rope and the leading from behind. I even decided to try it with DeeDee. She responded. Please know there are tears in my eyes as I write this. I have been trying to reach this horse for over 20 yrs. Everyone has advised me to sell her or shoot her. I just kept believing that someday God would give us a connection. So she responded immediately to leading from behind which I knew one blog about. She stopped, turned, walked to me and then walked beside for a bit. This is a horse that never let me touch her freely, always bared her teeth, laid her ears back and acted like she was going to kick. Not an approachable mare. Meanwhile in the other pastures, Teila was watching Rocky’s dominance posturing across the fence at feeding time. She started practicing the same thing with Grace and she began to build some self-confidence. She would also herd Grace from behind. When we would trail ride, I would encourage Teila to be the lead horse and she began to enjoy the adventure. Things were going along fairly well until last week, when DeeDee in her longing to be with the other horses, cut her pastern on the fence. She was not seriously injured, but slowed down a little. All I could do then was turn her out with Grace and Teila. She immediately began to take over Teila. I entertained the thought of actually putting her down. But I decided to wait a month and then it happened…. The solution I could never have implemented nor even imagined…. and thanks to Carolyn’s incredible work I had the privilege of witnessing and understanding it.
By the time I reunited DeeDee with the other 2 mares, Teila had gained enough confidence and DeeDee was handicapped enough for Teila to take advantage of the opportunity and rise above DeeDee and she did.
And just like that there is no more problem. DeeDee seems quite content (something she has never been) to be #2 and Teila is a very benevolent #1. Teila has maintained her very affectionate manner toward me and DeeDee is not stiff and hard anymore. She puts her ears up when I come and she allows me to scratch her and pet her. To me it is a miracle and thank you thank you, Carolyn for opening my eyes to see it.
God only knows what will happen next…
Thank you for the blogs,
Bessie Parker
Dear Kerrie, I enjoyed your story about you and your herd. Please keep us updated on how things are going with them. Blessings~Lisa & Magnum
Hi Carolyn and all,
The blog is always great, and today’s theme is especially resonant.
Although I don’t think what I am doing would be terribly exciting to most horsemen. Just what people talk about here, getting a connection at liberty.
We don’t currently have any special pens or corrals to work individual horses. I just go out among the five here and kind of feel what’s up. The big thing these days is to get them all very comfortable with me rubbing them from face to tail, allowing me to do this at liberty, and also starting to work with walking underneath them. Some day I would like to see them all work with highly disabled children for equine therapy, so I am working on getting them used to being handled all over and in any way. I will carefully come up behind them – watching the eyes and ears closely – and get them to allow me to touch them anywhere without prelude. They are really doing well. In the past four months they have come a long way.
Before when I was concentrating on riding I was overlooking three of the five. But now I just try to do a little something with each. The companion walking in particular goes well – amazingly well. We normally only put halters on to go lead them out to eat somewhere, so I see a lovely thing: sometimes they get impatient, and while I drop a pile of halters to halter the first horse another will pick up a halter with their teeth. Get moving!
One old boy is not with the herd now, but out on free range grazing. He passed the first 18 years of his life in a stall. We acquired him three years ago. Being kept on open range has been transforming his skeleton and muscular system, as well as that his hooves are now self-trimming. It is good to see him acquire physical health. At first he hardly looked at you. He would look at the food you had, but not in your eye. He didn’t know there was any reason to communicate with a human being, or that a human had any interest in what he thought. It has been good just to see him make eye contact. I realize this is not much in terms of results, but I see a happier horse.
All of them have such distinct personalities. So very different! Each one has strong and weak points. The best-trained of them in terms of riding (Pusharoo, the dominant one) is really the least trustful. Rosie, still irritable from her miserable days on the race track, does a lot of sniveling and sulking when other horses are near, but becomes loving and motherly even when I am by myself with her. I have had to learn how to be a leader to them, because as you know if one horse pushes another in a herd you can get run over in a heartbeat. So the big lesson for me is paying attention. Often when I approach Coquetta, 4 out of 5 in pecking order, rather than look at her, I look to her periphery to protect her from the other horses, which calms her. She is fantastic now at companion walking. I don’t let one steal food from another when I am around.
