Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

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.

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Hello. Hope you had a nice weekend. Today we have a question from Michelle from Canada who is already using the Waterhole Rituals to good effect by the sound of it but was seeking a little more clarification. Michelle wrote:

When I go to “say hello”, Amber(my mare) will sometimes walk towards me, so do I retreat, continue and still walk off or what?? She also did this to me later on during the eye contact ritual, so I did some “companion walking” to compensate for her decision.

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Hello. Time for another question. This one is from Jackie in New Mexico who wrote:

I have just started working with horses and have two colts both going on one year. I have had them about eight months. I am told by most everyone I talk to that I would not be able to work with this horse if I do not get him gelded. I do not want to get him gelded but will it be that hard if I don’t get him gelded?

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Dear Jackie

There are four reasons why you would geld:
1) It can be inhumane to leave some horses as stallions because living by our standards can be abusive without our even realizing the unfair lifestyle we expect them to tolerate. For example, some stallions cannot accept not having their freedom to do as they would choose. Some can be highly aggressive and you can’t get their attention on anything but what they want to focus on. If you have a stallion with a super aggressive nature, in time he will become more than you can handle.

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