This folks is exactly what we were talking about in the last lesson – the video in this lesson was an example of the universe sending Tammy an opportunity to get something high energy into her horse’s Comfort Zone.
We could also have called this Lesson The Subtleties of Working with a Caretaker Horse but really it is a follow on from your last Lesson about low, medium and high energy.
We talked about how having high energy in you and your horse’s Comfort Zone around ALL kinds of things creates a sense of security that will bring you a deep feeling of confidence when you are riding.
What you will see in this video Lesson are the kinds of things that will bring a deep sense of confidence to you in your riding, so don’t underestimate the power of clearing stuff up on the ground!
Some of you will be ready for this Lesson now. For those of you who have horses needing catching or maybe saddling lessons to let go of major old trauma, you can put this Lesson aside and come back to it AFTER you have made the breakthrough and settled into happiness being normal.
So if there is ANY feeling of Not Quite Right about proceeding with this Lesson, put the Lesson aside for later – it is here in this order because it is a liberty lesson.
Note about the video – Tammy is quite skilled and very in tune with her horse enough to do this exercise in a halter. In this case, the issue with the tarp just happened when her horse was haltered and saddled and she dealt with the issue as it was happening. But I would like you to work low, medium and high energy at liberty where your horse can leave you if you put too much pressure on – that way you can be sure that you have genuine acceptance by your horse of low, medium and high energy.
Before watching the video – here’s an introduction.
And here’s an alternate recording for the introduction
The lesson
Watch on youtube if you need to.
Related Lesson
Click here to review the gift in our horse’s differences, specially the Caretaker horse section.
Written Version of the Audio
I have used this video for this Lesson in the liberty section even though the horse has her bitless bridle on because liberty is a great place to do this kind of work. It enables our horse to leave if we put a bit too much pressure on too quickly and teaches us to be very sensitive!
The horse in this video, Dana, is one of those caretaker horses that I talked about in the bonus lesson from The Nine Keys to Happiness, about horses who slow down or freeze when they are afraid or confused. So she reacts very differently from the horse who runs away when they are afraid.
Because Dana rarely runs away, it would be very easy to assume that she is not so scared.
People experience their horse’s fear so intensely that it’s often hard for them to really get it when I ask them to look again, not to assume that it is theirs. And when the horse stands there like Dana and doesn’t look scared stiff – it’s even easier for the person to be confused about whose fear or nerves it is.
The interesting thing is though, that the Not Quite Right, thus the fear, is JUST AS BIG as with a horse who runs away when they are afraid.
Misunderstanding the depth of their fear has been a problem for a whole heap of horses like Dana and Blondie, my granddaughter’s pony who I have talked to you about before – they are usually MUCH more afraid than people think they are.
Most warmbloods come in this category of horses who slow down or freeze when they are afraid or confused. And many of them are fried in their brains with being driven forward through their fear. It’s probably the single biggest cause of breakdown emotionally and physically in dressage horses. Many, many kids’ ponies come into the same category too.
This video is one of the best examples of subtle horse responses, with one of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve ever felt – and we managed to capture it on video.
For those of you who have a horse who runs when they are afraid, there is still much to learn from this Lesson – it’s just more subtle!