I really enjoyed everyone’s response to the last blog. I wanted to share some things with you that are in the works.

Journal Contest
Please if you would re-submit your Journals for the Journal Contest. We have somehow lost the files. For those of you who would like to enter that have not entered the deadline is Oct.1 To qualify you need to have been a student of the Insider Circle or Box Programs. Your journal must be at least 75 pages. The winner will be announced on Nov 1. The winning journal will become the property of the Carolyn Resnick Method. I will try to get the winning journal published in the authors name. If I get it published there will be royalties to the author. Plus you will win a free spot in the 10 day Beyond the Waterhole Rituals clinic. I also want to see if I can get a second book published with expertise from the Journals that were entered. I have few entries at this time so you have a great chance in winning this contest!

Working Student
I am also looking for a working student starting now through the winter. I am wanting to … Read more

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To understand the Waterhole Rituals and how the pecking order of horses function in a way that brings about the well-being of the herd, even to support the weakest individual, we need to look at the conditions that exist in nature that create herd behavior.

For horses to survive in nature, they need to stay in a herd. What prevents horses from beating up on each other is the need to stay together for their safety, as well as the open spaces that they live in, which give them freedom to choose who stays in the herd, and who goes. If a horse is too self-serving and aggressive, the herd has the ability to banish them. Likewise, a horse can only join a herd when they show they can fit in harmoniously.

I have never cared for referring to the pecking order of horses. I prefer to call it picking order. One of the main reasons family bands get established is a stallion’s need to win the favor of a mare so that she will go off and form a new band with him. In the beginning of a relationship, as these bands are being formed, the stallion must put … Read more

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It is often said that “an eye is the window into the soul,” but there is little known about the possibility that horses communicate with each other through eye expression. However, there was some reference to this fact in Robert Vavra’s book, Such Is The Nature of Horses, where he he refers to the rolling of the eye as a warning signal to other horses.

I myself have been able to judge character, intelligence, athletic ability, vigor, health and a horse that would make a champion. I also know what a horse is thinking by the expression in his eyes. But, before I read Robert Vavra’s book, it never occurred to me that horses communicate to each other through eye expression even though I knew the way they communicated was with body language, and my life study has been horse behavior and communication.

I thought eye rolling, when the whit of the eye can be seen on a horse who has a normally solid eye, was a sign of fear not aggression. I never guessed that horses instinctually communicated to each other with their eyes. It seemed strange to me because body language is so effective.

I then went … Read more

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Hello. Today I would like to tell you about the experience I had once with an Egyptian (Arabian) Stallion.

At 3.5 years old, this stallion was labeled a human hater. He was very dangerous. When offered treats, he had no interest in the food, he only wanted to bite fingers. When he came to me, I put him in a stall. The stall front was solid wood about 3-4 feet high and then there were vertical bars so that air could circulate, light could get in and the horses could see out.

So for this stallion, I stacked bales of hay until they were at the height where the bars began and I unrolled my sleeping bag there. Every night for a month or so I slept on that stack of hay. I had to be careful not to get too close because that horse was just looking for an opportunity to get me.

During the day, I would bring my mini horse called Laddie in the aisle of the barn to train. At the time I was asking him to wait at the far end of the aisle for my signal, then come over to me. On the way, … Read more

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Hi again. I’m glad my post from last week generated so many interesting comments, it’s always good to hear other people’s experiences, isn’t it?

Before I continue with my advice on Stallions and if you haven’t already seen it in the HorseConscious newsletter…

Right, we were talking about Stallions and that they can be difficult to handle, especially if they feel you don’t respect them or you try to lower their position.

*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
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Today I would like to talk to you a little about mares, geldings and stallions and how they respond differently when communicating with us.

Mares can be moody. In these periods I find that if I take the time to connect with them slowly in the beginning before riding or training on the days they are moody, they will come around and forget their sensitivity and work with me as consistently as they would on any other day. If I cannot turn them around on the days they are moody, then I give them the time off they need. Mares can be very fussy about trust issues regarding strangers and even with other horses. In my experience, mares will try harder than stallions and geldings to please you and when they don’t please you, they get nervous and defensive. I think mares are more focused on reading the intentions of people than geldings and stallions. Mares can have strong opinions on what is right and what is wrong in regards to human behavior. Mares get along with other mares better than they do with geldings. I have noticed all horses may prefer one sex or color of horses to another. … Read more

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A client of mine called me for some advice on how to get her stallion to cross a bridge, a bridge that he was used to crossing. She housed the stallion in a barn at night and put him out in a field with his mares during the day. The mares came in with him at night and were put out first thing in the morning to make it easy to take him out to the field later.

For some reason though, suddenly he would not go any further when he got to this bridge he had to cross. They did not want to get into a fight with him on this issue and had tried many different training methods before they called me. I asked them, “What happened at the bridge that might have caused him to not want to it?”. She told me, “One day when the stallion was in the middle of the bridge, a stork flew out from under it and scared him badly and ever since that time he has become more and more resistant to crossing it.”

*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
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