Carolyn Resnick Horsemanship Blog: Horse Training from the ground up

The Sacredness of Intention

Carolyn — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:52:21 +0000

Today I thought I would share a lovely letter sent to me by Connie, one of my Insider Circle students.

Dear Carolyn,

Thank you for your reminder to us about how subtle and important intention is when we are with our horses.

When I first was leasing my horse, I was purely in that place of making it all about him. That was how I dreamed having a horse would be and I was continuously thrilled having him in my life. That has not changed after proudly becoming his person and spending the last couple years with him.

In the beginning, others said my first horse should be such and such, and he should not have any lameness issues, perhaps should be older than 5+ years, etc…however, I persisted because this horse deserved to be loved as every horse does and I felt a deep connection with him. I had his teeth done, sheath cleaned, nearly fused hocks injected, and tried chiropractic and acupuncture to help the front leg issue…it was expensive, but it worked. I believed in him and saw the treasure within. I was involved with him because of the joy we felt with each other, because

A Magnetic Attraction Built from the Eye Contact Ritual

Carolyn — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:53:49 +0000

Communicating with a horse is like a courtship.

Try treating a horse like you would like to be courted, and then your horse will show you how he would like to be approached, this way you will discover a working partnership from a co-creative evolution that will grow into an amazing cross species bond built on love, affection, parenting and respect. Know that trial and error will, usually, have a positive result, because your heart is in the right place.

There as been several people a bit confused in how to communicate the fifth Ritual Eye Contact with their horse.

It is quite easy to put it into practice.

I thought I would break it down for those of you that would like more information.

What you are wanting to do is to develop your horse to have a habit of keeping an eye on you, not as a horse would on a predator but like you would do with a friend at a gathering of many people, where if you did not keep and eye on each other you could get separated.

The way you approach this ritual is the same way lead… Read more

Ears, Heads and Grooming

Carolyn — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:30:27 +0000

Hello. As you may know, I have a very close and long-standing relationship with Neda De Mayo, who does wonderful work at her American Wild Horse Sanctuary, Return to Freedom, in Lompoc, California.

Neda has been a long time student of mine and has introduced a number of people to my Method during her workshops. As were putting together today’s blog, we came across a very interesting question from the Insider Circle which I wanted to feature. As you will read, this person was indeed introduced to my work via Neda and Mark told me that he was on the same workshop and that’s how he found out about me too! So I’d like to thank Neda and say that if you ever get chance to visit the sanctuary, I really recommend it. They run a variety of different events and workshops there too and of course it’s a wonderful cause to support too.

In fact, large parts of my Waterhole Reflections DVD were shot at the ranch and it really is beautiful up there, especially in the Spring when all the flowers are out, so go take a visit.

OK, so on to the question, which… Read more

May The Non-Force Be With You

Carolyn — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:24:35 +0000

It’s really touching that people have been responding so deeply on the subject of such a small issue regarding a horse being so unwilling to have a halter put on, or the horse being so freaked out about the need to rip away from a human, because of the distasteful feeling of being with a human.

I appreciate that many people are willing to take the long journey to build a relationship with a horse as Robin and Carry have done with Pony.

In the traditional programs of leaning how to fix problems with horses, the problem gets fixed from an overall system and does not take in to consideration of the needs of the individual horse and human. Recently I watched a Youtube of a horse, he has a similar problem as Pony, not as bad, but still a problem of putting a bridle. The method just used force and persistence at the time the horse was fighting to get away.

I am working on my book and I just finished my prologue and what I wrote really pertains to the subject of how to approach really big problems such as with Cary’s experience with her horse. It requires… Read more

“Pony” Learns to Trust Using the Waterhole Rituals

Carolyn — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:20:45 +0000

Carey Sweet rescued “Pony” from the race track. He was to be euthanized. She had rescued other track horses before and welcomed him into her life. In spite of her best efforts, his head shyness and jumpy reactions to movements or being touched escalated over the 7 years she owned him. She left a breakaway halter on because she couldn’t take it off without him exploding. Even unclipping the lead rope would throw him into a panic. Whenever he was loose he was nearly impossible to catch unless he was ready to come in for dinner. The situation became increasingly worse, as she didn’t have enough information about how to help him past his fears. After he panicked and crushed her mother into the wall of the stall, breaking her leg, Carey felt desperate. A respected source referred her to Robin Gates who’s work is based on my Method.

After 2 hours of trying to connect with him, Robin advised Carey to have an experienced body worker visit Pony because of the injuries he had inflicted on himself in his outbursts and then bring him to her ranch.

The first days at the ranch were spent simply being with him… Read more