In this day and age it’s great to take advantage of the ability we have to share with each other YouTube videos. It is a wonderful tool I can use to guide you in how the connection looks, how to lead a horse through the Waterhole Rituals and what the result looks like. It is also very nice to have the support of my students sharing their perfect connection with their horses.

As this new way of sharing information unfolds, I want to call attention to the dangers of working a horse at liberty. The reason I what to do this is some people can make the mistake of doing things that are not safe. Some think that sharing a heart connection and being on a spiritual journey buys them some form of protection and magic and that they can therefore forget the dangers of working around and with a horse at liberty.

Horses at liberty can be more dangerous than they are with tack because of their natural self-expression (sudden movements, biting, kicking etc.) and their understanding that they are free to express themselves. A horse interacting with you as he would another horse could result in an accident. Horses are aggressive around food with each other, they commonly run into and through one another. Horses can be aggressive or fearful, which can bring a defensive response or they can lose focus. All these conditions are not a good thing if you don’t know how to choose the approach… Read more

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 you choose to work with a horse at liberty in a free open environment when you could control him with fences or tack?
Because, by working at liberty, you will bring out in the horse a willingness and intelligence that tack would actually block.

One of the rules of… Read more

Working with horses at liberty, the focus is on many aspects. Liberty work teaches a horse to govern his performance himself, and really commit to the dance you would like him to participate in. The trainer learns how to control the horse’s behavior without having to actively control the horse. Liberty Training brings out different behaviors and engages the horse’s intelligence in different ways than traditional training with tack. It enhances a horse’s ability to learn new things far more than we previously thought possible.

Once the horse has been exposed to training at liberty, tack becomes a supportive aid rather than a governing aid. After he has been developed at liberty, tack helps to communicate with the horse rather than control or govern him.

My life has been working with horses at liberty, and horses continue to surprise me in how quickly they learn without tack. The most notable lesson that a horse learns more quickly at liberty is to halt when asked. Halt is where my focus is these days because I am working with Lila and her horse Sebastian to prepare him for bridle-less riding.

It takes some preparation for equestrians to learn how to approach a horse at liberty. The most valuable tool to understand while training at Liberty is where you put your focus, because the wrong focus with the right approach will cause failure in training new lessons like halt. Even though we have halt with companion walking, a horse needs to be schooled… Read more

Several people learning my method have horses that have not yet been trained to accept the halter, and they have asked for my guidance. Of course, there are lots of halter breaking methods. They call it halter “breaking” because you must be very careful with the horse or foal, as you can easily run into resistance you cannot handle from the sheer strength of the horse fighting to get away. You need to stay away from the resistance and train the horse to never use resistance in response to a direct request from a pull of the lead rope.

I find it very interesting that we see very few DVDs on the subject of halter training a wild horse. It takes great skill, and trainers who are not at all intimidated by getting in a fight with the horse or foal, or putting a horse though a process where he learns that, if he gets into a fight with the trainer, he will lose. This is why it is called halter breaking. Many trainers are not comfortable if the horse has not experienced this fight and lost to the trainer. Many feel that it is mandatory for a wild horse to learn that the trainer is stronger and will win any battle the horse might present. This way, the horse becomes failsafe, and will always respect the halter, which is a good thing; but this way of doing it is unnecessary and brutal. What I have seen is usually a… Read more

Fact- The Magnetic Connection is not something that will always be there for you nevertheless you can always get it back though the practice of the Waterhole Rituals. It is normal to lose the Magnetic Connection when you are working on exercises or games that direct your horses where to go, like in the carrot game.

The carrot game creates a controllable gas pedal, encourages politeness, develops enthusiasm, and engages the mind in the horse. It also builds the horse’s trust and respect for people in general. It does not however, develop the Magnetic Connection because you are asking the horse to work independently from you and as he gets use to working independently it temporarily takes away the Magnetic Connection. You will always need to make adjustments in the horse’s mind as he transitions from being directed to matching your movements in companion energy.

At liberty, your focus is on making adjustement in the horse’s attitude throughout your relationship to bring about the performance you are looking for. You do this through working with the Waterhole Rituals that strengthen the heart-felt strings of connection and from the exercises within the rituals that increase the synchronicity in teamwork. You are also focused on creating the proper energy the horse will need to follow your lead. You will always be adjusting your leadership to suite you horse and his performance.

At liberty, you learn the working formula necessary to create a magical connection where the leadership roles are shared between you… Read more

I am setting the U.E. Class aside. I want to have an open phone session class on the U.E.. I will offer it at $35.00 for those who are interested. I want to reward the people who are enjoying the U.E.

As you know I did not think that very many people would see the benefit in the exercises, so I have never offered them to anyone who was not a professional. I will have two more classes to finish up the winter program on the U.E. For anyone that wants guidance on them after that just send me your YouTubes and I will continue to guide you forward. I may choose to post your YouTubes and our correspondence on the blog if I feel it would benefit everyone.

I am getting ready to set a date for the Waterhole Rituals online course, so if you have any questions about the Method or course write me in the comments section and I will answer you or do a blog that will address your questions.

I want to address a concern that I hear crop up from time to time. A few of you feel that your horse may not like what you are asking him to do at liberty. I want to help you understand how to approach the Waterhole Rituals. The horse will experience ups and downs in how he feels in the program you bring him. This is good and is what builds the trust, well being, respect… Read more

Hi. I’m delighted to tell you about another workshop on my Method that’s taking place in September near Santa Rosa, about an hour and half north of San Francisco. The workshop features my dear friend and long time student, Robin Gates.

I’ve known Robin for more years that either of us would care to mention and I am really proud to have her represent my work, she is a phenomenal horsewoman. If you are anywhere near northern California in early September, I really recommend you go along to the clinic, especially if you can’t get down to me. If you want to bring your own horse, you’d better get in touch quickly as I know she only has a limited number of those places available. I personally love to watch Robyn at work and so even if you only go along to audit, I know you will benefit hugely from seeing Robin in action. If you never seen her train before, I can guarantee it will be beyond your expectations.

Details of how to book are on the flyer below, which you can see in a larger size if you click on it.

For those of you in the Insider… Read more

As you all know, I am working full time on my next book. Right now, my focus is on compiling the rules and guidelines to follow when using my method.

Rules and guidelines are what makes any method functional. It is all about the dos and don’ts in how to approach a horse. Following the rules judiciously is what creates the success of any method, not just following the rules.

Here are some of my suggested rules and guidelines:

• Wait for the horse to come to you and want to interact before interacting with him; or wait until you feel the bond is mutually shared in the moment.
• Never work a horse in a place he is not comfortable in.
• Never ask for anything until your horse is feeling safe, secure, and willing.
• If you lose willingness, change your approach, and focus on returning the willingness and relaxation.
• When using tack, when a horse resists or pulls, release the contact.
• When using tack, do not pull against resistance, unless you are using it in the Uberstreichen Exercises in a relaxed, benign manner.
• When your horse walks away from you, you walk in the opposite direction,

… Read more