Horse Training Tip From The Ranch
Aug 25th, 2009 by Carolyn Resnick Method
This is an amazing August, usually it is hot. Fall is in the air and the weather is beautiful. I do not have much to share today so I just wanted to update you on everyone here and tell you about a small tip you might find useful.
Cat is doing really well and appears to be very happy, as is Stoli. Morning Star (Lucero) is also very happy with his life and is like a little puppy dog now. When he came here about 10 weeks ago, he had a very surly attitude but has responded wonderfully well to the Waterhole Rituals™ and is as friendly as you could wish now. This kind of grounding well set him up very well for whatever training he does later in his life.
Greg Bruce, our equine dentist, came the other day. He fixes all my horses teeth and it was amazing to watch him. He spent at least 30 minutes with Julia telling her all about how a horse uses his teeth and things to look for that can cause a horse problems. I came in the middle of it and got a lot out of his talk. Greg teaches horse dentistry and does clinics with Leslie Desmond. He also has his own dental practice called “Just Right” Horse Dentistry. What I like about Greg is that he does not use drugs on the horses. His approach is wonderful and I like the fact that he works without using drugs on the horses. There is no fight because he has such a fantastic connection with horses and he takes his time. My horses seemed to enjoy this time with him because he knows how to create a lot of relaxation in a horse.
Greg took a clinic in my Method a few years ago. This time he told me I had showed him something in the clinic that has helped him with his dentistry and that he uses all the time with great success. I was happy to hear this because he always had a natural gift with horses and handled them well. What I had shown him was how I approached a horse when the horse wanted to resist lowering his head and relax. He told me how grateful he was that I had taught him this exercise. There have been times when I have worked with very resistant dressage horses that become so locked that it would appear nothing would cause them to want to unlock their necks. They simply wouldn’t listen to softening and lower their heads if you asked them to.
This is what I do when I come across a horse that is resistant to any form of a request to lower their head and hold still. Firstly, I pull down gently on the halter rope about two inches below the snap until I feel the resistance that horse offers, then I pull hard enough (strong and firm, not a jerk) so that the horse responds to my request with even more resistance. I hold this, with the same pressure, for a count of eight seconds and then I slowly release and ask the horse to walk forward about 10 feet. Then I ask for a halt. When the horse stops and stands still on a dropped line, repeat the exercise. What happens is the horse thinks that HE is the one releasing and in no time at all the horse lowers his head when I ask with a soft willing attitude and enjoys holding its head lower. You might like to try it on your own horses that are resistant to lowering their heads and relaxing. It is fun and simple to do. It will also teach you something about feel. Let me know how it turns out.
As usual, I would love to hear from you too. What books you are enjoying reading at the moment? What stories did you enjoy most from my book Naked Liberty?
Talking of books, you may be interested to hear that I will shortly be releasing all the stories, Q&A, tips and advice from the first year of my blog in a handy, easy-to-read, spiral bound book. It will be called the Carolyn Resnick Blog Collection – Volume One and will be available in the next couple of weeks.
Enjoy your week!
Carolyn
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Currently traveling between Miami and Florida, reading this on my Iphone. Will read it in full when I get back, and I will also post a backlink on my website. Thanks.
What a facinating blog. I’ve bookmarked it and added your feed to my RSS Reader
I used Greg when I kept Bit in Bishop. He is amazing, and I sure wish he traveled to Kansas. He took all the horses in a quiet stall, and magic happened. No drugs, no matter the horse, no power tools, and I hung out for the duration. He told me all about the importance of a good equine dentist, how people feed up high in hay feeders, and how it messes with a horses teeth. (they are built to graze, and having to eat up high messes with their alignment) He told me a lot, and credited his magic with horses to his cologne, “Ode de Hay”.
One of my favorite books is Chosen By A Horse. Favorite story in Naked Liberty was when the lead mare invited you for a ride. Or maybe when the shaman invited you for tea. My copy of Naked Liberty is without it’s cover, thanks to Hawk. Swollen, dropped it the the bathtub because I couldn’t stop reading it long enough to put it down and take a bath. It is a pale ghost of it’s former self. A book read, enjoyed and you can tell.
Hi there. What a great idea to give your horse a puase with a lowered head instead of a treat.
Dear Carolyn, I know from experience that the head lowering exercise has a lot of added benefits. It is a great exercise to teach before you ever try to tie a horse to a fixed rail. I had taught LB to lower his head just as you taught and it helped prevent a big accident when he was tied and got the lead rope caught over the top of his poll. He didn’t start fighting the pressure which would be the normal reaction. Then asked him to lower his head and I flipped the lead rope off his poll. It is also very useful when your horse is tense or frightened, you can use it to relax them. Some of them love dropping their heads so much that I have used it as a reward during training instead of treats.
I loved all of your stories, but especially the ones with you and your mustang roaming the desert all day long with no fences and separating the town horses from the ‘Hollywood’ escapees and the different ones about getting to know and name all the wild horses and the experiment with the dust storm and the story about the escaped camel that ran straight to you and the mustang and played at the irrigation ditch. What a truly blessed childhood you had!! Pity there aren’t so many opportunities for kids to be free like that anymore. Kinda reminds me a bit of my own childhood where we would go roaming in the surrounding countryside – as long as we got home before dark and would answer when Mum hollered for us to come in…..Boy I miss those days….
