Posted in Advice, Observations on Nov 3rd, 2011
It is amazing to me how approaching a daily connection with my horses can make such a difference.
The daily connection can make the behavior of the horse be either balanced for a good ride or a ride that would be full of resistance. To get on the good side of a horse, I put my attention on letting go of my agenda and watch for when the horse and I feel a mutual connection. If you can not tell if there is a mutual connection, chances are you need to wait longer with your horse before you put on the halter. This point is so important to learn how to connect with a horse, it is worth taking some practice time to work on it. I would suggest to you that if it took days of doing nothing with a horse but waiting for a feeling of connection it would change your whole experience with horses to magical proportions.
Leadership and Timing the “Ask”
I never ask a horse to follow my lead unless I know I have a connection with him. When I ask, I do not tell, meaning that I am very prepared… Read more
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Posted in Advice, Misc on Oct 6th, 2011
Welcome To My Blog -To Get You Started!
The purpose of my blog is to make a connection with you. I can connect with people all over the world, thanks to the computer, and we can explore and correspond with one another on the experiences we’re having with our horses in our life!
I also use the blog as a way, to educate, to raise consciousness, and to use philosophical viewpoints that will lead to a better relationship with horses; for training, partnering, and performance.
The blog is also here to help support interested people and my students who are learning my method through the educational material I offer and direct coaching. Feel free to ask questions on horse behavior, pecking order, leadership, self-realization, meditation, and the training and performance of horses. I may answer your question, or I may choose it for a blog topic for a later date. Of course, I can’t answer everyone’s questions, but I will read all your comments and I will respond to several questions on each blog.
I look forward to dialoging on the subject of what creates a better connection with a horse. Enjoy!
I will give you a lesson from… Read more
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Posted in Misc on Jan 13th, 2011
Today’s post is in response to a letter I received recently from someone:
Dear Carolyn,
I am also incredibly excited about the reformation. It has been a question of mine for a long while, as to how can one influence herd behavior.
Actually, Joost helped me come up with the plan. He too is using the Waterhole Rituals to influence with all of the horses he works with.
He has a 2 year old filly in training who bites everything she can reach.
Last week while grooming her he stuffed a cookie in her mouth when she reached for his elbow.
Well! That totally interrupted the deal and then he asked her for several steps back.
She was very different all morning.
Thinking things through in this way is becoming 2nd nature, and we are doing everything possible to coax that along.
I do have something to report back to you about our mustang, Geronimo.
We have been doing the intimacy exercises with him for about 4 weeks. He can now eat out of a bucket, keeping his head inside the whole time, which is a huge improvement.
His normal behavior is to grab a mouthful and then move away
… Read more
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Posted in Misc on Nov 9th, 2010
As we go forward with the Waterhole Rituals™ in my blog, I am speaking to you either on Sharing Territory™, or shaping behavior, or working on the performance and training of the horse. How we approach the training of the horse will help the friendship grow. We need to bring a program that inspires the horse to want to learn and follow our direction. To do this, we need to keep tabs on our horse’s attitude while we are working with our horse, and then we need to make adjustments in our leadership to keep the quality of the connection.
We as leaders must also focus on the rhythm of our horse while we are working with him. I have found that I can communicate clearly to my horse whether I am in the saddle or from the ground by matching his rhythm and then signaling my request between the strides. I will often times choose a slightly different rhythm from the horse that would cause the horse to want to match my rhythm. For example, if my horse is walking too fast I will choose a rhythm in my own body that I would like him to have… Read more
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Posted in Advice on Oct 21st, 2010
The practice of Leading From Behind™ causes the horse to gain a sense of belonging. Without tack, in a free open environment, we give a horse sanction to respond positively or negatively without consequences, which is so valuable to building a connection and trust with a horse.
For a horse to express his feelings without consequences or concern and to feel a sense of “who he is” is life- enhancing to a horse and the trick to winning him over. Exercising your instinct for horses as well as humans creates a sense of well being and enthusiasm for life as well as an optimistic attitude for working with others. Experiencing freedom of choice without consequences builds a healthy ego. A horse that has a healthy ego will naturally bond with a human.
A horse’s greatest instinct is for companionship and freedom. This is what we can give back to a horse working with the Waterhole Rituals™. It is essential for a horse to experience a freedom of choice in order for a horse to feel well adjusted.
From the practice of Leading from Behind™ we are returning a horse to his roots, his well being, and his understanding of life,… Read more
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Posted in Advice on Aug 12th, 2010
WORKING WITH THE WATERHOLE RITUALS: RULES AND GUIDELINES
As we go along, you will learn many ways in which your approach can affect the relationship you share with a horse. The rules of your behavior will change according to whether your horse approaches you, or you approach your horse.
The rules for working at liberty to bring about a true instinct in a horse to want to bond and stay with you are:
- If the horse does not like the direction that he is given, he goes away, signaling you to stop your interactio
- To reconnect, you must seek permission to enter the horse’s personal space through the Hello Ceremony.
- If the horse objects by walking or running away from you, you must then go away, giving the horse time to naturally choose to reconnect.
- When you direct a horse when you are in his personal space, it should always be a request, and if he doesn’t respond to it, you drop the subject and walk away.
- If a horse walks up to you and steps into your personal space you can be more assertive
- If you are too assertive, your horse will leave you and you
… Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 27th, 2010
Hi, this is Mark here. As you may have seen, Carolyn’s site has been down the last day or so for which I profusely apologize. At this stage, we do not know exactly what happened. I am guessing it was some sort of hack attack, a professional hazard of working online. Anyway, we have restored a backup from LAST SUNDAY 23rd, so if you made a comment on or since then, it may have been lost. Please go back and check if you are not sure.
Apologies once again and normal service will now been resumed… here’s Carolyn!
As many of you know, I use treating and food very specifically and purposefully in my work with horses. However, in the ‘Saying Hello’ Waterhole Ritual, you do not want to use treats. The reason for this is it causes the horse to focus on the treat and not on you.
I gained a deeper insight into why not to use treats during the Hello Ritual from the dog whisperer, Cesar Milan. Watching his TV show, I learned more clearly the way a dog’s mind operates. I was feeding my food-aggressive dog, Apollo, the way Cesar suggested and now that… Read more
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