But in 2024, Maynard was in for a surprise.

“It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Maynard says.

As a first-time competitor, he competed in—and won—2024 Road to the Horse, the World Championship of Colt Starting. His partner was an American Quarter Horse gelding named TomCatt.

“There were moments when I didn’t know if I would get through it. I learned a lot about myself and what I can handle,” Maynard says.

Although feeling the crushing weight of stress, Maynard realized it would be detrimental to pass it on to TomCatt.

“I had things I wanted to accomplish and goals, but I didn’t let my horse feel that. I had to be very present in the moment and process-oriented so that I could always go at the speed he needed to go,” Maynard says. “It made me think about the importance of the process and not getting caught up in the goals. You can have goals, but you have to leave them behind once you are working with the horse.”

And Maynard is ready to do it all over again—with a new colt and up against new competitors at the 2025 Road to the Horse, which will take place March 27-30, 2025 in Lexington, Ky.

Growing Up With Horses

Maynard’s love of horses started early and was nurtured by his father, Rick, a Grand Prix show jumper, and his mother, Jennifer, a Grand Prix dressage rider and judge.

“My parents both rode,” Maynard says. “It was instilled in us at a young age what a privilege it was to have horses in our lives. When I was young, what I loved most was the sport—mounted games, show jumping, and eventing. But I never thought I would do it as a career. The turning point was in my mid-twenties. I discovered the world of horsemanship and horse psychology. That was when I started to think of it as a mental thing and not just physical.”

Maynard still enjoyed the excitement of jumping, but realized that delving into the psychology of horses could “become something I could do for the rest of my life. It’s like a puzzle you’re trying to work on and get better.”

Maynard spent years as a working student, learning from Olympians, prominent equestrians, and trainers. He observed what is needed to transform a good trainer into a great trainer, particularly the ability to be an effective, compassionate communicator.

“I think you have to be a good person to be a good trainer,” Maynard says. “Some people are good with horses, but you see them with people, and they are rude. It matters how you interact with people. If a person lacks emotional balance and maturity, I don’t think they have that inner thing that will eventually make them a great horse person or trainer.”

Understanding Horses

Everyone has a different take on what natural horsemanship is.

“Depending on who I’m talking to, I might say natural horsemanship, or horse psychology, or groundwork. It’s how you interact with the horse. For me, that involves trying to work with the horse in a way that is natural for the horse, how they learn and play… Trying to bring out behaviors that a horse does naturally in the wild,” Maynard says.

When it comes to groundwork, Maynard explains, “I do groundwork with every horse I work with, and most of what I do with horses is working on myself. But everyone has a different relationship with their horse. Some want to be a mentor and teacher, a passive leader or a dominant leader; others look for a codependent relationship with their horse. While I think a few of those ways might be unhealthy, I think a lot of those could be good. Depending on which of those things you are looking for, groundwork may not be essential in every situation, but it can help you learn more about yourself and your goals. We all need a little less guilt, a little less judgment, and a little more gratitude.”

Maynard is often asked to help a “spooky” horse.

“Spooky and anxious are quite different things when you think about the horse,” Maynard says. “Spooky can be sharp, in the moment, and then it ends. Rather than acute, an anxious horse is more of a chronic thing. A chronically anxious horse can turn into a physical thing. Horses have evolved to deal quite well with a spook or mild spurt of adversity but do not do well with chronic stress, so I look at the whole horse.

“I think the number one thing that causes a horse stress is confusion. In training, when you have a flag or a stick, it’s not usually one of those items in isolation that causes the horse stress; it’s the not understanding what those things mean. Communicate with your horse. When your horse does something, like get on a trailer or do liberty, see that the horse has the look of understanding in their eye and not that they are just moving around out of stress. There are various ways to get there. Encourage curiosity—curiosity is a great bridge to confidence. Every horse is curious about things. Allow, encourage, and direct that curiosity, and the horse will get less and less spooky. If your horse is scared of the dark corner of the indoor arena, put some cookies on a barrel over there, and every once in a while, give your horse a break and go over and give him a cookie off the barrel. Over time, he will be more curious, relaxed, and associate good things with what he previously spooked at.”

How Tik and Sinead Maynard Work as a Team

Since 2008, Maynard has focused on training horses full-time. In 2016, he and his wife, Sinead—a highly respected eventing rider—merged their equine businesses into Copperline Equestrian in Citra, Fla., and together they are raising their two young children.

Maynard explains what he appreciates most about working with his wife as a partner in a multi-faceted horse business.

“When it comes to the emotional, financial, and time output, if you don’t have a spouse that gets it, that can be stressful to a marriage,” Maynard says. “You need someone who understands that you might have to call off a vacation because you have to go to a horse show. We are both really supportive of each other’s careers. At the end of the day, you can talk about the stuff you’re going through with a horse, bounce ideas off of each other. Sometimes we ride or do demos with each other’s horses; my weaknesses might be my wife’s strengths or vice versa, so it works well for us.

And when I’m at home with my wife and 2-year-old and 6-year-old, I see the need to be fully immersed in the present. If I’m distracted by my phone, then I’m not paying attention to them; I need to be present.”

Learn from Tik Maynard

A gifted communicator, Maynard loves sharing his deep understanding of horses. He is an online instructor for The Horseman’s University and a NOËLLE FLOYD Equestrian Masterclass Instructor. He is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Middle Are the Horseman (published by Trafalgar Square Books) and the highly-anticipated follow-up Starting in the Middle (coming March 2025).

This article about Tik Maynard is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Tik Maynard: Always Up for Another Horse Adventure appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

These emerging approaches—also sometimes called “emotional horsemanship”—seek to prioritize horses’ emotional worlds in our relationships with them and make space for plenty of equine agency. And the people who engage in and share them range from dressage trainers and saddle fitters to equine-assisted learning facilitators and bodyworkers.

If that sounds broad, it’s because it is. Through the lens of what I will refer to as trauma-informed horsemanship, horses and humans process emotions similarly, and this includes manifestations of stress in the body.

In turn, all of this emotional and physical baggage affects health and behaviors of both horses and humans in our relationships. By opening new channels of communication and seeking to truly listen to ourselves and our horses, these approaches have the potential to give equestrians new insights into why their horse might be uncomfortable or acting out.

The Feedback Circle

Colorado-based dressage trainer Nahshon Cook describes the human-horse emotional relationship as a feedback circle or an energy loop.

People often carry unresolved emotions as tension or even injury in their own bodies. This, in turn, affects how they move on the ground or in the saddle. Perhaps your hips are tight and your horse is unable to move his back freely. Over time, this can lead to both emotional stress and mechanical injury for the horse.

A horse “acting out” in response may trigger fear and more tension in the rider.

“Horses balance their behaviors—often unwanted behaviors—on stuck emotions in our bodies,” says Cook. “They are protecting themselves from trauma in the life of that person.”

Similarly, equines often carry their own history of emotional and physical trauma. And because horses are flight animals, they tend to internalize any resulting distress, regardless of the source.

Distress Due to Trauma

Claire Aitken, a South Carolina-based saddle fitter and equine massage therapist, sees this every day in her work, and must adjust accordingly for truly beneficial results.

