It has always been a dream of mine to be with the horses without ropes and halters. So I was/am delighted to have discovered Liberty Foundations online. Ruella Yates teaches the foundations in Oklahoma and also in an online course. This method enhances the love and respect between horse and human and it doesn't matter which previous training method that you have used with your horse.
In the first class you learn six foundations - sitting and walking meditation;greeting; walking a horse down; look at me;staking a claim and go and come to me.
The first foundation is meditating with your horse ( you can draw or read instead) in an area where you leave him a small amount of food and water. The point is to let the horse come to you on his own time, respect your space and you show him that you respect his.
The first time I did meditation with Sweetie, at the end I looked out at the herd, and they were all meditating with us...they were all standing and facing in the same direction - looking at the ocean.
Resting, yes, but I have never seen them all standing and facing the same way. Usually some are grazing or laying down.
It took Sweetie awhile to catch on that I wanted to him come up to me and face me. He thought it would be more fun to show me his butt. The last session he was my star! Came over and stood beside me the whole time, either facing me or side ways. I am so proud of him and he stayed for a long time.
Below are some earlier photos:
After mediation - an improvement here as he is close to me...
He gets it - is near me and facing me.
I have "meditated" individually with Majestic, Moonbeam, Suki, Chie and Mystery. They are a lot calmer afterwards and often don't want to leave me and go back out to the pasture and herd. Since there are so many horses I have decided to work with I have not finished all the foundations yet. Sweetie is my main horse for the class, I have done more of the foundations with him. I find the mediation with each of them so powerful that I want to do that with every horse.
The third foundation walking down was a lot of fun. I first started doing it with Sweetie in the holding pen. One day I had haltered him to take him down to check on Mystery who we had brought over from Thunder's herd that morning. Mystery was fine and after walking Sweetie up the hill, I decided to take his halter off so he could run and keep up with the rest of the herd eating hay.
Instead he stayed with me walked, stopped and backed up when I did; all without a halter. I was so delighted and he did this until we got to the hay which was quite a distance.
The horses and I are enjoying a different way to be together, which I find fun and at times quite profound.
Here is a quote from Ruella's webiste :
"Inspired by Native American and Old West traditions of her home on the Great Plains, Ruella works to establish loving communication and respect with horses, using their own language to create deep connection between horses and the people who love them, increasing the well-being of both."
You can check out more about Liberty Foundations Training at http://www.libertyfoundations.com/
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