Posted in Advice on Sep 24th, 2009
I gave a lesson during the Self Realization through the Waterhole Rituals course on Body Talk that was very empowering. What I often find my students doing is communicating body language at the horse rather than dancing with the movement. So, I asked everyone to imagine that the horse was as big as a whale that was listening to them. They had to exaggerate their body talk while slowing down their movements so that the whale could clearly understand what they were asking. This worked out very well and helped the students to better understand how to use Body Talk.
Another image to use is to imagine that your horse is far away and so you need to exaggerate your movements so he can clearly understand what you are asking from a distance. One student got the Body Talk down but could not use the reed with the same softness. She could not make the reed an extension of her body because she felt that is was too aggressive to use it. She used the reed in little jerking apologetic gestures, which only agitated the horse and no one moved anywhere. You need to use the reed in the… Read more
Read Full Post »
Posted in Misc on Sep 17th, 2009
Hi. Body language is so important. It brings you closer to your horse. Your communication using body language becomes a shared dance at liberty. Body language causes you to talk clearly and openly to your horse. I like to call it Body Talk. When a horse responds to your body language it is the art of partnering with your horse.
One way to improve your body language is to pretend you are underwater. Imagine that the air that you are moving through is thick like water. Visualizing this will cause you to put your whole body into your movements rather than selected, machine-like, static, isolated signals. Instead, you approach the horse like a mime with full dancing, extended expressions. Think of your movements like Tai Chi exercises, not always that slow or exaggerated but close. As you are communicating, do it with expression to give your communication meaning. Take the time it takes to get the point across. Doing this helps to prepare the horse to pay attention and then it will give the horse time to figure out what you want and then he can clear his mind and respond. This means you have to make more effort in… Read more
Read Full Post »
Posted in Misc on Jul 28th, 2009
Julia and I worked with Stoli today. First, we kept him company to start our daily work. He is now feeling a bond with both of us and even enjoying our company.
We are working on body releasing techniques to get him to release any bad memories that could get in the way of his willingness from trust issues in the past. Body work helps a horse to feel safe enough to be intimate with you and this is important. If a horse will not allow you to be intimate with him it is not a good idea in general to think about riding because it sets an attitude of not being fluid and fluidity is very important in dressage. Since Stoli is 21 years old he needs all the fluidity he can get. We discovered Stoli is an amazingly agile horse and loves doing carrot stretches and this one in particular as you can see below:
Stoli doing his agile excercise – he offered this to us completely umprompted
He is a great lesson horse for Julia because he is very locked in some areas and is responding very slowly, which is giving her plenty of… Read more
Read Full Post »
Posted in Observations on May 28th, 2009
Hello. Today I’d like to talk to you about body language or more precisely facial expressions.
I was reading in Robert Barber’s book about the fact that horses communicate with each other using eye expressions and I was really surprised with that. I have used body language all of my life and know that horses can accept messages, for example, from throat movements when swallowing. However, I was not aware of eye expressions and don’t know how I missed that.
Anyway, after reading Robert Barber’s book, I started practicing with my horses and found out that opening my eyes really big to a horse that was threatening me caused the horse to back down easily. So, then I started putting expressions on my face as a way to communicate and found that I have even became closer and more able to communicate with my horses. So, along with the body expressions that we use to communicate, I would suggest you also use facial expression and eye expressions as well.
So, please tell me how you get along with that. Maybe you already have stories that you would like to share on how facial expressions have helped you with your… Read more
Read Full Post »
Posted in Advice on Feb 17th, 2009
Hello. Before I get on to today’s post, I am delighted to announce that my book Naked Liberty is now available on CD. For those of you who are technically challenged, like me, this will probably come as a great relief! The book is read by my good friend, Liz Mitten Ryan, and she has done a wonderful job of bringing my childhood experiences to life. You can get it by clicking here, Naked Liberty on CD. I hope you enjoy it.
Today, I want to address a problem that people are having sending a horse away from them at liberty. Many people have expressed concern that driving a horse away from them will hurt the trust and bond. I can understand this point of view because of the struggle it might take in their mind to teach a horse to leave you when he does not want to go.
*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
Click the image above for more details
Read Full Post »
Posted in Misc on Oct 13th, 2008
Hi. I was asked the other day if I could sum up what my Method, DVDs and courses are all about and what makes me different to other horse trainers. So I sat down and tried to condense my philosophy into a few sentences, which wasn’t so easy! Anyway, please find below what I wrote, I hope it resonates with you.
Before we get to that though, I have a small survey it would be great if you could complete so as to give us some feedback. It’s very easy, just check one of the choices and click vote. Thank you.
*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
Click the image above for more details
Read Full Post »
Posted in Q&A on Sep 1st, 2008
Hello again. Hope you had a good weekend. Thank you for all your comments on my blog and thank you to Margaret for her wonderful piece last Friday, which so many of you seemed to enjoy.
People have been asking for another collection of photo’s from readers, so if you have any you would like to submit, please send them to info@carolynresnick.com and Mark will take care of it.
Today’s post is another in the series of questions regarding my Waterhole Rituals. Whilst the Rituals look simple enough on the surface, there are levels of understanding and behavior beneath the surface that must be fully grasped before you can experience their full benefit. Nicole from Canada wrote in and asked me a couple of questions and we’ll look at one of these today. I hope that you find it helpful to your understanding too.
*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
Click the image above for more details
Read Full Post »