I am not the brightest student these horses ever saw, but they are being patient with their human.
Dear Carolyn,
Great blog. One can’t be reminded about the essence of your method too often. In one of your replies, you captured the difference between your method and that of Pat Parelli beautifully. My own experience verifies what you say about the phases being too much pressure. Also, when I acquired Amigo(my most recent partner) at 6 months, we began with the WHRs, first building the bond and trust. Doing Parelli now is a “breeze.” There’s no need for any phases. Learning and teaching is so much easier. It doesn’t even feel like training. I had purchased Amigo for $1 from the people where I board; they were that glad to get rid of him. I had to sign a statement acknowledging that I had been made aware that he had dangerous behaviors (kicking, striking, and biting). Amigo responded so well to your method that I never had to experience any of those behaviors. He is a wonderful little guy, confident, eager to learn, just plain well adjusted. Curiously, no one has ever asked me any questions concerning the method I use with Roscoe and Amigo. I am pleased and happy, however, that everyone can see the positive results and that Amigo is no longer viewed as a misfit.
My experience with Roscoe, my first horse, did not go as smoothly. I purchased Roscoe four years ago. At the time, I knew very little about horses. I heard about Pat Parelli’s program and tried to follow it to the letter. First mistake. (I recall that in one of your online classes, you said about training methods that they all work and they all don’t work.) Roscoe was dominant, strong-willed, aloof, and dignified. He also has a strong sense of fairness, much like Alessandra’s Rosalie. Since working with your method, Roscoe has revealed another aspect of his personality that is soft, kind, responsive, and fun loving. Anyway, we were constantly butting heads in phase 4. But phase 4 did not bring the desired results, quite the opposite. Roscoe braced and resisted even more strongly. You’re right when you say that at this point it becomes possible to be abusive because the logical progression of the phases is to continue increasing the pressure. To my credit, I never did that. Many of you reading this may be saying to yourselves what an idiot,, why didn’t she just stop and do something that her horse would like to do, which is what I now know to do. But I just didn’t have enough experience and knowledge then and had not yet found the WHRs, although I must admit that a little voice was telling me to stop everything. Throughout, Roscoe was applying his own version of the phases, kicking and nipping. Finally, he leveled his rendition of level 4 porcupine game on my hip, a humdinger of a bite. That brought everything to a screeching halt at last. Our relationship was at its lowest point when I discovered you and the WHRs. Things turned around almost immediately. With the WHRs, I learned to communicate more effectively. My tone, which to Roscoe must have been loud, obnoxious, shrill, rude, unfair, and demanding, became calm, quiet, supportive, clear, assertive, clear but flexible as well. I was learning to become a leader that Roscoe would willingly follow. I no longer was giving him something to brace against. Our relationship was no longer confrontational. We were able to relax in each other’s company. At liberty, Roscoe could let me know when I needed to adjust my leadership. Riding, which was also fraught with resistance, has become pleasant for both of us. I ride him bareback and bitless, and he is very responsive to light aids. Parelli is now a breeze. No phases!
Two horses, two very different starts. They both taught me valuable lessons for which I am grateful. And I am grateful to you, Carolyn, and your method.
Karin
Dear Karin,
Thank-you for this wonderful well written report of your journey and experience developing a working bond with your horses. This helps my readers so much that I would like to share your story as a blog next Thursday! Would you be able to send photos of you and your horses?! I am also planning on sharing a touching video on another cross-species bond sighting.
Nice to hear from you, much love,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
How wonderful that you want to use my comments for your blog! I’m delighted that you think they will be useful. Yes, I will ask someone to take pictures of my guys and me and send them to you.
One more comment I’d like to make about your method. Amigo will be 2 in April. As we gain skills and experience, I would eventually very much like our first ride together to be bridleless, this being the logical progression of your liberty method on the ground to under saddle. I’m excited about the prospect. Even with my limited background with horses, this time with my horses, learning together and from each other has been some of the most satisfying, joyful, and rewarding time of my life.
