One of the issues for many horse owners/lovers is how to spend enough time with their horses. When I hear myself complaining or feeling guilty, I think it’s time to make a pie chart.
Pie charts and horses
Category Archives: herd dynamics
Stand by your horse
The mare saw the setup – one horse was going to move another horse into another horse and on it would go, a domino effect of movement, right into the little girl standing there watching.
The good boy horse
The good boy horse is one who continually does what is asked. For some trainers and owners, this is exactly what they want, a horse that does not offer any challenges. For some good boy or girl horses, life is good enough that there is no need to question too much. For others, they have had their wishes trained out of them.
Moving in and out of connection
One thing that new liberty students may find troubling is their horse moving in and out of connection. In the beginning, when the student first gets a connection on the ground, real movement together, it’s very exciting. It feels wonderful. Then the horse decides to break connection and go visit with someone else or another horse. The student looks over at me, crestfallen, as if to say, what do I do now?
Through an open gate
Horses generally love an open gate. An open gate even if it’s one they’ve been through before, signifies something different, something to be curious about. Going places. Perhaps the grass tastes different there, or there will be an adventure.
The difference between “doing” and “being” with horses
The Liberty Foundations are a forever thing with horses. Just because a horse has been taught them by other horses, for example, it doesn’t mean he or she stops doing them.
Ultimately we all want horses to do something specific with us. In order for that to come about, the horse will do the something best if first brought into relationship.
Continue reading The difference between “doing” and “being” with horses
Trouble in the herd
When there is trouble in the herd – one horse picking on another, or a horse or horses continually picked on by the others, the Liberty Foundations can help.
He’s not my horse
I was recently at a clinic where two people were riding schooling horses. Although this may not be the case with all bonds formed with schooling horses, the bond was not there with these two pairs.
What’s in the dance with horses?
What’s in the dance with horses?
The dance with a horse is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have.
The horse/human care priority list
One day some years ago I was riding my gelding Khami at a fast trot along some side trails, then dropping into a sweet arroyo, then swooping back out of the sand to head up a rocky hillside. The light and shadows created by low hung branches played across the canyon, the sun kissed the tips of my horse’s flying black mane as we moved along together, feeling as one, like we had done for so many miles before.
