Posted in Misc on Aug 11th, 2009
Horses and music have always been a part of my life but never did I think that music would bind us together and be what we would have in common. Nor did I believe that music would open the door to reading each others minds but it did. Over the years, I have discovered that horses not only listen to music, they respond to music with rhythmic strides. I also found the music increases their desire to work close with me in the training process.
At the age of 10, I began training horses for the show arena. I had also studied ballet most of my childhood and planned to be a professional ballet dancer. However, when I reached the age of 18, I had to give up dancing due to an inner ear problem that affected my balance. It was the natural choice to pursue a career in showing horses. I fulfilled my need for dancing by listening to music when I was around the barn. If you should drop by my ranch, you would hear anything from Swan Lake to country music. It wasn’t until years later that I started playing music while I trained horses. … Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 14th, 2009
Picking up on our conversation from Tuesday…
My advice is once you have built your foundation when you work your horse at liberty to think of working with slow and fast tempos as a way to create the connection and partnership you are want to advance to. Stina’s and Alessandra’s work with their horses on their YouTube videos show them working slow and easy and this is the way everyone needs to start out. Be very careful on this point. Don’t jump the gun. Alessandra knows now how to work her horse at all levels of energy and Stina is now beginning to work with her horses with a little more animation too. Readers might like to take a look at her work on YouTube and watch her development.
As you start to do this, remember to vary your programs of tempo to keep the horses happy connected and enthusiastic. If you have a low energy horse, start out with asking for more speed. This will cause him to wake up and be more interested in following your lead. In the wild, when the lead horse wants to get his band to run with him, he will agitate the… Read more
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Posted in Advice on May 12th, 2009
Hi. I really liked the video that Stina put up on YouTube of Panadero and me. She was visiting me for some further instruction on how to proceed with her own horses using the Waterhole Rituals. I am sharing it with you because it gives me the opportunity to explain the proper approach on how to move forward in training a horse at liberty once a clear foundation has been created.
If you cannot watch this version where you are, try the one at the bottom of the post
To keep Panadero’s performance in balance and our connection at its best, I vary his daily routines with slow work and fast work to maintain the connection and his interest. In this video, my focus is to working him with fast interactions.
I was suggesting that Stina could work her horses with a little more energy because they have acclimated and bonded with her quite well. I suggest to my students to first start liberty training using the Waterhole Rituals slowly with lots of pauses and short sessions. I will then ask the horse to work with me a little faster as this is what gives… Read more
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