Love,
Karin
Dear Karin,
How exciting! What I love about my students, and you are at the top of the list on this is how take charge and creative they are. This is what I meant to have happen from developing the Waterhole Rituals. I spent a lot of time in figuring out the formula that would empower people in their approach and develop their skill with horses.
When I was growing up, people did not want to give their secrets away- especially anything that pertained to having a connection with a horse. It seemed like that was left to a chosen few. I knew that even thought I was gifted with horses, how I gained a relationship with them could be passed onto others. And I bet that those other gifted people knew that too- but chose to keep it to themselves.
Why this is important for me to share is my desire to make a difference by creating a better deal for horses and humans.
I want to thank you for staying in touch and sharing your knowledge with what you have learned working with my method.
Much love,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
I feel quite the chatterbox, but I have one final comment, inspired by Geerteke’s mentioning that her Marcello will be part of a herd in the next couple of weeks. Roscoe and Amigo are part of a herd in their pasture. I’ve interacted with all of the other horses, if only to say hello. It appears that one horse in particular (one belonging to the owner of the farm) however, seems to want to take it further. He leaves the others to join us while Roscoe, Amigo and I share territory. If my guys are snoozing, he snoozes too. If I am grooming, he will stand very close to me so that I can groom him as well. Even when this horse does not join us, I often see him in the distance observing what the three of us are doing together, companion walking and so on. Maybe one day he will volunteer to participate. Who knows?
Love,
Karin
Dear Carolyn,
Thought to let you know that it is very interesting to see the changes in my horse, Marcello, these days. I am back at practicing the rituals.
Starting with LFB.
And what happened.
In the 20×40 outdoor arena.
At first I took possession of a corner he decided to constantly get back into.
When we had sorted that out I continued in LFB. Or at least I tried to lead him from behind.
He persisted in trotting away from me getting on a circle as in liberty lungeing. And wouldn’t get out of the circle. Now this is interesting as he has been lunged lately a couple of times by a girl working at the stable with lots of riding experience (as opposed to training experience!!) as a preparation to riding. The lungeing and riding part was last done in September 2011. By me with the Waterhole rituals philosophy in mind. I had also ridden on him still attached to the lungeline and that all went very well back then.
So I agreed with the stable manager for them to do a refresher course. Or actually he asked me if I would agree to that. I said okay but that I wanted to be present every single time they were going to work my horse. And so it went.
As he is being lunged according to what I call the traditional way, drawreins loosely attached, the lungeline running through the inside bit ring towards the saddle and there being clicked onto the girth, there is always the chance of the horse being pulled into the circle when he starts losing the bend of the circle. Then the horse’s head being pulled inwards slighty with him getting the tendency to move away over the outside shoulder. Well this is all kind of technical training stuff, but it describes a way of lungeing where a horse can easily learn the wrong things.
As I am an ‘energy-watcher-kind-of-person’ I constantly watch what the energy in this whole process is doing. Funnily enough the energy stayed perfectly balanced. Meaning here the energy of both the horse (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) and the exercise.
Getting back to my attempts, yesterday Sunday, to do some LFB, companion walking etc I did not get any response. As if I had a complete stranger standing in front of me. It felt really odd.
Today the stable manager decided that the preparatory lungeing part before riding could be shortened as Marcello had behaved so well the previous times. And then we got a perfect example of my horse being anything but a zombie. And telling you loud and clear that it was not okay.
The riding part turned out be a disaster. He didn’t buck or anyhting. What he did was wave with his head all the time. At first the girl tried to get more contact with the mouth . That didn’t help. Then the stablemanager asked her to losen the reins more. That didn’t help either.
When the girl had made a transition to the walk that took a long time as understably Marcello was being flooded with adrenaline as a result of him carrying his head that high constantly and having his back so low constantly. Let alone the pinching he might have felt of in his spine and the developing aneamia in his back muscles.
But as I kept saying to myself THE UNIVERSE IS PERFECT, Geerteke, I could retain a calm feeling.
And I can still hear you, Carolyn, saying LET EVOLUTION TAKE ITS COURSE.
