Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship: Liberty Horse Training

This is one of my favorite stories from my own experiences growing up with horses. This is a quick version of a story that will be out in my next book, a how-to book on the Waterhole Rituals.

The story offers a formula in “How to get what you want from a horse”. Let’s say you want to bond, or to be able to put a halter on a horse, or maybe you have a larger goal like winning the Olympics on a horse you have trained yourself, or take the “buck” out of your horse, or take the anger out of your horse, or teach your horse not to be afraid of a trailer, or teach him not to bite you, or how to be successful with the Waterhole Rituals to solve these issues, or to be successful using any method that has stumped you.

The secret to your success with a horse might be revealed to you through asking yourself one question only. From this question a path will unfold easily, you will return to what you “should be” doing with your horse rather than want you “would want” to do with your horse.

Maybe you read Tom… Read more

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Years ago, when I was a kid at a horse show, I took a stand that was way before its time, and way ahead of anyone’s comprehension of what I wanted to show the world.

I was riding my Western Pleasure mare Rizeta, her nick name was Lover, and I had hung her bridle on the saddle and rode in the warm up without it. I put the bridle back on before the class and when I finished, I dismounted in the ring unbridling her, and told her to go back to the stall. She did and I followed her, along with a few people who were interested in what we were doing.

I was before my time then, but if more people did this today the tide would change and more people would be encouraged to join in. The point is that horses don’t need to be forced, they are capable of deeper bonds and abilities in partnering with us, and bits are not essential. Bits get a bad name because they are used improperly. I still use bits along with bridle-less riding and find them not at all abusive when one knows how to use them… Read more

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It looks like we might not be running the ‘In a Box’ Program this winter after all as the weather looks like it will be too cold for most people, so I may end up postponing the course till sometime late spring. If this happens, those who have prepaid will have their tuition fees returned.

This is Julia Felton’s last week with me as a working student. For people who live in the UK and would like to learn my Method from her, you can contact her at Julia@connect-thru-horses.com. So now I am looking for another person that would like the opportunity to be a working student with me. I have a great horse for you to learn how to train bridleless and to develop your dressage skills under saddle with my Method plus all my ground training at liberty. You should be aware though that there is no salary attached to this position and you will have to take care of your own living expenses but of course all the tuition is free! If you are interested in this position or for more information, please contact me at info@carolynresnick.com.

Recently Mark… Read more

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Hello. Well today at last I am delighted to be able to tell you about the brand new Waterhole Rituals ‘In a Box’ Program for Winter 2009/10.

Now, I know some of you have been waiting for the full Insider Circle Program to start up again and therefore may be disappointed to hear that I won’t be running it again this year. The reason for this is that with the full Insider Circle Program, you get a huge volume of input from me and with my vacation coming up in November and also because I want to finish my new book, I wouldn’t be able to devote the time to the Program that you deserve. So for that reason and because I want to make a few changes based on the feedback from the last class, I thought it better to run just the ‘In a Box’ Program this time round so that people don’t miss out.

Having said that, this is a significantly enhanced ‘In a Box’ Program, as we have made some pretty serious additions to what was already a great package. Don’t take my word for it though, this is what a few of the last… Read more

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I am back from my presentation to a group of equestrian women that gather each year with their horses to celebrate and promote community activities on horseback. Julia Felton from the UK, a working student for the past four months, went with me as my coordinator and personal assistant. This year the group had 51 riders. It was their 15th Annual Ride on Catalina Island. They call their organization the Las Caballeras ride.

I gave one of my presentations at the Escondido Ranch, which is the original Wrigley Ranch, and I got to meet Alison Wrigley-Rusack. Not only did I have the opportunity to meet Alison but I got to use her prize black Arabian Gelding, Zanadu, for my presentation of the Waterhole Rituals™. Alison had purchased Zanadu to be her special horse after falling in love with the stallion in the movie the Black Stallion. Zanadu had led most of his life as a stallion and was recently gelded. Even gelded Zanadu was every bit as animated and beautiful as the stallion in the movie.

We also got a private tour of the Wrigley museum that held at least 15 Bohlin saddles, matching bridles and breast collars belonging to… Read more

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I remember years ago, a lady came to take lessons with me. She had traveled all the way from Florida to learn the Art of Horsemanship. She had all the right clothes and a great deal of enthusiasm. However, on her first day she became disappointed with all the details she would have to learn to stay safe around horses. And on top of that, she also found out that she would have to learn how to manage a horse’s behavior.

The next day she found even more disturbing because instead of something to do in her lesson, I told her to enjoy the moment and relax while keeping the horse way from her as she was sitting in a chair reading a book.

Initially she said that all she wanted was for the horse to relax, however she discovered that it took a lot of leadership, concentration, attentiveness, focus and management in order to be around a horse. These were the same things that she did at work all day and exactly what she was trying to avoid. She wanted a horse so she could forget about the details and just fall into a blissful state of… Read more

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Hello. My great passion with horses is dressage. This may surprise some of you but as always, it’s about approach and application.

There is little difference between a classical dressage rider and a competitive rider in the hands of a master, but the methods of training are very different. The two methods are different from the standpoint of how to develop lightness and self-carriage.

At this time in history the classical school of dressage is very strong and is suffering little conflict in their theories and methods of training. However, the competitive world is suffering greatly. There are a lot of horses that are being rushed through the process because of the desire to compete. They are ridden with new methods of training to shortcut the old methods through the rider’s talent to take a horse falsely to the FEI levels.

Currently there is an upsurge in the classical methods helping the competitive world. I have had a lot of personal success using these classical principles and theories with riders and horses. I would like to suggest a book by Sylvia Loch, The Classical Rider. It points out that dressage riders in the top levels of competition,… Read more

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