Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

There are segments of time when things work out magically, and there are other times when chaos is present.

Today I was dealing with an upset on the ranch. Two horses had become very agitated with one another from having been switched to one another’s paddock. They worked themselves up so much that I was going to have to put them back in their original paddocks, because of the risks of them running around and getting hurt, as they were looking for a way to get to each other over the top of the fence. They got so wild we could see that we could hardly lead them back to their original homes, because they wanted to fight it out with one another and break away for being lead. Both horses have some unfinished training in regards to getting out of control when being lead in a time that they get angry with another horse. One is a stallion and the other is a tough gelding that exhibits behavior like a Stallion. He was the more difficult of the two.

The natural order of things is harmony, and if you let chaos go through its course, it will on its… Read more

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Hello again. First let me start off by thanking you all for the wonderful comments and stories you write after each of my blog posts, it’s brings me great pleasure to hear you are getting on so well with my Method.

However, as the popularity of the blog grows, I’m starting to hit a bit of a hurdle. As regular readers will know, I don’t find it particularly easy to read and write and this is especially true when there are long passages without paragraphs. So what I would like to suggest is that we try to keep each comment to 1 or 2 short paragraphs of no more than a couple of sentences each (like Marja did last Thursday on Comment #7) or better still like Stephanie did with Comment #13).

If I need more detail from you, I can then ask you for it. I trust you understand and appreciate your help.

Right on to today’s blog…

Working with a horse at liberty, you must wait for him to give you his full attention and interest in bonding, because if you try to make the horse do what you want, he will run off.

Why, then, would… 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 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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Hello. With the Waterhole Rituals Classes underway and the participants already beginning to experience the benefit of it, I wanted to talk about the possibilities there are with the first Waterhole Ritual. At the moment, those who are in the ‘Insider Circle and ‘In a Box’ Programs are working on their first assignment, which is to Share Territory with their horse, read books or write in a journal and focus on becoming connected in the moment. When you do this and when your vibration starts to match the environment in the moment, things really start to occur between you and your horse.

As Sharing Territory deepens and starts to feels like a ritual for you and your horse, new things can begin to take place such as spontaneous outbursts of interaction. This is just what happened at the ranch here last night. I have a new apprentice whose name is Lila Harding and we are very happy to be working together. Anyway, Lila brought her horse, Sebastian, a 12 year old Percheron Thoroughbred gelding, to go through my Method and learn bridleless riding. She has been Sharing Territory with her horse and we are into the second week together.

So… Read more

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This is a note on how the ‘Insider Circle’ and ‘In a Box’ Programs are doing. I have read your stories showing how many of you are on the cutting edge of having incredible experiences with your horses doing nothing… leading to something that could have never taken place if we had not be practicing the importance of the “pause” with the First Ritual, “Sharing Territory”. Some of you are going to be able to bring new discoveries to the horse world and me from your experiences being in this class. From these shared experiences, we will discover things together that will help the world of horsemanship advance and evolve.

We are always in the experimentation of creating willing connections and growing friendships with horses if we are truly present in the moment. We want to be always learning more about horses. We want to be a student of the horse and comfortable not knowing where our journey might lead. What ever we reach at the end of the journey is usually greater than we can imagine. The horses enjoy our company as much as we do theirs and when this happens, the dance is really quite natural. Sharing… Read more

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Hi. By taking the time to learn the Waterhole Rituals and their origins, you will be able to observe horse interactions with a much deeper understanding and insight. What previously seemed like unruly or strange behavior will suddenly start to make perfect sense as you watch the rituals unfolding before your eyes. Of course, this doesn’t just happen one time, it’s a continuous ongoing process and horses are always testing the limits around them.

Today I would like to share a letter with you from one of my regular blog readers, who witnessed herd dynamics and rituals at work when she introduced her new horse to her herd. It’s wonderful that she was able to witness it and take pictures for us. Thank you.

If any of you know that you have a new introduction coming up, I encourage you to make some time to watch the process and see if you can pick out what’s happening and how it mixes up the pecking order. If you can take some video of it all, I would love to see it and I’m sure we would all learn from it immensely, so I look forward to hearing of your experiences.

Till… Read more

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