So once the girl had made this transitoin to the walk I stepped in and asked her her thoughts about this riding session. She could only say that she didn’t understand as the previous ones had gone so well. So I asked her what had been different. She knew straight away. The preparatory lungeing. I explained to her that head high back hollow creates lots of adrenaline. A wellknown stress hormone. While head low back round creates endorfines that make you feel GOOOOOOD.
She had never heard of that.
I explained to her that me, a 63-year old lady, is supposed to be the one that will be riding Marcello in the end and that it would really be super if the horse would have good feelings about all this as I do not possess the power of a young girl to pull, push or whatever physical strength they use. Yes, she understood. And she suggested herself that next time it would be a good idea to not shorten the prep lungeing session.
Please note that me talking about any rituals is talking to a deaf person, so I don’t mention that at all in these surroundings as I do not have to convince anyone of anything.
What is the moral here.
In your previous response to my comment under Nr 4 you mention the following:
QUOTE…The best thing to do is to follow the way that leads you to a connection with horses and people and avoid trying to convince anyone of anything……UNQUOTE
And who could have expected a situation to pop up so quickly to bring this into practice. Again I am getting more and more convinced that the Universe is perfect. Toplevel synchronicity.
I haven’t tried to convince anyone of anything. The situation presented itself. I used a lot of diplomacy and courtesy. The same way I would have liked to be addressed myself as long as it is honest and sincere. And I did get a connection with the girl.
And here a quote from Frédéric Pignon’s book “Gallop to Freedom” is I think in its place. Well, I like to so much I want to share it with you.
QUOTE……In dealing with other people we learn to be aware of their wishes and their reactions to what we say and do. Likewise, we can learn to read horses to be aware of their wishes and reactions, but the language is different so we have to learn it first. When people find themselves dealing with horses, all too often they ignore this obvious truth and throw commonsense out of the window. They follow some method that they have been taught or heard about and apply it without any attention to the horse’s reaction. They make no effort to gauge whether the horse likes what they are trying to do or not. Put yourself in the horse’s position. Would you care to be treated like this? To treat another human being in a preconceived manner without any care for its effect on him or her, might be considered autistic behaviour. Is it any different when dealing with a horse? (F. PignonGallop to Freedom, p. 140)…….UNQUOTE
Well, quite a lengthy story this time.
)
Take care and be well
Geerteke
Dear Carolyn, a very important and most inspiring part of my above story I left out. My apologies for that. So I will mention it here still.
When the riding session was over I went into the arena and walked beside my Marcello with the girl still on. I had decided to make his experience have a happy ending.
I asked him to lower his head using the Überstreichen which I was so fortunate to be able to practice in depth during the Beyond Clinic.
I had been practicing the Überstreichen already at previous occasions when leading him with a leadrope so he responded immediately.
And funnily enough, at the same time it gave me an immense feeling calmness and assertiveness, here again an example of connection without trying to convince anyone of anything.
Thank you Carolyn for the Überstreichen.
Love
Geerteke
Dear Geerteke,
Thank you for this added part. How are you feeling from your fall from the stares?
Dear Carolyn,
That’s a very good question.
What shall I say. I have the feeling that there is a lot of self realisation taking place there as well.
My body energy has changed due to the fall and the resulting operations and so on. I am afraid (or perhaps weary is the right word) for pulls and pushes not only from/by Marcello. So there is an amount of hesitancy. Still.
I am sure this hesitancy is being picked up by Marcello and I sometimes have the feeling my body language/awareness says something different than what I am trying to accomplish. Resulting in him taking over now and then due to incongruency.
)
I have become much more aware though of Marcello ‘talking’. Reading his body language. Perhaps because I am taking more time now for that. I don’t know.
Sometimes I still feel a kind of chaos in mind and body. At other times the feeling is one of calmness and assertiveness and being able to conquer the world.
So what are your feelings here?:-)) I would love to hear.
I shall be changing stables in 2 weeks time. Marcello will then become part of a herd of horses and I am looking forward to be able to observe herd dynamics. I shall get back to you when that time is there and to hear from you how to address WHR in a herd setting. And sincerely hope to experience more of your wisdom then.
