Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

The fifth exercise starts with the horse in halt, with the head almost to the ground, on a held contact line. While you are holding the contact, ask the horse to move forward. Your horse will have difficulty wanting to do this because he has become light to the aids. In this exercise, we are teaching the horse to go forward with a held rein. This is a new concept to the horse.

The reason this exercise is important for dressage is that here you will ask the horse to stay soft, round up more at the same moment that he would go forward. This is a very hard concept for a horse to grasp, this is why in dressage we see horses becoming resistant, brace become unwilling, nervous and losing their forward impulsion and willingness to listen to the leg aids to go forward. This is also, what starts a horse rearing and bolting. The horse is totally confused because the rein aids are asking him to halt, in his mind, while the leg aids are demanding forward. This simple exercise takes care of these reactions in the horse by teaching him how to round up in a… Read more

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This was a very good question from Elizabeth in Thursday’s classroom and I thought it would be useful to share my answer with you too.

Elizabeth’s question was how the 7 steps of liberty training I taught in my first video Liberty Training are related to the Waterhole Rituals. Well, the short answer is that they are basically the same although I have obviously continued to develop my Method a great deal since that first video came out. For example, the 7 steps of liberty training I taught back then didn’t incorporate treats as a training aid and the video did not go into as much detail and had fewer related programs.

I realized over many years that I needed to give people more information on how to use my Method because most people have little practice in interacting with a horse without fences or tack. I needed to find a way to give the horse more reason to want to connect with a human and “food” was the answer. By introducing the use of treats, it helped to develop the bond and keep the horse motivated to figure out what the person might want when the person was… Read more

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The purpose of the third UE exercise is to teach your horse to lower is head while he is walking. The third exercise is done in the same manner as the second exercise. You will start each day with the first exercise and then when it feels good you move on to the second exercise. When you feel the horse is really connected and listening to your “rein aids,” which are the requests you give your horse through the halter and the rope, you then move to the third exercise.

Start yourself and your horse in “companion walking” on a none influencing looped line on a 20-meter circle. Do some walk-halt requests to get the connection in rhythm and team work going between you. Halt about every 10 feet. When your horse would slow down and speed up with you in companion-walk without the influence of the rope, you can begin the next part of the third exercise. While you maintain a steady speed in walk ask your horse to lower its head while he is walking in the same way you did the second exercise. Lower you head and tuck your nose a bit and request that your horse… Read more

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Hi again. One way to help gain a closer connection to a horse is to groom him at liberty. It is a lot of fun and gives you an opportunity for you and your horse to trust each other more. From the grooming experience, which is enjoyable for both your horse and you, you can take the time teaching you horse to feel responsible for standing still, this will carry over when you ride him and he will more willing to listen to your leadership and direction. This is a wonderful outlet for show horses, as well as race horses and family pets.

Start out by taking the brushes to his stall paddock or the arena and place the box in front of his head. Then start to brush him. If he starts taking the brushes out of the box stop grooming and put the brushes back in the box. Continue doing this until the horse is tired of the game. It could go on for some time and it is a great tension release and ice breaker. You can start in brushing him again when he is no longer interested in removing the brushes. If he walks away, follow… Read more

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A lot happens in small increments. This is where magic is grown.

At the Ranch today we were acclimatizing a horse by the name of Stoli to the ranch and developing a bond with him using the first Waterhole Ritual™. He is a 21 year old ex racehorse that is a schoolmaster in lower level dressage. He is quite nicely trained, very health and moves around like a young horse. He has a problem though of being quite barn sour and does not really enjoy peoples company but he does like his dressage work. He likes to kick other horses and has made a deep bond with his next door neighbor. He has been on the ranch for over a week and is taking his time in wanting to connect with us.

I have leased him from a friend for my apprentice Julia Felton who is with me for a period of three months. She is here to learn my method and study dressage training and riding. Our trade is that she his helping me to finish my book as well as helping me with my daily responsibilities. In return, I am coaching her on the Waterhole Rituals™ and giving… Read more

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More people are taking a new turn for themselves in regards to their relationship with horses. Less people are prone to want a horse to serve them in some way. People are beginning to want a horse to have a relationship with them instead of looking at a horse as an object that is dispensable, that they can get rid of, when their child goes off to college for example.

All of this is such good news and as things are changing more people are realizing that a horse is something you need to care for all his life and if we are going to own one we should keep it to the end if we can. I just had a horse at my ranch get an ulcer and the bill is really very high. He was in the hospital for two days and now he has been put on medicine that costs US$45.00 a day. He needs to be on it for 30 days. I should have had insurance but I did not.

The point of this message is that horses can be expensive and we need to be able to handle the costs as they occur.… Read more

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Today I would like to talk to you a little about mares, geldings and stallions and how they respond differently when communicating with us.

Mares can be moody. In these periods I find that if I take the time to connect with them slowly in the beginning before riding or training on the days they are moody, they will come around and forget their sensitivity and work with me as consistently as they would on any other day. If I cannot turn them around on the days they are moody, then I give them the time off they need. Mares can be very fussy about trust issues regarding strangers and even with other horses. In my experience, mares will try harder than stallions and geldings to please you and when they don’t please you, they get nervous and defensive. I think mares are more focused on reading the intentions of people than geldings and stallions. Mares can have strong opinions on what is right and what is wrong in regards to human behavior. Mares get along with other mares better than they do with geldings. I have noticed all horses may prefer one sex or color of horses to another.… Read more

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