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 not … Read more

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I find that a very important connection I have with horses comes from the subtleties and energy that we share back and fourth. For example, how I choose to connect each time I have been away from my horse. I might choose to be focused on him and greet him with my full attention because that is how he chooses to great me that day. Or maybe I meet him with my focus on the world around us rather than on him to display that I have my finger on the pulse of life. This way I can win his trust in the moment and enforce my important position as a valuable friend and leader. I consider all these things when I reconnect with my horse.

I make these decisions by how I feel, how my horse feels at the time and where his focus is. If my horse’s focus is on eating and he does not acknowledge me, I will sit down and wait for him to come to me.

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Hello again. Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments about my plans for a school. Of course, its early days and we need to find the funding to make it all happen but your kind words are very encouraging.

Today, I want to share a story with you that was sent in by Katie from northern California. Katie’s story just shows what can be done if you just go out and follow what’s in my book and in my DVD’s. You will see how much and how fast her relationship with her horse, Picasso, changed just by doing these simple Rituals. She also has a similar success with a couple of wild paint colts she was hired to gentle.

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When training a horse, there is always a gap between the theoretical and the practical and this can be very frustraing . My advice for this is pretty much always that more time is needed. I can’t overstate the beautiful simplicity of the first Ritual as a preparation for the rest.

So, today’s blog post features a question by one of my loyal readers Norman, who writes:

I have been having trouble with the Rituals. My horses just aren’t reacting as I expected. During the first Ritual, my pony won’t come up to me again after I move the chair away. I can’t sneak up on any of them for the third Ritual. They always seem to be aware of everything around them. Should I chase them anyway? They never stop when I stop during the fourth Ritual. I don’t know how long I should keep walking after them. I don’t want them to resent me because I’m doing it wrong. Your Method is exactly what we need, it’s just frustrating that I can’t do it right.

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The lesson I would like to discuss today is how our horses behave when they have not been worked on a regular basis.

Normally, if we turn a horse out in a big field and just leave him for a week or maybe a month and then bring him back to ride, he will often be just wild. Most horses need to be worked on a daily basis, five days a week so that we can depend on them not to be too out of control. I find that interesting because horses we train with the Waterhole Rituals do not have that problem.

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Well, it’s nearly the weekend, so I thought it would be nice to have some more photo’s and thanks to everyone for sending them in.

I will be telling you next week about a story concerning Robin Gates, a student of mine for over 25 years and a close friend. After Robin told me this story about a particular mare, we had a good laugh and cry. Robin later told me that she did not sleep that night and wrote this poem.

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As every one knows, I had an unusual life growing up in the desert with horses. Our horses were able to run free most of the day in a herd and go where they wished. They were loose and there were no fences to keep them in from doing exactly what they wanted to do. The freedom, connection and performance I shared with them caused me never to really accept the conditions horses are faced with today. Horses are not free anymore and we keep them in captivity. This is one of the reasons I invented the Waterhole Rituals. We have taken their land, called it our home and horses haven’t any claim to the motherland that frees their spirit, leaves them to raise their families and keeps them together as they wish.

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