Thank very much Carolyn you for inquiring after my health. That feels good.
Love
Geerteke
Dear Geerteke,
Sounds like you’ve had a real rough deal. I guess the only thing one can do is see the growth angle of healing. I think what you are feeling, sometimes hesitant, with a bit of chaos thrown in, is what I went through myself when I broke my back. Being awake to and positive as you are is the best guidance systems you have and is a process that is going to lead you to your balance and personal power.
I will be happy to help you as you begin to work with your horse in his new setting.
Take care,
With much love, Carolyn
Thank you very much Carolyn.
Your words are also healing of its own.
And yes…I certainly can see the growth angle of healing.
There was another peace of healing taking place which makes me sniff when writing this down. I was doing some ST this evening and Marcello came and stood opposite me. At one point I got off the railing I had been seated on and walked very slowly, with focus and intention, sort of completely grounded, halfway around him. His eye followed me like a whale’s eye. His head turned slowly as if a human was watching me move.
As if he was communicating with me that we are going to ‘find eachother again completely’.
XXGeerteke
this is wonderful and the connection is evolving!
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you for your lovely blogs. This one nails the experience I had yesterday with my horses – on the head!
I’m playing with them using what I’ve read in your blogs – so far we’ve just been sharing space, I’ve done a little leading from behind & I’m busy playing with ‘Hello’. Not having any tack linking me to my horses enables me to really ‘feel’ when we’re connected – or not! Lol! It’s incredible! It also prevents me from ‘making’ my horses do anything & I found yesterday, the second I switch to that ‘mode’ – they leave! …normally at a fast walk. I spent alot of time just working on our bonding – connecting – magnetism.
Wow – its hard work (on myself) but so thrilling to experience the shifts within & with my horses! I’ll be joining one of your Online courses this spring – just trying to figure which way my finances are going to swing.
All the very best wishes!
Barbara
Carolyn,
This latest blog was most helpful. As a devoted Parelli student and a recent “fan” of yours, I appreciated how you explained the difference between your method and Pat’s. My partner and I are playing at Level 3/4 and Liberty is what we do most naturally. Recently took a clinic with Aimee Brimhall and she introduced me to your book – Naked Liberty. Read it and was fascinated. Liking what I’ve read and seen so far and discovered Robin’s having a clinic not far in May so think I’ll try and go. I’m also going to spend more time checking the details of your online program and would like to include that on my near term goal list with the ultimate goal of coming down to Escondido to see you.
I agree starting at liberty with you and then learning Parelli would be a breeze (had figured that out on my own before reading it) but since I did start with Parelli and have a wonderfully close relationship with my horse, would love to prove that a Pat student who is a learn-aholic with an open mind can do very well learning your method too. Looking forward to learning more. My partner, Barry, is already a pro at this and hoping I’ll get more pieces of the puzzle soon.
Thanks Carolyn for this beautiful blog
I like to say something to everyone, hope it is okay.
Go to her in Escondido, she is the source of the Waterhole Rituals. It is so important to see Carolyn working with the horses. To see, feel and experience Carolyn, and it is an honor to be taught by her.
Lots of love
Monique
Carolyn, just checking in, and wanted to add that I love this piece, and Geerteke’s comments as well about how it is not enough to spend time with the written work without the in-person time and training. Your blog and videos are invaluable training tools, and yet there is another level of understanding and accountability to the horse that can be attained in working with you personally, in having you voice the horses’ language in verbal words. Thank you again for all you do for horses and humans.
Dear Carolyn,
It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to do anything with Gingy and it makes me sad because he is my solace in times of stress, and I have been very stressed lately. Last week I did have more time with him and we learned quite a bit together. I’ve been working on grooming him at liberty and that is going well. For me it is always a lot of experimentation since I’ve never been able to go through one of your online courses or attend a clinic, however I’m finding that the more I allow myself to experiment in the world of liberty training the more things I can begin to put together. The biggest clue I have found while working on the grooming is to find the approach that Gingy approves of. At first he didn’t like picking up his feet for me and I realized that the thing he needed most from me in that moment was for me to respect that he didn’t want his feet picked up. So I did and rather than ask him to pick up his feet I massaged his legs. Then later that week I asked him to pick up his feet and he did, but I also was careful not to hold onto his feet rather I asked him to lift them then I walked away. Now he is at a point of almost no resistance about picking up his feet and he will allow me to hold them.