Hi Carolyn, the stories from Naked Liberty I loved most were the ones about Mustang and the wirlwind and the first dance with Mustano. They in particual have a magical atmosphere.
The book that has really changed everything I thought I knew about horses and training is still ‘Dancing with Horses’ by Klaus Ferdinant Hempfling. I must have read it a million times and its philosophy led me to discover you and your method and also the classical dressage. Thank you for teaching us so much through the blog, I’m looking forward to the blog-book!
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you for the tip..wll try it out today and let you know.
Books…hmmm..well I’m also enrolled in Reiki Blessings Academy training for Reiki, chakra balancing, meditation, etc…so have been reading books along those lines. I mention this because the program has been a good parallel program with yours.
It has helped to me be even more receptive to my horses….it all makes me feel so much connection with them…pure love!..and they are responding like they can read my mind even more so.
It has been quite hot here in Ohio…humid too with sharks for flies.
Starting to let up though—-so yesturday we played with a huge ball.
I thought, well, the ball is another entity and should ‘say hello’.
At first introduction, Miracle did the excited routine of prancing and getting excited….so I rolled the ball slowly, to about 3ft from her, stopped, she reached her nose forward, did the blow, so I turned and walked away with the ball—did this 3 times, after then she followed us around like a puppy dog. It was cool.
I then offered the ball and showed her how I knock it around with my feet, hands and head. She watched intently. she then reached her nose to it and pushed the ball…we played this game 4 more times…with success…I think we will be playing kick ball in no time.
Hi there from the UK. Not a book but a breakthrough. I had the mushiest day ever with my pony I have had for 7 yrs from a feral 4yr old. I finally after a year got some nice quiet songs on a ipod my daughter gave me, and took it to the stables. Pony has never allowed me to caress his head and ears since a very difficult training experience as a youngster. I am not sure if what happened is because he could hear the music, although I had headphones on, or if it was that my attitude was different.
He allowed me to scratch all round his ears, forlock, neck and face for the first time ever. I fell asleep over his back with my hands in his forelock, we had over an hour of deep bonding. I was talking to him about the words of the songs that I had, which I always listen to at home when I cry over his and my problems between us.
Do you think, I know this is way out, that he has always been connected to me even at a distance when I listen to those at home and think deeply about him, and that he recoginsed the songs and my far off connection to him? Or is this being really silly? Maybe it was my attitude was different, I didnt try to ride him that day, but just put him back in the paddock with a nice meal afterwards. This is such a breakthrough. I havent been able to do it again since as rain and weedkiller in the fields prevents me from bringing him back to the stable till the weekend. I have been doing parelli, quantum savvy and various other things for years with him, and started your rituals last year, which I do a lot of spending time anyway as he is very resistant to ride, and only ride him 10 or 12 times a year for half an hour. So all the bonding exercises finally paid off. We also finally had a relaxed little hack the other weekend without any fighting too. So twice in one month!!!
Thank you Carolyn for the resistance exercise, it is a variation on what I have done with my PMU mare but the walking and halting may just make the difference as sometimes she is bracey, other times not. I recently read Ray Hunt’s “Think Harmony With Horses.” I liked what he says about feel and offering things to the horse, asking, not making.
I love your blog, but don’t have as much time as I would like to keep up sometimes. You have such interesting things to say, and write beautifully, it is inspirational and original.
Can you do this exercise with a horse with a bit in his mouth? My green horse puts his head down immediately when i pull on his halter, but is very resistant to the bit in his mouth, even though he’s been in training for a while.
Thank you for sharing what you do with the world Carolyn, the world needs more of it.
Carolyn – You should read The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It’s a wonderful book told from the perspective of a dog, the best book I’ve read in ages and you know I read a lot.
Hope you’re doing well, I read your blog and think about you all the time!
I am reading America America by Ethan Canin as I share space with my equines. It is a good tale! I like to read fiction to really get my mind into a self contained not needing anything state!
Does your dentist (horse) use power tools to float ? Because I don’t know if a horse would stand for that without sedation.
One of my favorite stories from Naked Liberty was when you rode your mare and Mustang came along. You were in a grapefruit grove, I think, and Mustang disappeared and wouldn’t come back so you and the mare hid in the trees. Your story of how he ran around looking for you was very funny. I could just picture it, it would be something one of my guys would do.
I am very much enjoying your blogs, I send the links to some friends at times, I hope they read them too. I only have dial-up connection so haven’t been able to view any of the videos, need to get to the library to see them.
I am reading this one too Ritambhara. It is a very good read with lots of useful training tips.
I agree about the breath work it is a great tool for communication.
As for Naked Liberty the whole book was inspiration.
A book I really enjoyed reading this summer is “The Soul of A Horse, Life Lessons from the Herd” by Joe Camp. Joe is very much into understanding how horses tick and using this knowledge to communicate better. I think he might enjoy knowing about you and your methods. I sent him an e-mail suggestion he read your book and referred him to the web sight.
I may have gotten this book from your blog, Carolyn, but if I didn’t and you don’t know about it , it is a gem. “Ride from the heart:the art of communication between horse and rider” by Jenny Rolfe.
I especially love how she used breath while working with her horses.
Thanks Carolyn.
This will work well with a couple of the camels.
Hoping to see you soon…
stuart