Two days. Five horses. Nine people. Liberty Foundations.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOx3KYPtNM&w=420&h=315]

I’ve been talking for awhile about how we put the Liberty Foundations on a horse in a clinic. This last weekend in Florida we had several examples of how we did that with four new horses who had never experienced this work before. I picked out one to make a slide show of how that was accomplished.

The 16-year-old OTTB gelding, Sam, would walk with me in the beginning, but he would push his shoulder into me. That made it clear to me that he didn’t respect my space, and he wanted to go where he wanted to go. By walking with him and adjusting my stride, making sure he didn’t crowd me, I began the process of getting him to listen and pay attention to my space. A number of people worked with him until his crowding became less persistent.

Sam had become so arrogant that he was given to some explosive behavior when under saddle. When horses create fear in their handlers, then a vicious cycle starts and nobody wins. I don’t think Sam meant to be malicious, he just needed some boundaries. Boundaries make horses feel safe, so they don’t have to take matters into their own hooves. I knew he was capable of great things, but needed some guidance.

On the first day we got pretty far with this. On the second day, he looked different. His eyes were soft and he was crowding only every few steps instead of every step. A lot happens overnight when the horse has a chance to think about the work. When people work at home with their own horses, the activity may take quite a bit longer, because there isn’t the opportunity to repeat the exercise with different people. Having the energetic input of all the different people in a clinic situation helps the horse recalibrate in his nervous system to the new information and experience each person’s energetic field.

The crowding lasted only a short time the second day, one or two bumps, then he became very interested in the activity of walking side by side, and just being with whomever was walking with him. Food was no longer a big draw like it had been on the first day, although he did get to do a treasure hunt with his owner. What we noticed was that he had more curiosity and interest in the fact that she knew where the food was.

The work with this horse was very quiet. In a clinic such as this, if the people are coming to see a performance, it really isn’t there. They are not coming to see what wondrous things I can do with “making” a horse leap around at liberty. I am there to show people what they can do with horses, if their energy is right and they learn the horse’s language. It has to be done slowly so they can understand how it’s done and what it feels like to walk next to a horse who is in connection.

As humans, we can’t do everything horses do with each other safely, so we create some steps that are horselike that the horse recognizes and can relate to.

After the horses go home, they need to continue the work so that it becomes embodied in both their owners and themselves, so that the impulses to be explosive or disrespectful will diminish naturally over time.

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