“From a therapeutic perspective [before working on a horse], it’s important to take all of their history into account because these traumas that so many of them have, they hold in their body,” says Aitken.

This stoicism, combined with horses’ general tendency toward generosity with and forgiveness of the humans in their lives, makes it easy to miss early signs of discomfort. When we fail (even unintentionally) to respect their subtle attempts to communicate distress, such as opting out of work, for example, you may be driving your equine partner to escalate to behavioral issues that will be heard.

To interrupt this cycle and rebuild it as one with space for recovery, we must learn to listen better to what the horse wants and needs.

Acting with Aggression

When Kim Hallin, the founder of equine facilitated learning company Unbridled, LLC brought her horse Tempo into the world, it was with the intention of having a sport partner.

But the spunky filly was about to challenge everything she thought she knew. From birth, Tempo was not interested in passively following someone else’s path for her. And after a major injury early in life, the stress of recovery led her to develop severe aggression toward humans.

“Horses are flight animals, and [Tempo’s] flight was taken away,” says Hallin.

She explains that Tempo’s injury required frequent, often invasive, treatments and drastic reductions in her physical freedom. It didn’t take long for the young mare to connect humans with a loss of autonomy.

And although Hallin was trying to help Tempo heal, “[I was] the one opening that stall door every day but [not] letting her out. She came to associate humans with a loss of control over her body.”

Even after Tempo regained access to turnout with the herd, she retained her aggression toward humans, charging the fence whenever someone approached. And despite Hallin’s natural horsemanship skills, the situation did not improve. They made progress during training sessions, but interactions outside of those controlled environments triggered her aggression.

“[Training] wasn’t healing our relationship,” says Hallin.

When Hallin recognized Tempo’s behavior as resulting from trauma rooted in unmet emotional and instinctual needs, she was able to ask the horse what she needed and take steps to give her more choices. That is when she started to see real change.

From Shutting Down to Autonomy

Indeed, the fundamental take-home lesson for all of us, regardless of discipline, is probably the importance of autonomy, or providing the opportunity for our equines to consent.

Cook has earned a reputation as someone who works wonders with a horse whose body has shut down—a horse that may not have many options left. The first time he met the 21-year-old horse we’ll refer to as Zeus, the horse reared and struck at him as soon as he stepped into the arena.

When the horse stopped fighting and stood still for a moment, Cook was struck by his physical condition. Zeus’ medical history includes polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) and completely degenerated suspensory ligaments, among other problems. His pasterns were parallel to the ground, and he was unable to flex to the left due to a large knot at the base of his neck.

Despite this, Zeus had likely spent a long time stoically performing dressage movements for his human before his will and his body finally sent up a vehement protest.

“That was his expectation of what a trainer in the arena was,” says Cook. “He had to protect himself. He did not feel safe in his lessons, so he’d started to turn his body off.” That was what had led his humans to Cook.

It took a year before Zeus was ready for a lesson. But when he eventually opted in, he easily executed a Spanish walk, and happily offered piaffe, both movements that unlocked tension in his back.

“In that moment, he guided me to movement that felt good in his compromised body,” says Cook.

Trauma-Informed Horsemanship Requires Listening for Consent

Trauma-informed horsemanship teaches us that consent is essential, even if we aren’t asking horses for such active engagement or performance.

Hallin sees a need for better consent practices in the world of equine therapy. It is too easy for a horse to shut down in those settings, and that will have negative consequences for horse and human alike.

“Are we re-traumatizing people when we’re having them participate in or observe nonconsensual therapy sessions with the horses?” she ponders.

Aitken is also careful to begin every therapeutic or saddle-fitting assessment by focusing on connection.

“Oftentimes, if there’s a horse that hasn’t been listened to in a while, just being there and listening to what he’s saying is a huge deal,” she says.

The variety of techniques available to modern bodyworkers allows Aitken to adapt to the horse’s wants and needs, whether that is simply synchronized breathing or energy work or physical manipulation of some sort.

Key Takeaway: Finding a Path Forward

As essential as consent is, it’s often just the beginning.

Trauma-informed horsemanship doesn’t stop with just horse or human. Professionals like Cook, Aitken, and Hallin have embraced the approach more as a philosophy than a methodology, using it to shape a holistic lens that considers the whole emotion-body cycle and makes space for healing in horses and their people.

“You don’t have to do anything but honor what [the horses] tell you,” says Cook.

But first, we have to get better at listening.

This article about trauma-informed horsemanship appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post What is Trauma-Informed Horsemanship? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Welcome to Barn Banter, the official podcast of Horse Illustrated. In Barn Banter episode 27, hosts Susan Friedland and Horse Illustrated Editor In Chief Holly Caccamise chat with respected horse trainer Monty Roberts, known for his natural horsemanship methods. To end the episode, they chat with Leslie Stewart, Executive Director at Wild at Heart Horse Rescue in Lancaster, Calif., about Graycie, this month’s ASPCA Right Horse adoptable horse.

Click to listen on your preferred podcast listening platform.

Monty Roberts, World-Renowned Horse Trainer

American horse trainer Monty Roberts is known for his techniques of natural horsemanship, specifically Join-Up—the core concept of his training method. Roberts believes that horses use a non-verbal language, which he terms “Equus,” and that humans can use this language to communicate with horses. In order to share his knowledge of horsemanship, Roberts has authored a number of books including an original best-seller, The Man Who Listens to Horses, and regularly tours with live demonstrations worldwide. Roberts also founded the Monty Roberts International Learning Center to teach his methods in Solvang, California, and an “online university” to promote his ideas. Learn more about him at montyroberts.com.

• Follow Monty Roberts on Facebook
• Follow Monty Roberts on Instagram

Adoptable Horse of the Month, Graycie

Graycie is a stunning 15-year-old Arabian mare who truly does it all. Whether you’re looking for a partner in the arena, a confident trail companion, or a talented jumper, Graycie has you covered. Her versatility and calm demeanor make her the perfect match for a rider seeking excellence in all areas. Ready to take your riding to the next level? Graycie is eager to be your next best partner!

Learn more about Graycie here.

In addition to Barn Banter episode 27, you can check out all previous episodes of Horse Illustrated’s podcasts here.

The post Barn Banter – Episode 27 appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Chris Irwin really gets horses.

Watch him at work—communicating with a horse—and you can see why Ireland’s Equestrian magazine boldly stated, “Chris Irwin is more horse than human.” As a world-renowned horseman, professional trainer, riding coach, and author of the international best-selling books Horses Don’t Lie and Dancing With Your Dark Horse, Chris Irwin artfully unravels the complex relationship between horses and humans. And attendees at his U.S. or European clinics leave with a renewed desire to build a more meaningful connection with their own horses.

Finding a Real Home Through Horses

Irwin didn’t grow up enveloped by the love of family and horses.

“I dropped out of school and left home at 16,” says Irwin. “It was an extremely violent, dysfunctional family and I ran away to survive.”