The biggest challenge for me right now is finding a good way to interact with Gingy around food. Whenever food comes into play it’s all Gingy can seem to think about, I’m not sure how to put him at ease on this point. The more I ask for his attention the more he seems to resist. Often times he simply leaves me and the food, which I take to mean that getting away from my influence is more important than eating. He acts like if he doesn’t eat whatever food he sees he’ll never see it again. I know I need to reduce this urgency in him, but how can I do that?
Just some things I’ve been pondering…
Thank for all of the support as always,
Grace.
Dear Grace,
Let your horse eat his breakfast first and feed him more than usual. Sharing Territory and get the connection going do some leading from behind to establish your leadership, They put down some hay or straw he would not not likes so much. Sprinkle it about in one spot. keep him away for this spot until he will not come back. It will cause him to be mad that you are not letting him eat. When he decides he will stay away let him return.
This will change his attitude and create a more willing nature and he will clearing see that the food source is under your control and not his. This will cause him to respect you and like you more and be more willing to fit in with
You as you have been fitting with him.
Both of you need to learn to fit in with one another. You are learning how to work with him and now you need to teach him he needs to work with you.
What is your back ground in knowing my method. Please respond?
Carolyn
Hello again,
Thank you so much for the suggestions Carolyn
I can’t wait to try them!
As for your question, I first read about your method on the parelli member’s forum about 2 years ago and decided to look you up online. Of course I found your blog, and I saw that you had some videos out, so I rented those. Your dvds gave me a starting point and ever since then I’ve been reading your blog and experimenting with the different things you write about. I hope that someday I can take one of your courses, but I’ll have to wait for the financial issues to clear up first.
By the way I found what you said to Deborah very helpful because I had been doing parelli for 3 years before I started working with your method. Just like you said, it was hard for me at first to stop trying to “make” Gingy do things. Over the last few years of experimenting at liberty I begun to defuse the resistance between me and Gingy and it has been a truly wonderful experience. The best thing is that I know this is just the tip of the ice berg so to speak
Grace.
Love this story of handling the feet!
Carolyn,
I just wanted to let you know that Xcel has turned back to being his normal wonderful, though sometimes silly, self. This after his sort of going off the deep end for a while in the fall and early winter. I had a great session yesterday with him. He has had a sore foot again so haven’t been able to do very much for the last 10 days or so but he was very good yesterday companion walking etc. His “Go trot” was even pretty good. He went further away and came trotting back. He has a tendency to not go very far away from me. I am reluctant to crack a whip at him to send him as this apparently brings back bad memories from the track. I am pretty sure he was bad in the gate and he usually resents a whip unless I am careful with it. I am going to try sending him to someone with cookies. I have done this before but not at much of a distance. I hope this is a good way to do this.
Any news on your trip east this fall?
Dear Jan,
I have had a change of plans. I am not coming out that far. I will be at Ruella’s in Oklahoma City. My problem is that I do not fly so I must drive and that would take two much time from my programs out here. I am glad you are having fun with your horse. You are such a good mom.
Thinking of you often,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
I have a new horse sighting for you. I had a lovely day with PB–companion walking in the field, sharing territory, grooming at liberty, maintaining the connection while leading to the arena, working on his gas pedal and work ethic in the arena, sitting together in the sun, more companion walking, leading from behind and then, voila, I called him from across the arena and he came powerfully trotting up to me and then we ran together back to the other side! His enthusiasm and joyfulness were palpable–so willing, so present, so alive
. This is the horse I want to ride! But to be able to have that partnership, that connection on the ground, without tack, at liberty is…divine. I find myself loving my horse and loving life exactly as it is.
Love and gratitude to you and your beautiful Method!
Emily
Dear Emily,
Thank you for your report. It always feels good to see you enjoying your progress with my method. I feel I am experiencing a new human sighting as well.
I feel happy.
