I have long been intrigued by Carolyn Resnick’s Water Hole Rituals – a set of rituals she developed by observing the social behavior of a herd of wild horses.  She works entirely at liberty in a large space, earning the horse’s trust and respect using body language.

Carolyn Resnick wants you to establish a bond with your horse first by Sharing Territory; much like undemanding time. You are sitting in
the horse’s space reading a book, ignoring the horse until the horse chooses to approach you.

Next is Saying Hello; much like a horseman’s handshake except
when the horse greets you, you walk away. The horse gets to choose
whether to follow you. Essentially, you do not approach or touch your
horse until your horse gives you permission.

Respect comes next by Claiming Territory (in the clinic setting – a
bucket of food.) You own the food and won’t allow the horse to approach it, but if the horse asks politely, you’ll bestow a gift of a handful of food.

Companion Walking may look like stick to me, but it isn’t because
you don’t drive either the hind end to keep them up with you or
the space in front of the horse to slow, stop or turn them. If they
leave you, you leave them, not drawing the eye, just mirroring them.
The disconnect from the harmony of Companion Walking is jolting to the horse and it tends to return to you on its own.  If the horse tried to herd me, rather than drive the nose away, I’d stop and look skeptical, a kind of “what on earth is that chest and neck doing there?” and the horse thinks about it and backs up to my side.

Eye Contact expects the horse to keep an eye on you. If they don’t
you Claim Territory. If they do, you walk away. Mission accomplished.
The horse is keeping an eye on you. The CHOICE to be with you is
THEIRS. So basic and so important to having a strong bond and true respect.

Go Trot / Come Back is classic drive and draw. Will your horse go
away from you with energy when you ask, then come back with enthusiasm at liberty? Sounds like yo-yo, but it isn’t or at least it seems like more to me. When you ask the horse to go, it could be just a couple of steps, or it could be go gallop away in a 100 acre field. The horse leaves and we fly after them, praising their flight until the head turns and glances at you. Then you go backward with energy and praise their flight right back to you. At first my horses got concerned by that much energy coming from me, but as they realized it was a game, they started to float and have eyes that really sparkled. This is a game that they understood.

OK, a few specifics on the Robin Gates clinic. I took my 5 year
old Maia and she started out as distracted as is her habit when being in
a strange arena by herself. Mind you, even distracted, Maia synced in
with me as I walked, trotted, stopped, backed up and turned at liberty.

Robin observed for a bit and asked what I wanted to learn from her
during our session. I told her that I had two objectives. One, I wanted
to see joy in Maia’s eyes when we played. Second, I wanted to be a
stronger leader for Maia when she lost confidence. I wanted her to
automatically sync in with me, not just when she knew the answer, but
also when things fell apart. Robin said “How interesting. Those are
exactly the things that the Waterhole Rituals give you that you don’t
get from pressure and release training.”

Robin came in to play with Maia. The first thing she did was establish that Robin “owned” a bucket of senior feed next to the fence and that Maia could not go near that bucket without an invitation from Robin – BUT that Robin would share that bucket if Maia did as Robin asked her. Maia tested that theory a number of times as Robin moved farther and farther away from that bucket before deciding that Robin was serious. OK, this woman is one tough lead mare. The only way Maia could get to that grain was to ask the lady politely, so…. she did.

Next, Robin asked Maia to come to her. Maia was uncertain about
whether she wanted to have a relationship with someone who would bite her for going near that bucket without an invitation. She thought about that for quite a long time and Robin left her alone, patiently “present in the moment” while Maia worked out the pros and cons. As Robin pointed out, for there to be true choice, the horse has to be able to leave you without having an adverse consequence – has to be given the time to think and truly choose to be with you rather than away from you.

Maia’s first approach toward Robin was small, just a couple of
steps, but it was away from the grain. With each iteration, Maia became more confident that Robin was a generous leader as long as Maia was polite and respectful and the bond between the two strengthened and Maia became more focused, centered and relaxed in following Robin’s feel.

I am truly honored to have watched this amazing lady work with my
very special horse. If you have the opportunity to take a clinic with
Robin Gates, don’t hesitate. Do it. Your horse will thank you.

Here is a short video clip of my friend Grace at the clinic with her mare Namaste doing Companion Walking and Go Trot, Come Back.

I took Maia to the Jackson County Horseman’s Association Trail Clinic in April 2012.  The filly was nervous upon arriving at a new place far from her herd, but settled down and addressed the many obstacles with the thinking part of her brain.  She examined each obstacle as she approached it, reached out her nose to “touch” it, then “stepped up” on the obstacle with a hoof to test it, determined she was safe and handled each like a pro.  I was so very proud of her.  Mary Ann Kennedy’s “Heart in Your Hand” seemed perfect music for her trail clinic adventure.  Enjoy!

I’ve been playing with individual horses at liberty in the trail course recently. There is no better way to find out how strong the glue is holding your horse to you, how well they understand your requests and how confident they are with each of the obstacles.  After I finished my session with Prince, he galloped off to play across the fence with Tye. My camera came out to capture his moment of Horses and Life, sheer joy and exuberance.  Mary Ann Kennedy’s song captures the spirit of the moment.  Enjoy!

Leigh gave me a terrific Christmas present.  She came out and videoed me playing with Tori in our arena.  We started playing on the ground at liberty with Tori touching a ball, distinguishing between the noodle and the ball, doing lateral flexion, stepping up on a frisbee and pedestal, doing an obeisance, pushing the ball, backing to pressure on her tail, circling, figure eighting barrels, parallel parking and the doing bridle-less riding.  We had so much fun, and with Leigh’s video you can enjoy the fun too!