He played guitar and hitchhiked from Canada to North America, eventually landing in Seattle, Wash. Around the age of 20, he was homeless and living off tips tossed in his guitar case. He heard the racetrack was hiring and decided to check it out.

“As soon as I walked around to the barns, smelled the horses, heard the horses, I literally froze and every cell in my body was tingling,” Irwin recalls. “I knew for the first time in my life that I was home.”

At the end of his first day, the trainer told him he was a natural, gave him a full-time job and a place to stay—a cot in a stall—and Irwin worked his way up from mucking stalls to grooming horses.

Later, he worked at dude ranches and enjoyed success in training wild Mustangs. After ten years, Irwin needed a change.

“I was struggling to earn a living, so I took a six-month break and went back to Canada to ski and do some soul-searching,” says Irwin. “And at the end of winter, I so missed being with the horses. The horses were my medicine, and I needed to get back to work with them.”

He took his passion for horses to the next level, transitioning to trainer-for-hire. After moving to Nevada, he had a long waiting list within six months—”starting young horses, problem-solving with difficult horses.” Veterinarians and farriers were amazed at how much gentler the horses were that Irwin worked with.

At 37, Irwin moved back to Canada—now as a family with his wife and child—and got right to work, reinventing himself as an author, becoming an in-demand clinician, and making videos.

“I wrote Horses Don’t Lie with a good friend,” says Irwin. “By 2000, Horses Don’t Lie was being published in multiple languages and I was getting called to Europe and North America. I was very surprised with how well the book resonated with people because nobody really said anything like that at the time. I wrote a book talking about how I’m finding my psycho-spiritual healing through working with horses. It didn’t have any practical training tips. It was one of the first books that started leading North American horse culture in the direction of working with horses for personal development. I thought there was a good chance I would become a laughingstock.”

He was wrong; people appreciated his authentic voice deciphering natural horsemanship and our connection to horses.

Helping Horses to Rebuild Confidence

Irwin travels to clinics worldwide, helping horses regain courage and confidence, profoundly impacting their overall well-being—and each horse has a story.

“There’s a horse I work with now in the Netherlands who was rescued as a bull-fighting horse from Spain,” says Irwin. “He had brutal training, had been gored by a bull in a fight, and was full of PTSD. I’d been looking at him, knew trauma was in him, and I knew how to help him get it out, how to release it. I started working with him last year. And what a breakthrough! He is very near and dear to my heart—he shows a depth of appreciation for the healing that he has gone through.

Horses often bring me to tears… I’ve wept in public because of what’s coming out of the horse… There’s much more depth in learning what it takes to help horses who have already decided that human beings are evil and don’t want anything to do with us. That’s where my focus is.”

Chris Irwin as the Empathetic Shepherd

Irwin wants horses to see us as empathetic shepherds and thus want to be in our presence.

“The premise of everything in my work with horses is that the frame of their body affects the frame of mind. It’s physiology,” says Irwin. “Their body goes into different shapes, different frames… A hollow-backed horse with his back collapsed and his neck up high is producing adrenaline. And enough adrenaline on a consistent basis leaves the body full of cortisol.”

Irwin explains, “The goal is to use groundwork and riding where you use your body to shape a horse’s body so that its internal chemistry produces oxytocin and endorphins, not adrenaline. That’s why it’s feasible for a horse to walk away from the feed and other horses and meet you at the gate, because he knows this is going to feel good. When I ride a horse, it’s like giving them a day at the spa. My seat is a chiropractor. My legs are massage therapists. My contact is like osteopathy. Horses love it when they feel better with you than without you. That’s how they know you’re the shepherd.”

Horses Test Your Awareness Through Body Language

Purposeful groundwork with a physical connection can be complex; some riders mistakenly underestimate its value.

“Groundwork is competing in body language with the horse—to earn respect, trust, and acceptance of your leadership,” says Irwin. “When you walk in to meet a horse you’ve never met before, it doesn’t automatically respect you. Even the nicest horses in the world— if you are a stranger—will test you very subtly with body language.”

Your body language can cause a horse to feel safe with you, allowing them to relax and view you as the shepherd.

“The horse knows if you have profound situational awareness,” Irwin explains. “He’s tested you. And your response when challenged makes them feel good.”

Tapping Into Chris Irwin’s Insights

Irwin explains his riding approach as “physio from the saddle—helping the horse to relax in his body. The softer and more supple we can get the horse in their bodies, the more relaxed they will become in their minds.”

Eager to share his experience, Irwin created the series of hugely popular online courses, Mind Your Horse and the Irwin Insights: Horse Sense Redefined Skills Certificates and Masters Certification courses.

“The courses are a combination of evolved equestrian insights, cutting-edge production quality, and use of graphics and illustrations as learning aids,” says Irwin. “And I have a completely different approach—due to the depth of minutia of awareness.”

Citing an example, Irwin says, “The single greatest, unspoken dysfunction in the horse world is defining inside and outside as direction instead of flexion. And when you ride a horse according to flexion instead of direction, it melts. It gets so soft. And whether it’s five or fifteen minutes later, now you are riding straight down the long side and you are getting true bends in the corners because you warmed up working with the horse and not against it.”

Spoken like a true shepherd.

To learn more about Chris Irwin, horsemanship, and clinics visit chrisirwin.com and Ray of Light Farm, a nonprofit animal rescue center and riding school in East Haddam, Conn., where he serves as a clinic director.

This article about Chris Irwin is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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A lone horseman stands in the spotlight. He gives a signal and his equine partner, a big bay with four white socks, gallops into the arena. The music starts and they move as one in an intricately planned, magical routine. His cues to the horse are incredibly subtle, and it seems horse and human share the same mind.

The performance is done at liberty, part of it working together on the ground and part of it bridleless under-saddle. Reining spins, flying lead changes, sliding stops, circles and lateral movements in step together on the ground, rearing and bowing on command, and more are intertwined into a mesmerizing show. It is awe inspiring, and the crowd loves it.

The man is Luke Gingerich, a rising star in the equestrian world, accompanied by his long-time partner, American Quarter Horse gelding CJ Rio Zan Bar Gun (aka “Rio”). The liberty work they do together may seem unattainable, but their dance is the result of lots of practice and finely tuned communication between the two.

Gingerich says it is something that most equestrians can learn to do with their horses, and he is on a mission to inspire and teach anyone who wants to work to achieve that goal.

“Liberty work requires a thorough understanding and awareness of your body language, timing, and feel, and how to use these to communicate with your horse,” he explains. “But it’s something that most anyone willing to put in the time, dedication, and consistency can experience with their horse.”

The Man Behind the Performance

Like many kids, Gingerich, who grew up in central Ohio, begged his parents for a pony. When he turned 10 years old, they purchased a mare named Misty for him. From then on, he was hooked. Several years later, he purchased his first Quarter Horse, a mare named Zippy; they competed in western pleasure and trail classes.

A fascination with liberty work from a young age led him to study with James Cooler in Summerfield, N.C. In 2017, he started training with Jesse and Stacy Westfall in Loudonville, Ohio, and he says that they have been a major influence in his horsemanship. A keen observer of equine behavior, he noticed that horses naturally want to be in sync with other members of their herd and do this by mirroring behavior of others in their group. He also saw how important body language is to horses in communication. He then applied these concepts to his training.

