Category Archives: Liberty training

10 tips to riding horseback for the rest of your life

(Okay, if you really want to, you can get off to sleep and for meals, if you think it’s necessary.) DSC_0480 Continue reading 10 tips to riding horseback for the rest of your life

P for pinning – the ears, that is!

Do you have an ear pinner? Why do horses pin their ears at you?

Ear pinning is a signal to move out of the way!
Ear pinning is a signal to move out of the way!

Continue reading P for pinning – the ears, that is!

A child with horses

When I was four my parents took me on picnics in England (where I was born) to the country, and the highlight of my day was getting to see an old farm horse who would come to the fence in search of treats and a pet. I knew nothing then, only that my heart was so drawn to that horse that I carried him home with me in the car, everywhere I went from thereon, in my imagination, in my heart, in my soul.

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Best Body Language blogs of 2013

I decided to go through and pick out what readers had deemed the best Body Language blogs of 2013.

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Working with the liberty rein over cavaletti

This week I posted a video of Jazzmine going over cavaletti using only the liberty rein. In the past, I have taken her over cavaletti at liberty with just a halter, to guide her if she loses her connection with me. This is our first exercise with the liberty rein.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dEkR5PHAX0&w=560&h=315]

Continue reading Working with the liberty rein over cavaletti

Cold hooves, warm heart – holistic equine care for the cold weather

In my previous post, I talked about physical exercises for horses during winter, to avoid “wild and crazy horse behavior.” In this post I’d like to talk about using bodywork to support your horse at any time, but I think it’s very appropriate right now, when movement is difficult for horses because of the footing and the cold weather.

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Continue reading Cold hooves, warm heart – holistic equine care for the cold weather

Managing wild and crazy horse behavior

With the cold weather and difficult footing, horses become very antsy and get “cabin fever.”

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Be true to your horse

We need to stay in our own truth. Admiring experts is wonderful, but even experts can be wrong.

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Working with all six senses and horses

Touch, hearing, sight, scent, taste: the five senses? I wrote about touch last week. It is only one sense that a horse experiences. I would also add “feel/vibrations” to the list, because it isn’t just physical touch, it’s the sixth sense that something or someone is out there, or that horses feel it through the earth.

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The importance of touch in horse work

Touch can change heart rates, calm and nourish. Touch is the way we sometimes make contact when nothing else can work. I remember being in the hospital and having someone touch me in a healing way, just touch, not trying to move me, and it made all the difference in the world. IMG_0440 Continue reading The importance of touch in horse work