I took Tori to Crescent City, California with Robin Keeton and her Rocky Mountain mare, Reba.  We had an amazing weekend, riding the redwoods on Saturday, the dunes on Sunday and ending up riding on the beach at Crescent City on Monday.  Tori and Reba were great trail partners.  As we gaited down the beach, I pulled out my camera so you can see and hear the sounds of the ocean and the smooth, four beat gait of my lovely Paso Fino mare.  Hope you enjoy it.

I am starting Maia under saddle and am delighted with how easily everything came for her.  I had taught her to ride the rail, weave the cones, figure eight barrels and step up on the pedestal on the ground, first online and then at liberty.  With that background, she knew what was expected when I rode her and was able to do it all with confidence.  Lovely! Here is a link to a short video of Maia’s first rides.  Hope you enjoy it.

With all the wet winter weather, I’ve been teaching the horses tricks and they LOVE it, banging on the fence in competition to come out and play with me.  I started this session having Kami touching the ball, and she shows you she can follow the ball, flex right and left, stay with me, back, correctly identify between a noodle and a ball, grab and give me objects, step up with her right and left hoof, bow, circle, straddle a pole, smile, step up on, grab or wear a tarp, give me my hat, and pick up a squeaky ball or a fallen rope.  Here is  a short video of Kami showing off her tricks.  Hope you enjoy it.

What a great play date today turned out to be.  Many thanks to Janie for welcoming us and  to Sheral who came early and set up the arena with a wide variety of obstacles – multiple pedestals, the new teeter-totter, multiple inner tubes, cones, barrels, car wash, poles, ball, tarp….. you name it, there were plenty of things to challenge human and horse.  And what a pleasure it was to watch horses and humans partnering up, communicating an intention, asking for a try, reading the horse and rewarding the slightest try.

• Danna was there with Bel – a remarkably let loose Bel, yawning and relaxed.
• Julie and Rusty had fun playing with the car wash and those pesky pool noodles dangling down and working a bit on obeisance on the pedestal.  Hmmmm….. a new way to earn carrots?  Good.
• Sheral and her Baby girl were the epitome of connected harmony at liberty with Baby coming up with at least as many ideas as Sheral on nifty things she could demonstrate. Sheral and Baby can easily pass their Level 3 in the Liberty work.
• Cindy brought Jade today instead of Ollie and I now understand how she could confuse the two.  Jade is his spitting image – perhaps a tad more sensitive and a tad braver about obstacles.  A really nice mare who tries really hard for Cindy.
• Cari came with her Smokey and did a lovely soft liberty stick to me, inviting Smokey to explore different obstacles and giving him the time and space he needed to examine them.  Made me sigh with pleasure to watch them.
• Deb brought both Dancer and Gabe.  What a study in contrasts.  Gabe is LBE and self-confident – loves to lie down for Deb, demonstrate how clever he is by entering the inner tube and pivoting in it all by himself.  Dancer was less confident and needed a softer touch, longer waiting periods to gain his confidence and offer Deb partnership.  What a challenge hopping from Gabe to Dancer and back.
• Speaking of switching horses, Nancy from Grants Pass came to visit and played with both Gabe and Dancer.  Nancy is a really good horse hand and has level 3 skills and it showed.  Great to have her joining us.
• Amanda brought Saraha and did some really nice on line with him and her first liberty play session in the arena.  An exercise in drive and draw and building relationship.  Nice.
• Tara was there with Bud – another pleasure to watch the connection between those two and the effort he puts into his Spanish Walk and learning the obeisance.

Overall, the quality of horsemanship in our group just makes me grin and it would be hard to find a nicer, more supportive group of people.

We broke for our potluck lunch and then folks did some riding in the afternoon.  Cari worked a bit on riding with energy, relaxation and body language and using her reins or the neck string for effective communication when I called it quits for the day, but I had a smile on my face for a great day.  Thanks to you all for making it such a great play date.

Jenny’s Arab, Sandor, started out as cautious of balls, sceptical of a ball that was moving and down right alarmed if the ball came toward him.  Over time, we’ve gotten him used to moving balls and asked him to “push” the ball with his nose.  Fear has transformed into delight at this new game.  The frightened prey animal has become engaged and eager to play “chase the ball” with Jenny and radiates smug pride at his part in playing this game.

I hope you enjoy watching Jenny and Sandor play “Chase the Ball.”

Rainy weather had me playing with the horses on the ground.  I taught the horses to touch a ball on the end of a stick and that concept led to the horses learning to follow the ball.  Once Prince figured that out, it provided a whole new way to communicate with him – based on play and draw, without make and drive.

I realized that I tended to use my regular carrot stick more for driving and that was true for my carrot stick riding as well.  The horses responded to it, but at some level, this was “make” and it showed up in their attitude.  Prince loves his stick with the ball on the end of it.  It awoke a strong play drive in him, an unprecedented level of creativity in figuring out ways he could play with that ball and a glue that is amazingly strong.  All three of those developments surprised me, because in truth this developed out of play and Prince taught me at least as much as I taught him.

We start with touch and follow the ball on the ground, following into a turn away from me and obeisance because they show how this concept developed on the ground.  On the riding front, Prince parallel parks and invites me to get on bareback and with nothing on his head, where he gives me lateral flexion, walks, trots, leg yields, halts and backs up.

Here is a short video Leigh took of one of our follow the ball sessions:  Enjoy!