Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

My experiences in nature with horses unveiled an understanding that horses naturally want to bond with us and enjoy being ridden if it happens naturally.

The equestrian world increasingly begins training the horse to be ridden at a time when a horse is not ready, so lots of preparation must occur. In this modern day, a lack of Sharing Territory™ to grow and maintain the connection with horses is more than half of the reason why it takes a well-seasoned trainer to train a horse to be dependable and trustworthy.

Not sharing our daily lives with horses causes horses to be more wary of us. Rather than working with the horse when the horse feels safe and secure, most equestrians end up spending more time desensitizing the horse and showing the horse how not to be afraid in the moments he is fearful to gain trust. When we establish security we can then easily bring to the horse social activities that are more natural for the horse and human. This helps to develop the kind of trust and respect that creates a cross-species bond that brings about a unified working partnership.… Read more

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Mary Barrett asked a question in the comments section about the difference in asking the head of a horse to move away from you in Leading From Behind™ versus the nose, and why I make the distinction.

Asking the head to move away is a softer message than directing the nose to move away. When I turn a horse around so I can start Leading From Behind™, I am a few feet or more away from his head. My focus and energy with my driving aids is directed at the head, not the haunches. You can see this in the picture at the bottom of the blog. I direct the head of the horse by using my body language to show a request to turn away. My eyes are focused on his head. When I am asking the horse to turn away and he does not move, I advance toward his head. When I get to his head, I then start focusing on his nose. The horse will understand your request taking this approach. But it does not mean that he is going to do what you are asking him. To ensure a positive response so that your horse turns… Read more

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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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I have several horses here at my ranch that I am working with on issues of behavior. Some that have been here a long time are now the salt of the earth, and others have just started their journey to be retrained or rehabilitated from improper and abusive approaches. Today I worked with an Arabian stallion that is three going on four. When he began with me, he was a horse that would bite, kick, strike, and rear. He would use these on you if asked to do simple things like leading or grooming or working around him closely at liberty. The fact of the matter is that this horse is really a very simple horse with no desire to be dominant even though he acted that way. At this point in his life, his hormones are not causing any issues. His nature is to do what he is told and to like people and other horses. So how did all of this happen and how did he become so out of control?

It was easy. Even though his owner/ handler/ trainer was gifted with horses, she did not lay a foundation with her stallion. Instead of building the foundations… Read more

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Little Known Precursors to Aggressive Behavior in Fearful Horses, and How to Deal with Them.

I was watching Animal Planet with Victory Stilwell. She mentioned something about a little known fact about dog behavior. I thought I heard her say that a dog that will roll over on his back as a submission gesture in the future will surely bite you.

I started thinking of the things that most horse professionals do not know about horses. One of them is if a horse tries to look at you with only one eye with a stiffness in his body, he does not trust you. It is a fearful as well as an aggressive stance, and it comes with strong threat in the future to the person the horse responds to in this way.

The horse that will look at you with one eye or will switch his head around back and forth looking at you from one eye to the other may follow this behavior with biting, charging, kicking or striking at a later time, when you might least expect it.

Years ago, I had to clean out stalls as an every day chore when I was apprenticing… Read more

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Our Insider Circle class and the “In a Box” program are now over. It is such a worthwhile project bringing horses and humans together in a deeper bond from winning respect through allowing the relationship to grow naturally. I also focused on having the class develop a deeper understanding of horses from Sharing Territory with a horse in a way that fosters friendship, cooperation, and intimacy. The interactions that occur around Sharing Territory bring about a magical communication with a horse.

Mark is leaving up the Youtube videos and the questions section for a while, and we can still stay in touch with one another on my blog.

Going forward, I would like the class to communicate with one another on my blog on topics about the Waterhole Rituals and the relationship and communication that is developing with their horses, as well as any New Horse and/or New Human sightings!

The other day, I saw a man sitting with his horse in a field in a chair reading a newspaper, that is and example of a New Human sighting.

Please, feel free to stay connected through my blog, so we can still share with the world our everyday experiences with… Read more

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Several people learning my method have horses that have not yet been trained to accept the halter, and they have asked for my guidance. Of course, there are lots of halter breaking methods. They call it halter “breaking” because you must be very careful with the horse or foal, as you can easily run into resistance you cannot handle from the sheer strength of the horse fighting to get away. You need to stay away from the resistance and train the horse to never use resistance in response to a direct request from a pull of the lead rope.

I find it very interesting that we see very few DVDs on the subject of halter training a wild horse. It takes great skill, and trainers who are not at all intimidated by getting in a fight with the horse or foal, or putting a horse though a process where he learns that, if he gets into a fight with the trainer, he will lose. This is why it is called halter breaking. Many trainers are not comfortable if the horse has not experienced this fight and lost to the trainer. Many feel that it is mandatory for a wild horse… Read more

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