How to Approach and Leave Your Horse

I did a clinic a couple of months ago that we were recording for my latest DVD Introduction to the Waterhole Rituals™. I was working with the participants in the arena where we were all being horses and trainers.

I gave people a chance to work with me at liberty as if I was the horse and they were the trainer. This gave the students the possibility to move me around and find out how a horse would respond. This allowed the students to solve problems in a safe environment and then when they go back to work with their horses they would have a much clearer view on how to approach and how to leave a horse.

So anyway, this one girl was so cute. She was coming at me with the whip and I kept running away from her and she kept coming towards me. The problem was though, there was a fence right there and I had no place to go. Well, she cornered me up against the fence and the next thing you know, I found myself leaping out of the arena. Well, she looked at me so surprised because I was climbing out of the arena just like a little monkey trying to get out of there.

So I came back in and after we had done that exercise she said to me, “Gee, Carolyn, you didn’t do that with anyone else, why did you do that with me? You didn’t try to run away from other people”. So, it’s just really interesting how people can’t understand that as long as you’re approaching the horse, the horse has a desire to run away. All she needed to do was stop pressing me and back up and I wouldn’t have had to jump out of the arena.

So remember, when you are pushing your horses, don’t keep following after them if they’re going very fast. All you have to do is back up.

Carolyn Resnick

Horse Training from the Ground Up