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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Here is what several students have asked me to write a blog about: Taking Territory – the 3rd Ritual of the Waterhole Rituals:
Taking Territory creates respect and raises your position in the pecking order. You can gain the right of passage to be accepted in the horse world as a leader. Taking Territory is not about chasing a horse around; it is about Taking Territory away from a horse.

All animals in nature experience the loss of territory in social interactions and it is what builds their character and social behavior to fit in and be responsible in the community. You can Take Territory easily with a horse by surprising him in order to initiate his flight response.

The Proper Guidance:

Taking Territory Ritual is a ritual which is seldom used without my guidance and that is a good thing. In most cases it would not be applied in the way it needs to be applied without proper coaching. You do not need it at all in order to train a horse with my method, though it does have a strong purpose. In Taking Territory the horse is never touched, but only encouraged to move forward by being surprised. … Read more

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If this is your first time reading my blog about training horses at liberty, I want to give you a very warm welcome. I want to fill you in on what today’s blog post is about. This blog post is a continuation that started two weeks ago. If you start at the beginning, you will know what I am referring to in today’s entry.

It is that time of year again and I am delighted to offer our special Valentine’s Day Coaching Call, Tuesday February 14th, 2012 where the topics will be:

“How to Make a True Heart Connection with Your Horse: Which comes first Respect or Love?
Discussion: What 10 things are on your Horse’s Bucket List?”

The format for our call will be a short introductory piece and some coaching from me followed by an open question and answer session. Please bring your HORSE’S BUCKET LIST as we’ll be sharing our lists with each other on the call. A Bucket List is a list of things your horse would like to do or things your horse would like to have – like my horse wants a never ending pail of grain – he would be very

… 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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Second Annual Free Course, Winter 2011
Introduction to the Course
Today is the first day of my free Uberstreichen Exercises course for the winter! For those of you who are new to this class, I want to send out a warm welcome! For those of you who took my class last winter, welcome back! The schedule for the course and the blog will be the following: Tuesday’s blog will be the Uberstreichen course, and Thursday’s posting will be a regular blog. Now, let’s get started!

A Quick Note: I want to gently remind everyone that since these exercises are my own creation and intellectual property, I own the rights to them exclusively. This class is for you to learn and benefit personally from these exercises on my site only, no permission is given to copy or reproduce this material for any reason.

A Brief History and Purpose of the Uberstreichen Exercises
“Uberstreichen” or more correctly, “überstreichen,” and how I am using it, comes from a term in dressage that means to release the rein or reins to check if a horse is truly in self-carriage. This is how I know of it. My exercises were named by a dressage rider, … Read more

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I want to take this time again to welcome newcomers to my site and how to get started with my method. My blog is a classroom to support the teaching materials of my books and DVDs.

If you are new to horses and are interested in my method, you should work with someone in person who knows my method. If you would like, let me know in the comments section where you are located and I may be able to put you in contact with someone who is familiar with my method and has a strong successful background training horses and humans in your area.

Here are some of the basics that you need in order to start with my method:

If you have all of these things, I can teach you my method just through this web site along with my teaching material.

If your horse does not easily respond to the … Read more

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Hello. Hope you liked the idea last week about the podcast and haven’t been put off too much by all the technology. Mark said that there have been a few emails, so he has set up an page on the site, where you can ask questions and more importantly read the responses. Click FAQ Page to read more.

I am delighted to be able to announce our first podcast has arrived and here it is:
Nature Helps in Bonding With Horses – read by Beth Schang

In future, we will post all new recordings on this special Podcasts Page as well as on their relevant post. Thanks Beth – very nice!

So today’s post is a continuation of our discussion last week about boundaries. Now that I have shared with you my observations about rude behavior and how horses use flexible boundaries that create a cohesive herd and deep friendships, you might ask how boundaries could create friendships between horses so I would like to explain this point.

When someone is rude, they do not care about the other person’s feelings. Once a person cares about someone there is a natural politeness that follows that also brings about a care-taking … Read more

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