It seems that the scariest part about the Horsewoman’s Challenge is the Liberty. We have received more questions about that then any other part. Just take a deep breath, relax and try.
Most people do not make Liberty a regular part of their training routine because they do not trust their horse. Translation: they do not trust themselves. Liberty requires the true connection between horse and human and a willing partnership. Many of the top Liberty trainers around he world do not believe we should even start a horse in a halter and lead rope. They believe that, like the foal and mare, Liberty is innate in the horse and humans can quite easily build that untethered connection.
Let me share with you an experience we had just last week here at the Northwest Natural Horsemanship Center, outside Seattle, that brought myself and our head instructor almost to tears. They were tears of joy and pride for a 12-year-old student. We’ll call her Diane.
Diane has been taking lessons here at the Center for a little over a year. During which time, she took a spill and had to rebuild her confidence (who hasn’t done that one). As part of that confidence-building process, she expressed an interest, about a month ago, in doing some Liberty with her current equine partner, Jet. Well, Jet is one of those horses that asks for allot of leadership from his human and would much rather head off to his buddies in the pasture than have a human push him around. We told Diane that we could help her learn Liberty, but she would have to learn to trust and be trusted. She also needed to learn to be confident and be acutely aware of her body and energy. Not an easy task for an unconfident, oftentimes awkward, young lady with trust issues of her own.
Diane found that Jet loved Liberty and that she had a real talent for it. In only three lessons she was sending that horse around cones in a Figure Eight with no connection but her energy and focus and without Jet “checking out.” When that third lesson was done, we suggested that she not put the halter and lead rope back on Jet and walk him back to the pasture shoulder-to-shoulder; a distance of about 300 yards, between two pastures of curious horses. Of course her first comments were, ‘What! Jet’ll do this. Jet’ll do that. I can’t do that.” We told her to visualize what she wanted to do and trust herself and her horse.
Admittedly, it was not just Diane who had to overcome the “yah, buts” and trust, but so did her instructor and I who suggested this hair-brained idea.
As we watched breathlessly from afar, this young lady walked the three hundred yards, shoulder-to-shoulder, past the horses running up to the fence, past the temptation of the long, lush grass, and all the way to the gate!
If an unconfident, inexperienced 12-year-old girl can demonstrate that kind of trust in herself and in her horse after just three lessons, so can you. For your Liberty portion of the Entry video, we are not looking for Liberty perfection, we are looking for the try. If it doesn’t work so hot, “who cares?” The Horsewoman’s Challenge is not just about training a horse, but training ourselves to be better, smarter and more connected with the horses in our lives.
You go girl!
P.S. For your entry videos, you can have a “safety control device” such as a neck string or halter on your horse to bring it back, and you can use a treat as a reward for a job well done. Fair warning though, there will be a much higher standard demonstrated and expected at the Finals.