Warmly,
Carolyn.
Yes, this human is definitely evolving
.
Dear Carolyn,
I am really enjoying going over your method through the information contained in these weekly blogs. Looking forward to your visit here. Warmly, Skeetz
Carolyn,
Eventhough I have temporarily suspended your teachings as per your request i am still interested in your process and reading your blog.
I know that i am sorting things out with my horses and see that I am somewhere between my old ways of the person being the “boss” and having an agenda for the time spent and releasing the agenda and receiving what needs to happen with my relationships with both horses.
Both of my horses have been corralled for two weeks now and have lost a lot of their “charge” for running wildly across the pasture as free spirited beasts.
i am claiming my space and requiring respect when sharing their space.
I see a noted change in both of their behaviors that is positive. They are looking to me more for interaction where as before they were only interested in going out for the day and when I would hurry up and make that happen.
When I am able i will give you a call to schedule a consultation with you if that’s OK. I would like to have some feedback in a few weeks to see how I might be able to continue your training method with one or the other of my horses.
I “hear” everything you are saying in your post. I understand there is another way you are describing for people to connect with their horses. I am not restrained by time so whenever it’s right for me to begin again will be fine for me.
I love reading your posts and especially enjoyed the duck feeding the fish!
Too precious!
Sincerely,
Kristin, Niki & Harry!
Dear Kristin,
I think that if you are too strong and then too lenient this will turn into finding just the right place to be. You can set up a coaching call after my clinic which is finished at the end of March. Please email me at Office@carolynresnick.com
Warmly,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
I hope that more and more people learn about relationship rather than dominance. I am grateful for everything that I learned with your Method.
Warmly,
Anne-Marie
Dear Carolyn, Thank you for sharing yourself and your method! I know myself by reading your book, watching your DVD’s and all the knowledge I get by reading your blog. I am slowing winning the heart of my dominant OTTB Magnum. Granted it would be easier if I could attend your clinic. That’s on my wish list. But what I have with him now. I would never have had without your method. I have a question on the Go Trot. I got him to come back but it takes a lot of asking. It seems like he has to think about it for a while. Can you give me any pointers on getting him to come back more quickly. I do give him a treat when he comes back that I have on the other side of the fence. Best Wish to you and all the participants of your up coming clinic. One day it will be me. Blessings~Lisa & Magnum
Beautiful….
Thank you as always….
Really love the way you differentiated your method from other forms of “natural horsemanship”. There was a conversation on that topic just this week at the barn. My friend was trying to compare what we do with your method, with someone who practices Parelli. I had to jump in when the Parelli devotee concluded the methods were similar! I explained that your method gives a horse choice. that we ask when we think the horse is inclined to give us what we want. I could see this lady roll her eyes a bit at that! She is coming from the perspective that you have to dominate your horse! This is a very ingrained human attitude I’m afraid. BTW she has a lot of resistance in her horse. The explanation in your blog encapsulates your method very well. If only spoken/written language could be as clearly undertood as body language!!
Dear Deborah,
The big difference between Parelli’s Method and mine is that we start at Liberty and then move on to tack. My method grows horsemanship skills to a greater degree. Once you have created a working horse at liberty you can then move on and use the Parelli method with ease and refinement.
Parelli is about training a horse with tack and we are training a horse through relationship.
We get the horse to displace his haunches without touching the horse. No hitting the horse harder and harder until we get a response. No making the thing we want the horse to do easy and the thing we do not want him to do hard, until we get the job done. With this approach, the horse has no choice but to do what he is told. The problem with this approach is it accidently invites an abusive situation. My method asks for the student to move on to something the horse would do easily and then the next day invent an interm step that would train the horse to respond positively to what it responded negatively to the day before. This way we skip the force and aggressive leadership approach.
Another difference is Pat’s method focuses on getting the horse trained. My focus is to develop creativity and working intuitively with a horse instead of a paint by numbers system.
