Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

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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The old system of round penning has been glossed over by fancy words. I remember when I was a child, I was told that a round pen was used for breaking a horse’s spirit. Then it was shortened to “breaking a horse,” and today it is said to be a way to start a horse that would “develop a bond.”

Round pens and ropes are wonderful tools but the most misused. Ropes are many times used to jerk a horse into submission. Round pens are too often used as a tool to gain a horse’s trust by the horse running himself ragged into submission. The round pen was designed so that the human can always influence the horse and the horse can never escape his handler’s influence. This is too much pressure on a horse to start a proper relationship with him. The bond gained from the inability to escape is created from a dominant leadership pursuit. This is not natural or easy on a horse. I clearly would not use one to start a relationship with a horse. It isn’t easy on a horse nor is it natural.

*** To read the rest of this post,… Read more

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A few weeks ago, Nicole from Canada wrote in with a couple of questions and this second one ties up nicely with this weeks post on Unconditional love. Nicole wrote:

The other question I have is with regards to ’round penning’. I use quotes for this term because I seldom put a horse into a round pen for this work, more often it’s in a 2 acre paddock with 3-4 horses. When I have a horse that does not come when called or leaves when I’m haltering, I will drive them off and separate them from their herd. I used to do this with a lot of energy and make them go at least at a trot, if not more. There would be lots of directional changes, both inward and outward turns. Then I would ask them to come back to me and most of the time they come running in.