“I channel that desire and natural instinct to read subtle shifts and changes in body language to create complex maneuvers and behaviors that my horses become capable of doing at liberty with me,” he explains.

Performance Liberty Horsemanship

Helping horses learn how to use themselves correctly in a balanced and athletic way while working at liberty is also a personal mission. He is passionate about combining relationship-based training with training for high-level athleticism, and labels the combination of the two “performance liberty horsemanship.”

“Both the mental and emotional connection, combined with the physical body control and muscle memory that this work creates, can be directly carried over into riding in many competitive disciplines,” says Gingerich.

He’s put it all into practice in both training and competition. In addition to liberty exhibitions and competition, he competes in reining, freestyle reining, ranch versatility, and most recently, western dressage. He incorporates many dressage principles into his training.

In 2021, he brought 4-year-old palomino mare Tinseltowns Whizard (aka “Chloe”) to Quarter Horse Congress, where their bridleless freestyle reining routine earned them a large following.

Thus far, all of Chloe’s training under-saddle has been done without a bridle or reins or head gear of any kind. While Gingerich initially thought he would soon transition to tack, he was so pleased with how well Chloe’s foundation of liberty work carried over to ridden work during the first rides of her life that he has remained on the bridleless journey with her ever since.

In 2018, people started asking him to teach them how to do what he and his horses were doing, so he started a business, Luke Gingerich Horsemanship, in his hometown of Plain City, Ohio. In 2021, with the help of family and friends, Gingerich built a facility where he holds clinics and lessons.

He has expanded his business by creating online training video library memberships. So far, he’s traveled to 20 states to compete, teach and perform, and has students from nearly all equestrian disciplines.

Why Liberty Work?

Almost any horse can do liberty work with proper training, at least at a basic level, says Gingerich. Yet, liberty work is more than just turning your horse loose in an enclosure and chasing them around.

“It should be more of a dance—a constant two-way communication with our horses—where we can guide and direct their thoughts and movements in an accurate, refined manner,” he explains.

He points out that liberty work gives horsemen and women a better connection with and understanding of their horses, serving to improve their relationship and results together. The horse will learn how to balance and use his body properly, which translates into improved under-saddle work. Not to mention that it can be just plain fun!

Preparing to Start Liberty Work

Gingerich advises doing homework before starting liberty work with your horse. Select an instructor for in-person and/or virtual learning. Watch liberty routines at shows, exhibitions and on videos and take note of what the human and horse are doing during their performance.

Find an appropriately sized work space, either a round pen, compact or subdivided arena, or a small, sturdy paddock. At first, work in-hand with your horse wearing a halter and lead. This provides more guidance and support as you start to learn how to communicate via body language what you would like your horse to do with you—move forward, stop, turn away or toward you, move around your body in a circle, change gaits, and so on. He explains that the way you move and angle your body, combined with consistent verbal cues, signals your intention to your horse.

He also uses three types of whips (dressage, carriage and longe whips) to offer guidance and support to the horse. He often carries two whips at a time and uses them to deliver separate signals to different parts of the horse’s body. Gingerich has found that the weight and balance of the whip is very important for allowing the cues to be as understandable and consistent as possible.

“Whips are an important tool when learning liberty work with your horse,” he says. “They are simply an extension of my arms to help me to be more clear and precise with the cues that I give my horse. Their function is similar to how our hands and legs function while riding, in that they can correct when necessary, yet should always be used to communicate and show my horse how to move and use his body, and how to find connection, focus, and relaxation under pressure—both physical and environmental.”

Before using the whips in work with your horse, practice learning to carry and control one with each hand so you can reliably send individual signals with each whip. The whip cues are used along with body language to ask the horse to do different movements.

In planning for liberty work, you should also decide what types of rewards you plan to use to tell your horse that he has done a good job. The release of pressure at the correct time will always help your horse understand what is being asked of him. Pats, rubs, scratches, and verbal praise are all excellent rewards, and different horses appreciate some of these more than others.

Gingerich does incorporate clicker training, a form of positive reinforcement that involves using food rewards, into his program as he starts to move into more advanced work. But he cautions against introducing treats too quickly or offering them with poor timing, as this can cause problems with your horse.

Body Language is Key

Gingerich emphasizes that understanding the body language of both horses and humans is one of the most important aspects of being able to work at liberty.

“We need to have a clear understanding of the difference between drive and draw with our horses, which is instinctual for them,” he says. “Applying energy and pressure to our horses with the correct angles and feel in our bodies—and knowing when and how to release that pressure—is essential for clear communication, understanding and connection.”

His first lessons involve teaching people how to differentiate between driving, drawing, and neutral energy in their own body language. He explains each term this way:

◆ Drive is the intention in the person’s body language that asks the horse to move away from the handler.
◆ Draw is the intention conveyed by the person’s body that invites the horse to move toward the handler.
◆ Neutral energy is the handler holding his or her body in such a way that they do not ask the horse to change anything.

In most cases when working at liberty, Gingerich likes to be standing in a position by the horse’s head. This gives him a safer distance from the horse’s feet, and leaves more space between him and his horse, which allows him to communicate more easily since the horse is in a better position to see the cues he gives.

After teaching his students how to differentiate between drive, draw and neutral energy, Gingerich focuses on having them use these concepts to help their horses find connection, focus and relaxation.

Then he moves on to teaching body control. This involves the human learning how to use her body, and the whips, to show the horse how to move each part of his body independently, eventually without the need for a lead.

Basic Skills

One of the first things Gingerich teaches a horse is to back away when he applies pressure to the horse’s chest from the front. This helps ensure that he can adjust how close the horse comes to him as he advances in his training.

From there, he teaches the horse how to move his shoulders, hindquarters and rib cage independently in response to his body language. These basic skills help transition into starting liberty circles, lateral work, straightness training and so on. Teaching the horse to come when called is an important skill, too.

Gingerich advises keeping the training sessions short in most cases, especially at the beginning. Although a lesson can range anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour, depending on the horse’s stage of training, 15 to 30 minutes is a good starting point.

He counsels to always try to end on a positive note with your horse. If the horse doesn’t master a task that you’ve asked for, go back to the basic skill set and end with a successful completion.

Safety Tips

As with any activity with horses, interacting safely is imperative in liberty work, too. Gingerich cautions to carefully read the horse’s body language for signals telling you to back off. A horse may be feeling playful, frightened, confused, annoyed or claustrophobic, which could cause him to lash out in your direction.

“My general rule is, when in doubt, increase the distance at which I am working with a horse, so we both have more space to safely read and respond to each other, and communicate from there,” says Gingerich.

To help you stay safe, he advises to first teach the horse that any part of his body you intend to draw towards you later must first be yielded away from you when asked. He feels that this is important to help everyone involved stay safe and confident. He also says giving cues with a longer whip can remind the horse to keep a safe distance.

Gingerich sometimes advises a handler to revert to work using a halter and lead to enhance safety.

