Why I think “free conversation” in a controlled environment is best.

Not all days go as plan do they now. Well, today kinda fell apart to a point. I had decided that I was going to do my best to work my horses with liberty, or free conversation as it is called too, as much as possible. In other words, halter and lead rope off. I was really excited to be getting total connection from Petie. He is my 22+ yr old in-experienced gelding.

I have had Petie since the day he was born. It’s a really long story I won’t get into now as this is not today’s topic, but just let’s say “life happens”.

Anyway, Petie was doing great. No halter, no lead, just liberty. He helped my put out the poles, and other aids for the day. He even got on the ground with me and rolled. I was ecstatic! Petie…my fearful child. My 1200 pound scared y cat. He was a different horses.

Then I went a step too far, or at least in his mind I did. I thought it might be a good day to take a walk outside. Our arena is enclosed by roll up doors. He walked over with me to the door, and I was planning to rolled up the door, and let him look outside while I retrieved his halter. WELL…that did NOT go as I expected at all! The door made a horrible creek and crunch sound, and off Petie went to the other side of the arena. I completely lost connection with him. I only rolled the door up a slight bit. That was more than he could handle.

You see there is a training concept I learned recently while studying Warwick Schiller, it is called “trigger stacking”. It’s a rather long definition. Anyone interested can view Warwick’s explanation here.. https://youtu.be/nH1S6dpwrlw

Basically horses, and people, will build up anxiety over time to things until one day they just can’t handle anymore of whatever it is. Then they just pop. You often hear people say, “My horse has never spooked at such and such before. He’s nuts!” Well, that’s not really the case. That horses has always had an issue, but never felt it was possible to reveal his discomfort. With that in mind they just lose it one day “all of a sudden” it would seem.

So there I was starting to doubt myself, and my gifts. I was utterly heart broken. It felt like a break up. He rejected me! Then I just stopped and thought about what he was doing while I was standing there from the other side of the arena. I thought, “Wow, he really has a lot more going on than I knew. This is a good thing. Pick yourself back up by your bootstraps, cowgirl up, and be the confident leader he needs.” So with that I when back to the other end where Petie was, and hooked back up with him.

After a bit of time Petie re-connected, but a bit timidly. I eventually re-haltered him just to help him feel a sense of safety. We did more work until he was sufficiently relax, calm, and still again. Now that brings me to the question at hand…Halter or not? That all depends. I have found that it is situation now. I do mostly free conversation with my horses, but at times need to slip the halter on for more aid. It is not a tool of discipline, but rather a “conversation” aid.

My belief now, is that free conversation or liberty lets me know truly whether or not I have “real” connection with my horses. Yes, at times, we lose connection, but then we gain it back quickly. So in parting…I would rather have open communication than closed. I would rather have a loving, connected, and willing horses than a dull, discipline, and shut down horse. For me…halter off as much as is possible, and on when needed. God Bless ya’ll and happy heart walking!-Annie 🙂