Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship Blog: Horse Training from the ground up

Today I am going to share another question from an Insider Circle student about some typical expressions horses have and how the Waterhole Rituals can help you understand them and work with them.

While participating in a clinic at Return To Freedom with Neda De Mayo (2007, I believe) I was introduced to your way of being with horses and have been practicing ever since. HUGE breath of fresh air! I have no words to describe the gratitude I feel.

My questions are:

1. Horse pins ears when walking toward food, with or without me walking with him. What does this mean and how would you shape his behavior, or does it matter?
2. Sour expression, pinning ears while companion walking. What does this mean and how would you shape his behavior, or does it matter?
3. Head slinging when sending away quickly. What does this mean and how would you shape his behavior, or does it matter?
4. What are your insights on mutual grooming as a herd behavior? Does it matter who initiates it? Who usually initiates it, lead, dominant or lower in the order? Is this a ritual that can be used to strengthen the bond and shape

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This picture I posted on Facebook shows an advanced horse trained at liberty performing piaffe. The piaffe was achieved without tack, in a free, open environment. After the horse has a strong foundation with all seven of the Waterhole Rituals, I start with this kind of work. I will show you how to begin working with a horse to achieve this movement in connection.

At this level of training, the horse will work in the arena at high speed and maintain that speed once I send him off, without me having to maintain it. The horse understands that he wants to run and is not planning on slowing down, unless I ask him to. This is very high energy work.

This way, I can work in front of the horse directing him where to go. This is the first phase of working a horse that is completely trained at the lower levels of the Waterhole Rituals. It’s the advanced work of the last Waterhole Ritual, Liberty Dancing. I am sharing this with you at this time for the Insider Circle and Box Programs to show where the next phase of schooling begins. This is… Read more

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Working with horses at liberty, the focus is on many aspects. Liberty work teaches a horse to govern his performance himself, and really commit to the dance you would like him to participate in. The trainer learns how to control the horse’s behavior without having to actively control the horse. Liberty Training brings out different behaviors and engages the horse’s intelligence in different ways than traditional training with tack. It enhances a horse’s ability to learn new things far more than we previously thought possible.

Once the horse has been exposed to training at liberty, tack becomes a supportive aid rather than a governing aid. After he has been developed at liberty, tack helps to communicate with the horse rather than control or govern him.

My life has been working with horses at liberty, and horses continue to surprise me in how quickly they learn without tack. The most notable lesson that a horse learns more quickly at liberty is to halt when asked. Halt is where my focus is these days because I am working with Lila and her horse Sebastian to prepare him for bridle-less riding.

It takes some preparation for equestrians to learn how to approach a… Read more

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When I first got Apollo, I decided I wanted to see how a dog breeder would handle him to give him a bath. I wanted to see his behavior toward a bath so I would not make any mistakes and start a behavior in him that I was responsible for, that would develop a bad connection with him. I learned a lot. What I learned is that she talked to him with sweet tones every minute that she was bathing him helping him to feel secure. When he got too whiney and nervous the husband would come into the room and poke a finger into his rib cage and say “Settle down.”

To my surprise, Apollo responded by settling down and the wife would then would go back to sweet talk. The husband’s energy was on the muscle but calm and direct. They had a plan. One of the reasons it worked is that down deep inside them they knew it would. Because of this, it influenced my dog to accept his bath like they expected him to.

I learn by watching, reading, experiencing, practicing and the big one, evaluating. From evaluation, I can usually come up with… Read more

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Connection is a two way street. To truly get along with a horse in shared partnership activities we need to have the social leadership skills. If we can keep adjusting our leadership to be more flexible, understandable, and intelligent the horse is more willing to form a loyal partnership and put a great effort into his performance. It’s all about being present in the moment and fully awake and knowing exactly what to ask a horse to do that starts the dance, backed with the belief that your horse will perform and then letting the horse perform without holding him to it.

A good equestrian rule to follow is that force and resistance should almost never be met by force in the training of a horse. When you lose the dance you make the connection back rather than using pressure. Slowing things down gets rid of the need to force. You can make a strong demand without force when the horse feels responsible and knows the rules. Horse love rules and boundaries and even enjoy having them enforced. The most important part about enforcing a rule to a horse is to use proper timing and attitude.

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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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I am not against formulas and lessons in the training of horses and people. I am only against them when they are the only way you go about communicating and the training of horses.

Following formulas blindly, without question and without adjustment, can cause a person to lose their natural leadership ability, which then causes the horse to focus on having to pay attention to the rules rather than focusing on the connection.

I think that it is best for a person to hang around horses and horse trainers to develop a rhythm and a way of being around horses when things are right. I have watched horses being trained by other people for years as one of the many ways I gained my knowledge of horse training. It’s a lot of fun and I can’t think of a faster way to learn how to train a horse than by watching horses in nature and trainers that horses like as a way to develop your skill in the training of horses.

*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
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