“Liberty work requires a high level of education and understanding from both horse and human, so there are times that I will recommend that a horse and human use tack to help improve clarity, consistency, and communication before going back to working at liberty,” he says.

Advanced Liberty Exercises

Things to aspire to later in liberty work include teaching flying changes and to bow and rear on command. In his sessions with his own horses, they practice advanced movements such as straight-line flying lead changes, half-pass and pirouette at the canter, liberty spins, the cutting game, and a walking rear, among other cool moves.

With patience, practice and communication, you and your horse could dance like you mean it one day, too.

This article about liberty work appeared in the November/December 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Liberty Work with Luke Gingerich appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Sometimes horses, like people, need a leg up in life. That’s where Joe Misner comes in. Growing up in Alaska for much of his boyhood, the creator and director of the Wild2Ride Academy is no stranger to wild country. These days, in Missoula, Mont., he is offering the only wild horsemanship certification program of its kind anywhere in America.

While appearing as a panelist at the EQUUS International Film Festival four years ago in Billings, Mont., he heard about a horse facing a dire plight. The owner of a green-broke BLM Mustang was leaving town, and with winter just around the corner, he threatened to abandon the hapless colt in the mountain wilderness if someone didn’t come up with a better solution.

For a horseman who likes to live by the motto, “Come on and let me show you,” solutions are easy.

Misner was just starting to work with Melinda Corso and Montana Reins of Hope (MROH) when Janet Rose came to them for help. Rose was organizing a benefit for a local rescue, Horse Haven Montana, and told them how a foster option for the colt, Dante, had proved temporary.

“At that time, Montana Reins of Hope was still early in its formation,” says Corso. “Taking Dante in really solidified MROH’s commitment to the American Mustang.”

Horsemanship That Creates Second Chances

Creating second chances for wild spirits—both horse and human—is what Misner has been doing for the last decade. That has included connecting horses with high-risk youth; working with Wounded Warrior veterans and Mustangs; and offering Rio Cosumnes Correctional inmates in Sacramento, Calif., a certifiable skill after their incarceration while giving wild horses a chance to earn release from their own federal pens.

Misner discovered during his West Coast horsemanship clinics that people wanted to learn what he had to teach. But unless they went to jail, they weren’t finding his unique curriculum.

That’s how the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center Wild Horse Program, developed with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department (one of only five such horse/inmate programs in the country), became the model for the curriculum now offered by Wild2Ride Academy at MROH.

Misner’s program in Sacramento County honed a successful wild horse gentling approach through retreat-pressure-release, which works with an untouched horse’s natural instincts. It also incorporates leadership horsemanship training for people, based on what he calls the five C’s: Calm, Confident, Caring, Clear and Consistent.

And Dante? As MROH’s first rescue horse and four-legged instructor, he has a forever home.

“Dante started it all,” says Corso, who has brought more than 25 years’ experience in children’s mental health and education to her role as Director at MROH. “We can make this world a better place for horses and humans through quality equine education programs that focus on building relationships with horses on a foundation of trust.”

That’s why Misner, considered one of the premier Mustang trainers in the country, is there.

Cross-Fit, Ranch-Style

A veteran of 16 Extreme Mustang Makeovers, with nine Top 10s, and 2014 NORCO Extreme Mustang Makeover champion (with Kenai), Misner has built a 90-day wild horsemanship certification course progressing through six levels.

After completion of a level, students earn a Wild2Ride Academy certificate. At the end of 90 days and all six levels, they are fully certified in the skills necessary to train wild horses.

The name, Wild2Ride, comes from Misner’s experiences in Mustang makeovers since the early days, and from firsthand experience.

“I’ve worked with ‘wild’ men and horses,” he says. “I’ve watched guys who have gone through lots of failures find something to feel passionate about in horses. Here, we teach from the ground up: with a pitchfork, cleaning stalls. I like to call it ‘ranch cross-fitness!’” All joking aside, the program has proven to be transformative for the living creatures that go through it.

“It’s life-changing for everyone,” says Misner. “You can get an organic transformation.”

Wild Horse to Rider Hours Ratio

It starts with his thought-provoking wild horse hours to rider hours ratio.

“Over a year, a horse runs wild for 8,760 hours,” says Misner. “In comparison, 90 days in training adds up to just 60 hours of human interaction.”

That’s 8,700 hours of wild left in an animal apt to behave more like a deer in horse clothing. Take for example a 14-hand, 3-year-old Mustang mare that Misner watched clear a 3-foot fence from a standstill as easily as any whitetail.

“Horsemanship with wild horses is a lot of oxymorons,” he says. “You learn to stay calm but are ready for chaos.”

His 90-day wild horsemanship certification program is also unique in its freedom from traditional semester formats. Applicants do not have to commit 90 days all at once. Like the training approach they hope to learn and apply to horses, students go through the program pressure-free, learning at their own pace.

“One of the most important things about this program is its flexibility,” Misner explains. “You can start any time. You can stop at any point and then come back for more. You can come for a week at a time.” For students learning how to relax a wild horse, it helps to show them they’re not under pressure either.

Riding Forward

Misner is excited to see more students scheduled to enter Wild2Ride Academy through the rest of this year. Two Academy graduates, Hayden Sunshine Kunhardt and John Sullivan (who left a job with the U.S. Forest Service to learn wild horsemanship), have come on board as full-time, paid assistants.

Misner estimates that since 2019, Wild2Ride Academy has seen two dozen burgeoning trainers enter the program and eight complete the full Academy, despite the pandemic.

“I know it sounds crazy, but COVID really got us going,” he says. “It’s been fantastic. People’s lives changed and more of them than ever want new and better connections.”

That’s on top of the hundreds of horses and inmates he estimates he has helped over his five years working with Sacramento County.

“My dad had a saying, ‘Aspire to inspire before you expire,’” he says.

It’s not something the quiet horseman brings up in casual conversation, but the courage and tenacity his own father displayed in life made an indelible imprint.

While born in Minnesota, 57-year-old Misner recalls how his father chose to take his family home to his own roots in Alaska. Misner was still a boy when his father, a heavy equipment operator, sustained a grievous spinal cord injury in an accident.

“My dad is my inspiration,” says Misner. “He was a veteran, and I saw what he went through as doctors held his spine together, as he went into rehabilitation to learn to walk again, and to hold his body upright. He showed me how you can do anything. To keep moving forward.”

A Horse Named Mohican

Another lesson about tenacity came from a “plain brown wrapper” of a Mustang, one of the last to go down the chute and into a BLM pen, who Joe nicknamed Mohican.

Reno, Nev., was where Misner was headed in 2009 to find his second Extreme Mustang Makeover project. He’d finished reserve champion with a horse named Laredo in the previous year’s Western States Mustang Challenge, and 16th nationally. Misner was feeling pretty good about his “formula” for training wild horses within limited timeframes as he stood along the pen watching a new herd of candidates emerge from a trailer.

But it got off to a horrific start. The horse he intended as his makeover candidate “ran right into the fence and broke its neck.”

Next to go was a 5-year-old gelding, taken from the wild a year previously and kept in a holding pen ever since, who was Misner’s resentful replacement. The horse was Mohican.

