In 2014, I was at Carolyn Resnicks ranch in California for one-on-one education with her at Liberty. Before that, I had been coached by Carolyn online. Maybe you’ve seen Carolyn in the documentary movie “The path of the horse.” She is a well-known trainer and the founder of Liberty Training and a completely relationship-based horse training that I took to Sweden in 2014.
Carolyn has a background in western and dressage and as a trainer in liberty. Over the years she has won several championships in the United States in various disciplines, trained horses to grand prix level and retrained very aggressive horses to cooperative riding horses. She is today an older lady with a whole life of horses behind her.
Lived with wild horses
Already as a child, she in periods studied and lived with wild horses and learned their language and rituals in the herd. In time, she won the trust and respect of the wild horses and was able to ride the lead mare. I’d say Carolyn is for the horses what Dian Fossey was for the gorillas. (Did you see the movie “Gorillas in The Mist” based on the life of this ethologist?)
As a child at her parents ranch, Carolyn was only allowed to hang out with the horses, if she didn´t use tack on them so not to force them into anything. It was her father’s way of keeping her safe. She had her own mustang which she rode without tack out in the nearby desert. By just being with the horses and giving them total freedom, she achieved a fantastic connection with them.
Relationship based horse communication
For over 20 years I have searched the path to the freest and deepest communication to achieve with a horse, by working with horses and studying horsemanship methods. And no, I didn’t find it in the so called Natural Horsemanship world. When I found Carolyn through the movie “The path of the horse” where she danced with a stallion in freedom, I knew I had found the right path. This was beyond traditionally horsemanship methods.
The unique thing about her training is that she works all horses completely free in an open space, without tack, roundpen, pressure or coersion – and the amazing thing is that it really leads to dancing with horses.
At Carolyns place I received a deeper education in communicating with horses in freedom and dancing together. In my individual training I worked with several horses at Liberty as well as preparations for bitless riding and development of contact.
Carolyn’s philosophy and Liberty training are based on the relationship and a deep bond with the horse and on horse´s natural desire for companionship. It is based on the natural language and herd behavior of horses.
The horse always has its own choice – to choose whether to interact or not. The world of horse training today is about putting equipment on horses to control them, instead of seeing that this control is not needed, Carolyn means.
To train a horse without tack is twice as fast because through the freedom you give to the horse, the horse’s desire to follow our leadership develops and fulfills our desires.
When training a horse in freedom in this state, you communicate with the horse
naturally and is more focused on the development of the relationship with the horse than on performance.
In this way, the performance comes automatically and has much higher quality than if you focus on training the horse for performance.
The freedom given to the horse achieves a deeper well-being and a wealth of knowledge. The focus is on giving freedom to the horse in order to control the trainer’s impact to suit the horse´s needs and well-being in the moment.
A deep friendship and natural herd behavior is the foundation
The use of horses’ natural herd behavior and the universal code of conduct in nature, leads us to the magic dance with horses. By learning this code of conduct and communicating more effectively with a horse, we raise our spiritual contact with all living things and let us find our “authentic selves”. We learn how we dance with “the free spirit” of the horse.
The method focuses on developing cooperation and enthusiasm from the horse by increasing togetherness, trust, respect, willingness and focus. It is a journey of self-realization and personal and spiritual growth. To learn leadership that is life-enhancing and that a horse is drawn to.
Carolyn is unique in comparison to other trainers and with the will and result she achieves in horses, even where other horsemanship methods failed. She doesn’t put a horse in a roundpen or force it to submit anything. It’s the horse that initiates the contact.
Her method is kind, resistance-free and without coercion or pressure – not with the hidden catch that the horse can’t actually say no.
The great thing about Carolyn’s training is that it takes place without tack from the start, on the horse’s terms. What comes out in the horse is joy, confidence, willingness, respect and a desire to listen to and be by one’s side. A magical connection based on a deep bond, friendship and mutual respect, To go side by side as partners and enjoy the dance of life as one.
Carolyn has helped me develop the foundation of my education program TRULY LIBERTY to spread the understanding and knowledge of communicating with horses in freedom and learning the magic dance.
Carolyn Resnick’s way of communicating with horses free from the beginning, is the most natural, free and friendly way I’ve experienced, based entirely on the horse’s freedom of choice and the horse’s own language – without tack, pressure, roundpen or coersion.
She is an amazing horse woman who lived in periods with wild horses even as a child when she learned their herd rituals and mutual communication system. She is today an old woman but was the first to work horses at Liberty decades ago.
Working with horses free through horses’ natural herd rituals that Carolyn taught me is the foundation of my education program Truly Liberty without tack, tricks, treats, pressure or coersion. A relationship-based horse communication and equestrian art from Liberty to Piaff. You will learn how to develop a deep connection with the horse and shape your dream horse!
Carolyn Resnick från filmen “The path of the horse” har personligen hjälpt mig utveckla grunden i mitt utbildningsprogram i USA. Det är mitt koncept med ensamrätt och ett skyddat varumärke.
© 2020 Anneli Westlund
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