Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

Today your blog is a slightly edited excerpt from the comments section. I want everyone to read it that is in the Insider Circle and In a Box programs.

Many of you are leaving kindergarten with your horse and moving into first grade. In kindergarten, the focus is more on learning the method and developing the bond and respect and the heartfelt strings of connection. Many of you in the classes are now ready to focus on perfecting your body language and leadership ability with your horse, as you develop the dance in companion walking and liberty dancing to music as a guide. This letter will help everyone that is at this stage.

Do not try this until you can work your horse in a larger space successfully producing the results of each ritual; until you and your horse have become deeply bonded, and you have developed the magnetic connection both in walk and trot. The reason for this is, when you are working with your horse in a smaller place in the beginning, you will use the fence line to influence him when you shouldn’t. Small places are too intimidating for a horse in the beginning of his training.… Read more

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When a horse is responding to me from my influence, I am focused on what he or she is feeling in the moment. I want my horse to be engaged so that I can develop his interest to dance with me with enthusiasm, looking forward to the adventure and challenges that face our growing relationship. I want the partnership to be a co-creative adventure. When I listen to my horse in each moment, I can capitalize on furthering the relationship and his performance by making adjustments to my leadership approach and the horse’s program. I adjust my leadership and the program to fit the evolution of the horse’s dance behavior while at the same time building his interest in learning and performing.

Every time I am training, my big focus is on evolving my skills of connection and courtship to keep the dance alive. I also focus on being sure that I bring my horse enough fulfillment of his need for companionship and connection, which is important to a horses psyche. Sometimes courtships are not smooth and we often make mistakes and in turn make over-corrections. It is through the “making–up” that we re-establish the bond that makes our connection… Read more

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I am so pleased to have all of you in my classrooms and on the blog. I want to thank you for being here with me. Your interest in my programs gives me an opportunity to be able to share with you what is closest to my heart. We have a large enrollment for the ‘In a Box’ Program. I kept the ‘Insider Circle’ Program to a small number so I can coach to offer personalized coaching. For everyone in those Programs, my blogs will help you in the courses so don’t stop reading them. I will use the blog for added lesson material. The blogs going forward will also help the those of you who are not currently in these Programs on the Waterhole Rituals. I will focus on philosophy, how to go about training and the kind of atmosphere that will bring a horse well being. I have always felt that to follow your truth in what is fair, just and moral and effective, will give you the ability to have a way with horses. But the jury is out in how to approach what is fair just and moral. One thing I do know is that we… Read more

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It was so nice to be able to offer the free conference call on the U.E. Exercises and my free winter program. The U.E. exercises are a perfect thing to focus on for the winter month’s because it requires minimum activity and can be so easily adapted to doing several of the exercises from a stall or paddock.

It is so exciting to reach people from around the world and discover at last, people who are interested in bringing out the true nature of the horse and connecting with them through a personal bond, giving their horse freedom of choice, and a more than equal say in the partnership we share with them. It is also most important that the programs we offer to our horses and students are flexible enough to suit the conditions of the moment and the personalities and abilities of both the horse and their human. I feel I am doing something truly worth while and on the cutting edge for man’s humanitarian evolution.

These exercises were developed from my struggles to find a new way to bring clarity and understanding to the horse about the driving and rein aids given to them by children when they… Read more

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Horses respect politeness so much that when a horse corrects rudeness in their herd, they feel a deeper connection for the horse that pointed out their anti-social behavior. The most polite horse has many friends and a lot of respect. They have a lot of power because they know how to stay out of the way when another horse is not receptive to interaction or sharing space. They also know how to turn that energy around, how to develop a relationship, how to change another horse’s attitude and how to court a horse with a dominant attitude.

I use the Waterhole Rituals in the same way a lead horse goes about developing friendship, developing the bond, changing a dominate horse’s attitude and helping a fearful horse to feel more personal power.

Relationships are paramount to the well-being of horses. The connections and battles they share are enjoyed. Just like we would rather sometimes scrap with one another than really find a solution.

It is been my pleasure over the years to see many herds where every horse is a lead horse and they share a different rank position as needed to fit the circumstances. In these herds there is no… Read more

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I do not address vices like biting, kicking or bucking if I can avoid it. Fighting with a horse does not help the bond and partnership and it can cause a horse to develop a bad attitude that then becomes a permanent part of his personality. It is better to focus on building a social bond and deal with the rudeness of the horse in a way that would build the bond and respect.

Many of you may be shocked to learn what horses actually see as polite behavior and it is very much misunderstood. Building polite behavior in a horse would enhance the bond, build team-working skills and enhance a horse’s natural instincts. When a horse is no longer rude, he sees you as family and you have a greater chance that he will want to follow your lead. The Waterhole Rituals will teach you when to lead, when to follow and when to pause. Observing the horse as he exhibits different behaviors from being willing to not being willing will guide you in the direction you need to take with him.

When people bond with their horses, often times the person does not realize that the horse is… Read more

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I have just got a new dog. It is a Lowchen; his coat is gray, he is one and a half years old and weights 14 pounds. He belonged to someone that was at Hap Hansen’s show barn, which is not too far from my ranch; I go there to work with a couple of students and their horses.

Someone had the dog at the barn, looking to find a new home for him. I played with him at the ranch for a while and decided to keep him. His name is Mojo and I can tell he doesn’t like his name, and won’t come when he is called. He runs the other way. When I catch the dog, I give him a treat and let him go. It fixed the problem in a hurry. It was so much fun watching him process his situation and then come running to me with exuberance for the treats.

Mojo, or whatever I will decide to call him is not house broken. I need to keep an eye on him because he will not ask to go out, so I take him out every two hours. When I do so he… Read more

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