“He charged and grabbed my chest and front of my shirt as if to say, ‘I have four legs and teeth, and I’m not afraid to use them,’” recalls Misner. “‘Don’t tell me anything. Ask.’”

He had exactly 90 days to ask Mohican for a makeover and to travel from California to Texas to compete together.

For 59 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes, Mohican didn’t offer much progress. On Day 60, Misner mounted up and started riding in the round pen, but couldn’t get the horse that had once galloped free across the prairie to break into a trot.

“I tried one little spank,” he recalls. “He blew up, rolled over on me, and this time, told me if I ever tried that again he’d squash me like a bug.”

With not much progress to show for those last 30 days, Misner resolutely loaded Mohican and began the 1,200-mile trek to Fort Worth. If he was lucky, he imagined the recalcitrant Mustang would only humiliate and not hurt him in front of all those spectators in the Will Rogers Equestrian Center.

“I purposely entered the Intermediate division,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting much.”

Misner certainly wasn’t expecting what came next. If Mohican saw him as one terrible, two-legged predator, the Mustang’s eyes pretty much popped out of its head when he realized there were thousands of such predators outnumbering them in Fort Worth.

“He stayed glued to me,” Misner recalls.

Maybe it was Mohican’s “come to Jesus moment,” but it worked. Man and Mustang finished 8th nationally, while also performing a freestyle Misner could never have predicted with this horse: “It included jumping over a barrel while holding a flag in one hand!”

In the happiest of all endings, Mohican was purchased at the auction following the competition, raising money for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and finding a forever home.

“I told the woman who bought him that he was very … particular,” he says.

Roses From a Devil’s Garden

Horse Illustrated caught up with Misner the same day he was preparing to welcome five new U.S. Forest Service Devil’s Garden Mustang mares—with foals—to MROH.

Named for a 500-square-mile patch of dense brush and jagged stone so inhospitable only “the devil himself” would plant a garden there, the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory lies within Modoc National Forest outside of Alturas, Calif. According to the USDA and U.S. Forest Service, Devil’s Garden is the largest wild horse territory managed by the U.S. Forest Service in size and wild horse population.

“Devil’s Garden Mustangs have proven their adaptability, trainability and versatility since our first adoptions in 2018,” says Misner. “None of this would be possible without Reins of Hope and its 400 acres that house the facility and program. It couldn’t be done without them.”

It allows Misner and Wild2Ride to keep dreaming bigger and better, including filing for nonprofit 501(c)3 status and launching a fundraising campaign, because “we sure need a covered arena during these Montana winters.”

Mustangs need help, too.

“I know I can make a difference,” says Misner. “Mustangs gave me a master’s degree in empathy for horses, and for trying to do better, every day, with what I have to give.”

This September, Misner and his wife of 30 years, Missy, plan to compete a pair of 3-year-old BLM fillies in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth. A teacher for over 20 years, Missy is also curriculum co-creator of the Wild2Ride program.

“She’s been a huge inspiration in my evolution as a natural horseman,” says Misner. “Without her, I’d be a broken-up old bronc rider, for sure.”

Follow Joe and Missy, Wild2Ride, and the Devil’s Garden Mustangs at Montana Reins of Hope (available to forever homes after 90 days training) at www.montanareinsofhope.com and on Facebook @Wild2Ride and @MontanaReinsofHope.

This article about Joe Misner and his wild horsemanship certification program appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Joe Misner and His Wild Horsemanship Certification Program appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

“When horses buck, they aren’t comfortable,” says natural horsemanship trainer Mike Brashear. “Bucking isn’t something that most horses want to do. Instead, we want them to understand that they don’t have to go there. They can find release and relief by following a rider’s soft cues.”

Here, Brashear helps you work with your horse on the ground and from the saddle to make sure that he will soften instead of brace in preparation to buck. When your horse will willingly move his head and neck, shoulders, ribcage, and hindquarters, he will bend instead of brace. Without tension and brace, a horse won’t need to buck.

Why do horses buck?

“If the horse had to become the leader, they were forced into that scenario,” says Brashear. “The horse may have trauma from the past and the buck was the answer to get away from a trigger. You may not know why they buck or what caused it. The one thing I do know is that when they get to that point, the only answer is to add training that will help them relax and think.”

A Horse’s Confidence Can Prevent Bucking

Bucking incidents with a horse can quickly drain rider confidence. Brashear works with a Gypsy Vanner horse that once took off and bucked with his rider during a trail ride. Brashear helped the horse relax and helped the rider gain confidence to work with her horse and ride again.

The horse (pictured here) now travels with Brashear for demos and even helps to start colts. To begin the retraining, Brashear worked with horse and rider from the ground.

“A horse can feel your heartbeat from 4 feet away,” he says. “If you don’t have confidence, the horse can feel that. By working on the ground first, you can create confidence. You don’t have to ride that horse right away, but you can do the groundwork and become confident. When you see you can move the horse’s feet and place them where you want to go, you’ll know you can do the same thing once you’re on his back.”

Disengaging from the Ground

To get your horse bending and responsive to your cues, you’ll ask him to disengage his hindquarters while he walks in a circle around you as you work from the ground. Keep in mind that this isn’t the fast, emergency stop use of the disengagement technique.

While disengaging the hindquarters can cause a horse to abruptly stop in an emergency, that move is strong and quick. What’s more, that move can only work in an emergency if your horse has been taught to flex and bend on command.

Here, you’ll teach your horse that he can move his body to the side, disengaging to bend and relax instead of brace.

To start, outfit your horse in a long lead and rope halter and hold a training flag. You’ll send your horse away from you at a walk, tracking left.

“I’ll lift my left hand and have him follow that feel to the left,” says Brashear. “Then I’ll ask him to move his feet by prompting him with my right hand, the tail of my lead rope, or my stick or flag. I’m ‘drifting’ his hindquarters to the right. I’m working on getting a soft feel through his poll, neck and ribcage and back to his hindquarters by picking up more with my left hand. When I start to bend his neck, I’m bending his head toward the stirrup. I’m encouraging the hindquarters to completely break over to the right.”

The horse disengages when he moves his left hind leg forward and in front of the right hind leg. The move is to the side and blocks fast forward motion. It requires a bend throughout the horse’s body.

Brashear says that once the horse willingly bends and moves well to the side, he’ll pause, allow the horse to relax, and change directions.

“I’m going to repeat the process of getting him round through his body, his jaw coming under his neck, and roundness through his neck, ribcage, and back to his hindquarters,” he says. “His hindquarters are going to start drifting to the left while he’s moving and going forward to the right.”

Brashear says that the goal is to isolate each part of the horse so that you can control the placement of all four hooves while working with softness and flow.

“If a horse is prone to bucking, you must get his feet to go in the direction you want so you can help him start to think again,” he explains.

Once you can move his feet, make sure your cues are soft and you’re willing to release. As you’re working with your horse, Brashear says to look for the moments when your horse is willing and release the pressure as he does the right thing.

Think: “Do you want to come off this pressure? Look to me, I’m trying to guide you.” Horses must trust that you will allow them to relax. If a horse is bucking, he’s not relaxed in any way.

