The Benefits of Training At Liberty
Making sure behaviours can be performed at liberty throughout the training process (whether starting from scratch or retraining a well ridden horse) not only develops the horses mental abilities- by having no steps skipped or missed, feeling safe and connected to their human through knowing that they are being listened to, and being able to self-regulate their emotions and never feel the need to shut down- but training at liberty also develops the person's mind in exactly the same way.
No steps are skipped, so we don't need to fear explosive behaviour, we know our horse is listening to us and feels comfortable communicating with us or telling us when they're not feeling safe, and being able to self-regulate our own emotions by breaking things down into tiny steps not only for our horse, but for ourselves as well.
"I call horses 'divine mirrors'- they reflect back the emotions you put in." - Allan Hamilton
Perhaps we are capable of being divine mirrors, too.
If we create the right environment for our horses to feel safe, heard and connected, we have the opportunity to reflect back what they put into us. Humility, patience, presence and kinship will begin to emerge from within us, often without us ever knowing it.
Positive emotions and micro-step-by-step training that we give to our horses can benefit not only their relationship with us, but also their lives in many other ways without us- such as a better ability to self-regulate, less need for dominance, more confidence and better leadership abilities.
So, too, do our horses unknowingly evolve other aspects of our lives that spread far beyond our time with them, such as more patience, compassion, self-awareness, trust, problem-solving skills, leadership skills and presence.. just to name a few.
Although I always start horses using no pressure, I decided to start wild Brumby, VBA Ruby, completely at liberty and without wearing tack (aside from a bareback pad to avoid getting hairy) to show clearly how effective the right approach can be.
Although my methods revolve around R+, there is no 'be all and end all' method to success. However, working on improving ourselves from the inside out is the foundation of all foundations, from which connection, and then our chosen methods, can be built upon.
Here is our first ride, 5.5 weeks from wild
Note that this was a roughly 30 minute session which followed multiple sessions of breaking down every behaviour seen here, stemming from hundreds of broken-down steps, all of which followed weeks of building foundations of trust, communication and consistency.
The reason Ruby does not react explosively is because she was mentally capable of achieving each new step and trusted that if something was going to push her over her threshold, she could tell me and I would listen.
"You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But, when he trusts you, he will ask you what to do when he is afraid."
- Antoine De Pluvinel
It doesn't matter how long it takes at the start to build trust and connection, because once it is there, everything else is easier. If trust, safety and connection, above all else, are the consistent and solid foundations, you have earned the right to offer guidance.
