Working your horse at different tempos
May 14th, 2009 by Carolyn Resnick Method
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 herd by snorting and prancing around. This stirs the horses up, builds their energy to pay attention and then they will follow him when he gives them a direction he wants them to go.
Stina has been doing so well with my program that she is now offering clinics on my Method in St. Vincent. Her programs look like the very best way to develop connection with horses because of the natural conditions her horses live in and that her program is about a spiritual connection in freedom with horses. Stina lives in one of the most beautiful spots in the world to vacation. Check out her YouTube videos and get prepared to see God’s natural paradise.
I hope these lessons have been of some help. Remember to build your foundation slow as you go and then speed up when you need it. I want to warn people not to parrot my work; it will get you into trouble. Wait till you can clearly understand how to get what you want through balancing slow, medium and fast interactions to build the magnetic connection that you are looking for. If you lose the connection when working fast, wait till the horse slows down to a lower energy, looking to reconnect, and work on what you know would keep the connection.
Remember that to have a good work relationship with your horse you need to sit with him as much as you interact with him in performance. A perfect performance under saddle can be gained through the time you spend with your horse in appreciation of one another’s companionship. Take the time it takes in companionship from the ground and you will achieve a better ride under saddle.
Have a lovely weekend!
Carolyn
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Nicole,
Thank you for sharing. It means alot for me to hear back from people when things I suggest work. It also help others to understand how to trust the information that could help them with thier hroses as well.
Hi Carolyn!
Thanks for the article!
Since I have starting working my horse more actively at the beginning of a session, his energy level has been improving a lot. He is a pretty playful horse, but he can sometimes get lazy when he is in an arena on a hot day. But recently, I have been starting out with faster work, and he is becoming more energetic and his work ethic is really improving!
Lots of the time before, when my horse was lazy, I would try starting out slow and gradually picking up the pace, but he responds much better when I just start out asking a faster pace when he’s lazy.
This has been working great in my riding as well.
-Nicole H
Dear Carolyn,
Thank you for that. I am taking more time on this ritual than I have done so far and am enjoying the process. I did not realise I would have to spend so much time with it, but as I follow him around I can really see that I need to do this every day.
Not to be afraid of trial and error is good too. It really makes me read my horse moment by moment.
Máire
Dear Carolyn and all readers,
Thank you for sharing the advices on fast and slow work. We are progressing fine here in the West Indies and I look forward to share our next steps.
All the best to all of you.
and thanks Carolyn for the opportunity to film you during your session with Panadero.
Kind regards Stina
Dear Valzka,
You adventure is the same path I took for myself, did you read my book?
I could not recomend your walk more. It is what I would like everyone to experiance. You have a great coach
from what you have experienced with her and I am reading her book right now.
Dear Marie,
You really need to get this ritual on to your horse. It many seem that things are not getting better but they will. I have written alot on this subject many times. Maybe one day I can have a file for people to go to get more help.
Two things you might consider is walking behind your horse and do not infuance him in any way to get him use to you following him.
Scater food about when he is hungry and stand safely behind him and them walk off and leave him alone. Then do this repeatedly. Once he is use to this then move him to the next pile of food and walk off and wait and continue the process again. I am wanting you to take the time and solve this problem though your tryal and error. When you have licked this none conntion you will be very happy for the relatiship you have aquired and the horsemanship skills you have gained.
Good Luck. For myself I have really taking weeks to get the job done but when I do I save years of training.
If it takes you months and month it will make you and exelent horse person. Enjoy the challenge, the reward is worth it.
Hi Carolyn,
I have a question about leading from behind. My gelding seems to see it as an aggressive act. He ups his energy, runs away, kicking and immediately herds the little pony he shares the paddock with. He is very good with the other rituals, like eye contact and taking territory, they, as well as spending lots of time with him doing nothing, have created a real bond and he is starting to walk with me, make turns and stop when I do at liberty in the paddock. But I am not sure whether to continue with leading from behind, to give it a bit more purpose, or what. I make sure my energy is low, that I am ambling and pausing, but still I get this response. He is a dominant horse, a bit pushy but generally friendly, trusting and curious.
Many thanks for all your sharing through this blog and your dvds. It is bringing such joy and fun into my relationship with both my gelding my little pony.
Máire
Hello Carolyn, your posts are always timely and so insightful, I also appreciate that you give us new information everyweek because it keeps the connection and excitement alive in me.
I have been working with your method for a couple of months and I have combined it with the ideas of a friend of mine here in Australia. Her name is Jenny Pearce and she has helped me find the internal balace of emotions and energy within myself that I needed so that I could properly connect with the horses. Up until now I have been simply being with my mares and finding out who they were and who I was and then working on combining it all into a herd, once that took place I quickly realized that I was at the bottom of the heirarchey and I learned to feel what that meant to me and to feel what that meant to them. It was then that I decided I wanted to bond more deeply with them and have spent many days just grazing and following them around learning to atune myself to their energy and gradually being accepted more fully. When they began to see me as a fellow being sharing space with them I began to ask for things like moving off and walking together. At first this wasnt really going well because I had not gained any territory or respect and I stumbled around for a long time asking and getting lots of no responses. Then they began to get inquisitive and a little dominant with me and because I had not decided on what I wanted I was very vague and wishy washy therefore I remained at the bottom. This was very good for me as I took this time to continue on my own personal work and as I became clearer with myself and more accepting of where I was in life and with who I was at this point in time, something in me shifted and amazing things began to happen. My heart and mind became clear and in sync, I came to them in a different way and began the taking territory and leading from behind excercises again. And I began to get results. At first with bodylanguage and gestures and mental images that were a little exagerated but that quickly became softer and softer and smoother and more harmonious. I began to take territory and soon it has come to a point where I can gather myself up and walk in and say hello and I can ask for movement softly and joyously and they freely give it. I am still working my way up the ladder but now they not only see me they respect me and yeild and they come for scratches and attention. This is so good because they were both so traumatised and afraid, one was so closed down and one was so wild and explosive and now we have harmony and peace. Now we can start to communicate and know each other. Until now everything has been very slow in energy and I feel that I am getting to the point where I can start to ask for a little more energy and movement. The most important part that I have learned is not to feel defeated and downhearted with a no because we can gently turn it into a beautiful and willing yes more often than not because they are comming alive and so am I. I am at this wonderful starting point in the relationship this is just the beginning but there is much hope and excitement from all of us because I beleive we are understanding each other and we are becoming.
A deeply felt thankyou from me for your wonderful and inspiring work.
Valezka
Thanks again Carolyn.
Very helpful!
Stuart