In preparation for riding, move your lead line hand up over the saddle horn and get the horse to follow the disengaging cues as he feels the pressure and release in the same place where you hold the reins when riding.

When your horse looks relaxed while doing groundwork, take the same principles to the saddle. You’ll be able to bend and flex him and move his feet from the ground and from the saddle. “For the worried rider, do the groundwork portion until you want to ride,” Brashear adds. “If you had a serious event happen, seek out some professional help. The horse community is huge, and you don’t have to do this alone.”

Softness from the Saddle

When you mount up, you’ll focus on asking your horse to disengage and willingly bend so you know you have control.

Brashear recounts the first time he rode the Gypsy Vanner horse after working from the ground and then returning to the scene where the horse once bucked.

“When I first got on, I checked out all my pieces and parts to match my groundwork,” Brashear says. “We did a continuation of what I already did on the ground. I started moving him forward, then asked him to turn and bent his hindquarters. Then I asked him to trot and asked him to slow down. If a horse gets tight, it’s usually in transitions. I want him to know that he can get comfortable in the new speed. I want him to know that if he bends and responds, he can find the same relief and comfort no matter what speed we go.”

To disengage the horse’s hindquarters from the saddle, start by taking a deep breath and relaxing your own body. Remember that all these cues are to be given with a soft touch. Tip your horse’s nose to the right by picking up on your right rein and moving the rein toward your knee. Brashear says to imagine the horse bending around your right leg.

“Move your right leg with a rhythmic light bumping motion,” Brashear says. “Your legs should be encouraging his right leg to move in front of his left hind leg. You want to get the horse to drift to the left. Then take him farther with his face by picking up your rein more and totally disengage his hindquarters. Here you’ll stop forward motion and get the hind legs to track around the front [legs].

“Once the horse gives his hindquarters and relaxes his jaw and poll, let him move out onto a circle again,” he continues. “We’re trying to get him to give his hindquarters so he can relax and listen. He also needs to know that he will get to relax when he does this. When he gives you his face and is drifting the hindquarters, when you feel him relax, then you release his face. Allow him to move out onto a bigger circle—as long as he stays relaxed. Then take him the other direction.”

Progressing to Go Straight Without Bucking

Brashear says to work first at the walk, then the trot and lope. Once you and your horse feel relaxed with drifting, full disengagement, and larger circles, look for more ways to bend and flex. Start circling trees and move around obstacles to help you stay focused and raise your eyes.

Brashear says to keep in mind that straight is not always wrong. You want your horse to move straight ahead when asked.

“It’s when the horse is tense, braces, and goes straight that bucking can be an issue,” he says. “Otherwise, I want my horses to be able to go in a straight line to get good stops, lead changes, and backs. Moving straight is not wrong, but straight with a horse that’s already bracey could become a problem. It’s about getting control of the feet and getting to the point where you can bend the horse willingly.”

When you’re riding any horse, Brashear has three rules.

“You have to breathe, then keep breathing, then have some fun.” Plus, he says, take time to enjoy the ride when you feel your horse relax.

Do the same exercises on the ground and from the saddle and pay attention for when your horse willingly responds.

“It will boost your confidence to feel your horse respond to your cues,”he says. “It will boost the horse’s confidence in you, too, to know that you’re the leader.”

Special thanks to Monica Dominguez for sharing her horse.

This article about keeping your horse from bucking appeared in the July 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Tips to Keep Your Horse from Bucking appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Begin With Light Signals

An important point to remember throughout all these groundwork exercises is the use of escalating signals. If your horse doesn’t respond to your lightest signal, the volume of the signal should be turned up until he tries giving the proper response, at which point the pressure should be released altogether.

This requires being very tuned into your horse, noticing if he so much as rocks his weight in the desired direction. By consistently sticking to this system of progression followed by reward, your horse is better able to learn what is being asked of him and arrive at the correct answer sooner and with less pressure.

Groundwork Exercise: Hand Walking

When leading your horse, he needs to learn to stay beside you. Horses may be inclined to lag behind, drag ahead, or veer to the side. Establishing firm boundaries helps him understand that he must tune in to you.

A horse that lags behind can be encouraged with the use of a long dressage whip. Don’t walk excessively fast, but don’t slow down to accommodate him either. If he falls behind enough to put pressure on the lead, turn to escalating use of the dressage whip from a gentle tap up to a firm, repetitive bump as needed.

A horse that veers toward you can be corrected by holding the dressage whip perpendicular toward him while poking his shoulder with the handle end of the whip when he enters your space. This is another signal that can be escalated as needed.

If your horse veers away or drags you, walk purposefully and then give your preferred verbal cue for a halt (for example, “whoa”). A moment later, stop walking. Horses often are caught off guard and walk a few steps past you before feeling the pressure of the halter and stopping.

If your horse is one that was caught off guard by you stopping, continue this groundwork exercise on repeat until he stops at the verbal cue rather than the halter pressure. He will soon catch on that it’s in his best interest to turn his attention to you rather than to the world around him so that he doesn’t miss a verbal cue.

Groundwork Exercise: Backing

Once your horse has learned to remain attentive to you, backing can be introduced. When asking your horse to back, you should face his chest and hold the lead rope so that if halter pressure is introduced, it pulls down toward the center of his chest.

The first pressure used to ask your horse to back is a firm step toward him into his space. Second is a cluck; third is use of the lead rope toward the center of his chest. If he still doesn’t understand, it may take some taps from a dressage whip or the end of the lead rope to convey the idea.

Once he understands and moves backward any amount, reward, walk forward, halt, and reset. The goal is for your horse to eventually back in response to just the step into his space. This groundwork exercise is best done from both sides so that your horse learns to respond to you stepping toward both his left and right forelegs.

Groundwork Exercise: Moving the Haunches

The last of the groundwork exercises covered here will be moving the haunches. Stand facing your horse’s hip, and from there, the progression of pressure is identical to backing. Step into your horse’s space toward his hip, followed if needed by a cluck, then a tap from a dressage whip.

This is another exercise that should be done equally on both sides of the horse. It’s important to note that neither in backing nor in moving the haunches is the horse moved by you pulling him into position. All of his movement should be self-motivated and in response to the pressure you applied.

These basic groundwork exercises are just the beginning of many ways we can better relate with our horses from the ground. Once these concepts are solidly taught, your horse is one step closer to being a better partner under saddle due to his improved understanding.

Groundwork Exercises for Young Horses

As an important tool for establishing communication with your horse, groundwork exercises are quite beneficial in developing young horses.

In this video from Ridely, in-hand and long-lining expert Claudio Oliveira demonstrates the first steps when starting this work with the young horse. The aim is to get the horse to move away from the pressure and to listen and respond to Claudio’s voice aids. He starts by desensitizing the horse to the whip to build his confidence and once the horse understands moving away from the pressure, Claudio introduces some baby leg yield and some turns on the forehand. He emphasizes that it does not have to be perfect; the horse just has to respond. This is a great beginner’s exercise to build the horse’s confidence in the groundwork before starting with long lines. Register for Ridely PRO to access 450+ other useful training videos.

