Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

Today your blog is a slightly edited excerpt from the comments section. I want everyone to read it that is in the Insider Circle and In a Box programs.

Many of you are leaving kindergarten with your horse and moving into first grade. In kindergarten, the focus is more on learning the method and developing the bond and respect and the heartfelt strings of connection. Many of you in the classes are now ready to focus on perfecting your body language and leadership ability with your horse, as you develop the dance in companion walking and liberty dancing to music as a guide. This letter will help everyone that is at this stage.

Do not try this until you can work your horse in a larger space successfully producing the results of each ritual; until you and your horse have become deeply bonded, and you have developed the magnetic connection both in walk and trot. The reason for this is, when you are working with your horse in a smaller place in the beginning, you will use the fence line to influence him when you shouldn’t. Small places are too intimidating for a horse in the beginning of his training.… Read more

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Expectations be gone!!

I have gone from ice boxes to refrigerators, from fans to air conditioners, from wild horses to Arabians and back.

I have experienced closets in homes three feet wide as being more that enough room, to walk in closets as big as rooms not big enough. I have experienced a running hose in the backyard at 100 degrees in the desert with my Mother’s dish pan as my pool and the hose as my fountain. Today I have a friend whose swimming pool rivals that of a theme park. I am now living in a culture that is less satisfied, where the games are only focused on being competitive. I prefer games that are creative and bring communities together working on a creative project or dance.

Today I love to watch cooking shows because of the art and culture of it and the history and the way to bring joy to friends though cooking.

All the shows are a contest built on speed and performance and frustration. Yes, frustration is part of the show and if frustration was not there, the show might be considered boring. It seems that frustration is a good thing in all… Read more

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I have created a virtual student to help me in coaching you. My virtual student has a great relationship with her horse. In fact, once she learned how to use my Method she developed a tremendous ability to communicate with her horse telepathically. Once that connection was achieved through the Method, she stopped the practice and focus of my Method and just used telepathic communication alone. Her horse has finally lost interest because she is not focused on the strings of connection that must be maintained. There is no courtship in telepathic communication or the ability to make adjustments in the relationship. While telepathic communication is very natural and beneficial to use it cannot take the place of developing the strings of connection, sharing body language, and intent. When only using telepathic communication, there is no way to create a magnetic connection.

My virtual student wants to exclusively use telepathic communication and this keeps her away from the real experiences and challenges that arise from trial and error, she finds that she also has problems with her other relationships in her life where interplay is needed for cooperation, connection and understanding. Life and relationships are a dance in attitudes, connections,… Read more

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I have a new haflinger mare named Marilynne that I have taken into training to help with the Insider Circle program courses I am currently teaching. When I brought her to the ranch no-one could put a halter on her because she would not allow herself to be approached. It was not an easy job for me to get one on her but I did and she is now here at the ranch with me.

Marilynne is a special case because she is very fearful and not the kind of horse that I recommend for beginners doing my course for the first time. I will have to proceed at a slower pace with her, which will help you to see the many details of my Method.

To her credit, Marilynne is smart willing, and easy to train if she doesn’t get scared. Her previous owners thought that she was difficult to train because she did not respond well to their aggressive training approach, which they subjected her to over a long period. They aggressively round penned her, chasing her at top speeds with her head tied to her saddle while lunging. As punishment, they left her tied in a stall… Read more

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When a horse is responding to me from my influence, I am focused on what he or she is feeling in the moment. I want my horse to be engaged so that I can develop his interest to dance with me with enthusiasm, looking forward to the adventure and challenges that face our growing relationship. I want the partnership to be a co-creative adventure. When I listen to my horse in each moment, I can capitalize on furthering the relationship and his performance by making adjustments to my leadership approach and the horse’s program. I adjust my leadership and the program to fit the evolution of the horse’s dance behavior while at the same time building his interest in learning and performing.

Every time I am training, my big focus is on evolving my skills of connection and courtship to keep the dance alive. I also focus on being sure that I bring my horse enough fulfillment of his need for companionship and connection, which is important to a horses psyche. Sometimes courtships are not smooth and we often make mistakes and in turn make over-corrections. It is through the “making–up” that we re-establish the bond that makes our connection… Read more

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I am offering this blog page to a student of mine, a long time self-realization coach using horses, Talley Hutcherson. The reason this story is important for you is in the way it may improve your understanding of the need to assess a situation for yourself and teach you how to approach your horses in times of lost connection.

I want you seeing your broken connection from the horse’s point of view because from this point of view you will create a game that will bring back the connection and train the horse for new behaviors at the same time, like Talley did for her journey on her new career. I also what you to see that the exercise she chose to use is a great way to put a strong gas pedal onto a horse and to teach a horse what a good idea it is to move way from you when you ask the horse to move way. The lesson she chose teaches so many things to the horse. This is another reason why working horses separately is a good idea. Enjoy!!

Carolyn

From Talley Hutcherson:

As a student of Carolyn’s I am always concerned about being

… Read more

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This blog was inspired by one of my Insiders Circle student’s comments on the blog, thank you Connie Huibregtse.  Connie, You can make joy happen because Joy is a practice.

Horses are great helpers to return us to a natural state of joy and well-being, a state that we often take for granted or think we do not have.  Wanting or not wanting joy does not change the fact that there is always joy within our core of existence. The reason I know this is that you cannot know what it is not to have joy unless you have experienced having it in the first place.

Some people may feel guilty for thoughts of feeling joyful when others around them are suffering. How to step over feelings of guilt is to understand that when you exercise joyful states of being within yourself and acknowledge the joy that is always present, it effects the well-being of others in a positive way. It is more a powerful tool for effecting change and the well-being of others than any other.  Going with the flow of nature helps nature to support us. Cultivating feelings of joy is a very strong way to help the… Read more

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