I would like the world to see, in general, you never need to force a horse. It is never a good idea to put a student into a position to force a horse because it causes the student to develop an attitude that it is ok to trap a horse and force fim to do what he is told. For example, when asking a horse to displace his haunches you are to hit as hard as needed to move the horse. In most cases the student cannot move their horse because they are asking him in the wrong way. Simply asking a horse to turn toward you will easily move the haunches and you do not need to touch him. You then only need to touch gently and turn horse’s head toward you and the horse will move his haunches automatically. Anyone can do this and a horse does not need to go to the level four phase of aggression.
I believe Pat’s Method is a good method, really good, if you stay away from the aggressive parts but still the creative and intuitive part is missing. If you learn my method first it takes out the strong aids and feeling the need to go to level four. Once you have learned my method Pat’s Programs are a breeze to teach to your horse. If a student of mine moved onto the Parelli Method it would be easy for them to do so. If a Parelli student moved on to my method it could be hard for them because they would have to give up “the make”. Leaving them with limited solutions to keep the connection and willingness of the horse.
My students are more creative in finding ways to solve problems and understand the nature of horses to see how to better approach the training of the horse.
Hope this clears up some points,
Carolyn
checking in, thanks as ever, Carolyn,
best
susan (Italy)
Just checking in!
Elodie
Dear Carolyn, again a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing and being so outspoken and straightforward about ….
QUOTE……. To really connect with a horse, as I’d like you to, you need to experience direct guidance with me from the rest of my programs; whether it be the online courses, clinics at my ranch, phone coaching or apprenticeship programs. My school is a self-realization horse training program that focuses on meditation, social development, training, and dancing with horses. It is a companionship process that connects to very heart of the horse……..UNQUOTE
It made me smile.
Here in Holland when I sometimes talk in that manner I get comments back after a while that people think me very arrogant and authoritarian. Only 1 week ago I was called authoritarian. At first I thought that rather or actually very unfair. However, as Dr Sseuss, one of America’s most famous child psychologists, has once said::
“THOSE WHO MIND DONOT MATTER, THOSE WHO MATTER DONOT MIND”
I wish you lots of fun with the coming Beyond Clinic and I am sure the participants will tremendously enjoy spending time with you, your horses and eachother.
Take care and be well
Geerteke
Dear Geerteke,
The best thing to do is to follow the way that leads you to a connection with horses and people and avoid trying to convince anyone of anything.
Thank you for your well wishes,
Some times speaking up is good and some times it is not. Such a small thing that can turn resistance into gratitude.
Carolyn
Thank you Carolyn for your words. Wise as always.
I thought letting you know I chose not to speak up in the latter case and went through MY OWN RESISTANCE resulting in deep felt gratitude when experiencing my own greatness.
Then letting go is the keyword.
Wishing you a nice weekend.
Warmly,
Geerteke
Dear Carolyn,
This is an excellent post, especially for ‘newbies’ who want to know what your method revolves around. I will be sharing your post on Facebook, as I’ve noticed some people in my environment starting to take an interest in your Method and wanting to know more about it. So it couldn’t have been more timely!
The video is absolutely amazing!
I’m sooo excited and nervous to meet you next week in Escondido and speak to you ‘live’ for the first time, at last
!
Warmly,
Marja
Yep, a lot of people are notise of Carolyns Methode in the Netherlands, because she is great and we have a lot of students gomming in to the training in the Netherlands this summer. So thanks for spread the words.
We also tell the student to go to Escondido to Carolyn ☺
Thanks Marja
lots of Love Monique
Carolyn
I am hoping to start making more money this year, and once I do, would so like to work with you one-on-one.
thanks for the blog
Dear Stephanie,
I never want to loose someone because of money matters. Maybe I could offer a program that would help you out on this point. email me and send me your number and we then can talk. Office@carolynresnick.com
Warmly,
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
This is a lovely explanation of leadership with horses, and the differences between dominant and lead horses. Learning the depth of this leadership and the purity of the language of the herd make all the difference in communicating with horses. Your teachings developed me through your blog, online classes, materials and personal study in Escondido and helped me fully understand these fine points of leadership. Your method has an expanding fan base in Oklahoma, as more and more people are seeing what the Waterhole Rituals can do in their lives with horses. We look forward to your clinic here in October.
Joyfully,
Ruella Yates