A Note on Nose Chains

If your horse tends to pull you off balance or at any time you feel out of control, use of a nose chain is completely acceptable. Some horses may be able to graduate from the nose chain, while others may not. Escalation of pressure applies to nose chains as well. Walking a horse with a nose chain doesn’t mean that the chain is being used constantly—it’s simply an additional, stronger boundary.

This article about groundwork exercises appeared in the August 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Groundwork Exercises to Improve Communication appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The Seven Games are supposed to be studied and played in order. Play 1 before 2, 2 before 3, et cetera. Each game builds on the one before it and they make perfect sense to the horse when presented in their correct order.

Remember to always play the Friendly Game in between tasks, as well as smile and visibly soften when you release.

1. Friendly Game

The Friendly Game is the first of Parelli’s Seven Games because nothing beats a good first impression. When you want to meet someone, how would you first approach him? I like to think about introducing myself to a horse as positively as I would to another person.
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2. Porcupine Game

Horses naturally push into steady pressure, moving against it or barging through it. It’s part of their programming for survival. In order to develop a partnership with your horse, you need to help him overcome his fearful, defensive reactions to pressure and learn how to yield and move away from it. I teach this through the Porcupine Game, Game #2 of the Seven Games.
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3. Driving Game

The Driving Game is the third of the Seven Games. It teaches your horse to yield from a “suggestion” with no physical touching involved.
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4. Yo-Yo Game

Have you ever wished that your horse had more suspension, stopped easily with a light cue, could do a sliding stop, moved straighter, or could back up quickly? The Yo-Yo Game is the key to developing all these things in your horse, and more.
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5. Circling Game

The Circling Game helps your horse understand that it is his job to maintain gait, maintain direction, watch where he is going, and all the while stay tuned into you as his center of attention.
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6. Sideways Game

In the Sideways Game, you will learn how to straighten your horse and have him yield laterally with softness and respect.
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7. Squeeze Game

Horses, by nature, are claustrophobic. They are instinctively afraid of small or tight spaces because these areas usually spell disaster for prey animals. The final of Parelli’s Seven Games, the Squeeze Game, teaches your horse to become calmer, smarter and braver, and to squeeze through narrow spots without concern.
Read more >>

If you enjoyed the Seven Games, check out all Parelli articles.

This article from Pat Parelli about the Seven Games is a web exclusive originally published in January 2012 for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Parelli Natural Horsemanship: The Seven Games appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

“Our bodies are our temples, and horses lead us to the altar.” ~ Beverley Kane, M.D.

What brings you that feeling of peace when you are around horses? Is it the moment when you step into the barn and smell all that is equine? The gentle rocking motion as you ride down the trail through the forest? Listening to horses peacefully munching hay as the day draws to a close? There’s no doubt: Horses bring us into the moment, engage our senses, and fill us with a soft sense of well-being.

Beverley Kane, M.D., Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, shares experiences from her “Equine-imity” stress-reduction course at Stanford Medical School. In Equine-imity, Kane explores the intersection of horses and mindfulness through somatic horsemanship.

“Somatic means ‘of the body,’” explains Kane. “Somatic horsemanship is body-mind rejuvenation through physical interaction with horses.”

This interaction with (and sometimes on) horses may include yoga, taiji, qigong, meditation, dance, and equine-assisted body-oriented psychotherapies. Don’t worry if these terms are new to you—all you need to take part is an open mind.

Also read – Parelli Natural Horsemanship: The Seven Games

Qigong

Whether you are taking time to quietly visit with your horse, grooming or doing chores, getting ready to ride, or are even at a show, taking a few moments to connect with your horse and connect with yourself provides powerful life-affirming balance. Kane shows us simple qigong techniques anyone can enjoy to practice somatic horsemanship.

Similar to tai chi, qigong is a traditional Chinese practice of body movement, breath, and meditation that brings emotional balance and mental centeredness, in addition to physical benefits, including improved strength, balance, coordination, and circulation. By practicing together with our equine partners, the horse’s energy can invigorate us and can also soothe us, as well as strengthening our horse-human bond.

“In conventional horsemanship, interaction with the horse is often very mechanical. That mechanical approach may also come with a relationship based on social dominance and an almost utilitarian approach to the horse,” notes Kane. “Somatic horsemanship focuses on breath and energy, and also a philosophy of compassion based on partnership. Horses are extremely sensitive. They notice our moods, our body language, our intentions, our consistency.”

“Qi is your vital life-force energy,” adds Kane, describing how qi, together with breath, body movement, and your horse’s energy, nurture the mind-body connection.

Kane walks us through some of qigong’s “Eight Brocades” practice, adapted for horses:

1. Center Yourself: First become grounded in your own body in the ‘bubbling springs’ energy center in your feet and the dan tien energy center in your belly—this energy center is used in tai chi practice. To do this, close your eyes, and become aware of your breath, your feelings, and your body.

2. Experience Peace: From there, come into a wu ji standing pose by stretching your spine up to the sky. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed and your arms heavy and long. Your knees stay softly bent and your feet connected to the earth through your ‘bubbling springs’ center.

3. Breathe: In this wu ji posture, breathe deep into your dan tien energy center with a soft, full belly; this means expanding your belly as you inhale deeply.

4. Harmonize: In the same stance, raise your arms up to the sky and imagine bringing the sun down and holding it in front of you. In your mind’s eye, see it as a ball of energy that you draw open as you inhale and press closed as you exhale in this pose, which harmonizes opposites. Then allow your arms to come down to your sides.

5. Join Energy Centers: Your horse’s dan tien energy center is in his barrel. Standing facing your horse’s side, place both of your hands at shoulder height on your horse’s barrel in a dan tien press. Feel your feet sink softly into the earth and breathe from your energy center in your belly. Feel your horse breathe into your hands.

6. Come Together: From there, turn facing forward and allow your arm to drape over your horse’s back. Draw close, melding your body with your horse’s side in a dan tien hug.

Become grounded with energy from the balls of your feet. Breathe from your belly center and feel your horse’s breath along your body. Enjoy the bond with your horse.

7. Take Somatic Horsemanship Even Further: If you’re comfortable and your horse is safe, take your breath and movement mounted.

Stress and Relaxation

“There’s not a magical formula,” remarks Kane. “There’s a lot of room for free-form interpretive motions. When you do deep breathing with synchronized muscle movement, the effect on relaxation is profound.”

Kane describes a 2019 Harvard University and Vanderbilt University study investigating the effect of stressful tasks on the parasympathetic nervous system, in which the data suggest the combination of muscle activity and deep breathing found in moving meditation facilitates significant stress reduction.

Allow the horse to share with you his groundedness.

“There’s a phenomenon called entrainment, in which one system comes into synchronicity with another system,” explains Kane. “When you put a horse with a resting heartrate of 40 beats a minute with an anxious person with a heartbeat of 100 or more beats a minute, that person’s heartrate comes down.”

Looking forward, Kane suggests as we segue out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look to horses’ interactions within the herd as we think about moving back into our own world of social interactions.

This article about somatic horsemanship appeared in the January/February 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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