The “Waterhole Rituals” are the tea ceremony to develop a harmonious relationship with a horse and with life. It is a continual practice in awareness and being present to the moment.

The Waterhole Rituals create a deep friendship with a horse and a working bond that is the foundation for all equestrian pursuits. The Waterhole Rituals develop a horse that wants to learn and perform the task at hand while creating a feeling of well-being in a horse along with an optimistic attitude for what he does – the opposite of a trained bear.

What I find is that horses in general receive their well-being from sharing companionship with one another and enjoy this kind of relationship with humans too. However we do a lot to spoil this by not fulfilling their companionship need by the way we house them and the way we go about training them.

All the Waterhole Rituals are focused on developing a certain quality of connection that is present in a relationship where the bond is deep. I call these separate qualities of connection that each Ritual develops in a horse “the heart felt strings of connection” because they are the vibrations that exist when … Read more

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All of you who responded had such great answers in how to train Brownie the Virtual horse that is so resistant. My blog is attracting kind, knowledgeable and effective horse people that appear to enjoy training for training sake alone.

Most all of you felt that Brownie was no challenge. If you are new to horses, I am sure you will have learned a lot from all these great responses. I want you to look at these solutions as a way to grow your understanding of horses and try out the solutions you would feel you could do on a horse like Brownie. From your success and failures, you will learn easily. Trial and error has always created great horse trainers. People who are not interested in training, and just want their horse to do what they ask him to do, will most likely get frustrated and will often approach the training of a resistant horse with resistance, aggression and asking too much, creating the horse to get worse. What I want to show you here is a video of how badly horses can be approached when in a hurry and full of arrogance.

You might want to skip this … Read more

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Leading a Horse Properly is Important for Performance

It is surprising to me to see well trained dressage horses leading from place to place as badly as they do. Leading is such a valuable tool for the connection and relaxation you have with a horse when you ride, especially a dressage horse.  A horse can be well trained, but if the willingness and acceptance are not there the performance suffers and so does the horse.

When I had my training center in Sanoma California I found out how important it is to a horse’s performance under saddle to train a horse how to lead in hand properly.  My students had noticed that when I had the horse truly trained to leading from the ground in all circumstances, it greatly improved the horse’s performance in competition.

I got so interested in the act of leading a horse as a valuable tool that I got people to form social groups to walk together in nature in order to help improve their connection and relationship with their horse.  This activity was an enjoyable activity for both the horse and the owner.

Walking in nature with friends creates a social activity that horses miss … Read more

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Ruby Morgan and Me

I was working with Ruby Morgan, at this time she is our in-house Iridologist, who is here at my ranch working in an apprenticeship program with Honey her project horse. We were working on Leading From Behind. Honey was learning very quickly, so at one point when I thought that I could ask him to turn to the left, when I was on his right, he became very resistant. Up until that point I had not tried to turn him.

How I start Leading from Behind

When Honey is really relaxed, standing still and is enjoying my company, I ask him to move forward. I then begin to follow after him slowly, looking forward to when he will come to a halt again. No matter how fast he chooses to travel after my initial push I do not try to direct him in where he chooses to go, even if he chooses to travel around in circles, just as long as he does not try to turn around, stop and face me. If he does, I move his head away so he turns around and leaves me. This puts me behind the horse so I can … Read more

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What approach do you use with your horse when leading with a halter and rope?

Have you ever thought about how the influence of tack affects your relationship with your horse? When using tack, many times a person will catch their horse as quickly as possible with no thought to rekindling the friendship and the horse’s desire to stick to you and follow your lead. A reason that this can happen is from thinking that the halter and rope will create the connection you need with your horse.

Tack can create sloppy connections with your horse. Think about it: If you took off the halter would you still be able to lead your horse and keep him at your side? If you can, it came from your attention to the relationship and the bond minutes before you put it on. What would your horse do if you took off his halter? Most likely you would no longer be able to lead your horse anywhere. But, if you have worked your horse at Liberty first without tack to gain the Magnetic Connection in Companion Walking, using tack would be a benefit rather than a device that enslaves the horse.

Tack can … Read more

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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 my … Read more

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As the Insider Circle and Extended Circle classes are going on, I want to share with my bloggers and the class more detail on how to approach Leading From Behind™ that I offered to Karin in the comments section of my last blog. I also added some information about how to approach your horse with reciprocal movements (leading and following in connection) and Leading From Behind at liberty, and the attitude and energy level that will help in how to approach this Ritual.
When you first start out with Leading From Behind, you start out easy and stay easy. You follow slowly, and when your horse stops, wait a moment. Then ask him to step forward- and when he does, you can either follow behind him, or if you feel he might take off, immediately walk in the opposite direction, and wait for your horse to relax. Use the “Hello” Ritual, but this time, stay with your horse and wait-and when your horse walks off, repeat by slowly following him again. Slowly and surely, Leading From Behind will look like a parade in harmony and unity.
Get to the Ridge By Sundown!
Visualize that you are on the plains as … Read more

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