Category Archives: Liberty training

Horse-olutions for 2017

I am not one to make a lot of New Year’s resolutions, because I don’t want to get upset with myself for not keeping them. So my “horse-olutions” are ones that can be easily be accomplished and kept in mind during the year.

herd_grooming

Personally, this year, my holiday was wonderful in that our two older grandsons came to visit. What was not so great was that throughout their visit I had very painful sciatica. While I work with people and horses on painful physical conditions, it’s another thing when it’s happening to me and others need to make room for my disability in their life.

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What? No more riding?

Many people have expressed to me great sadness over not being able to ride a beloved horse anymore. In many cases, it’s not just that they want to ride, they want to ride their own horse, whom they have spent countless hours riding, who is no longer rideable for health or other reasons.IMG_0240

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A new trail on the horse journey

” Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Zuzka_trail

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The deepening bond between horse and human

The trail followed the creekbed then crossed it, curving like a snake up the side of the canyon. My horse stopped to drink in the creek, then scaled the rocky side of the canyon and the switchbacks, a steep drop on one side, a canyon wall on the other.

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Subtle language of horses

The other day I was working on a horse who began to swish his tail when I attempted to lift a hind leg. Obviously, this was painful for him, so he was letting me know in the way that he knows how, without kicking or biting me.

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What is your horse’s self worth?

My mare Zuzka recently showed me something while I was riding my mare Jazzie in the arena. She looked directly at me and proceeded to wrap a lead rope that was hanging from a halter on the fence, around her neck. It was as if to say, “take me out for a ride.”

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Do you have your horse’s vote?

What if, every presidential hopeful had to go into the corral with a few horses? America could stand outside the corral and tally up the results. Which types of horses would gravitate to what people? Would some candidates be left off to the side?

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Build a horse bridge from “the way we’ve always done things” to true liberty

Lately, I have been suggesting people go back to the traditional “the way we’ve always done it” training and see if they see a difference in the way their horse responds. Does she like it or not?

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The great unknown of rescue horses

Everyone who has taken on a rescue horse, or a horse from families who have passed them on, or a horse they have purchased, but then found the horse really is a rescue – experience the great unknown.

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Liberty Foundation Training: What’s the Point?

Liberty Foundation Training for horses is the most subtle kind of work you could be doing with a horse. Because it is so subtle, sometimes its purpose can be missed.

Anne with Cherokee, photo courtesy of Rene Trebling
Anne with Cherokee, photo courtesy of Rene Trebling

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