Firm but Fair: A Liberty Lesson скачать в хорошем качестве

Firm but Fair: A Liberty Lesson

In this video Cory Furlong is giving a lesson to Tracy and her horse Percy. Percy is a Missouri Foxtrotter with some pretty big issues when she comes into the round pen. She has a tendency to disengage, buck, kick, strike, bolt, and has even jumped out of the round pen! Tracy came to Cory hoping that starting some liberty work would be helpful to encourage Percy to engage and enjoy the work they do. It became quickly apparent that Percy is less scared in the round pen and more defiant. She has not been encouraged to think through tasks, but instead has been conditioned to react. This has lead her to feel unsafe with people, as a result she resists thinking about the cues and attempts to take control of her environment. Percy is not a malicious horse by any means, she is attempting to take control in hopes that it will allow her to escape any pressure. This can be a challenging case to work with because we're not only having to be firm in our corrections for safety purposes and work to get more "appropriate" responses, we need to be a open and safe place to encourage her to think through what is being asked of her. Note the moment in the beginning where Cory mentions to Tracy that these kinds of situations can appear more dramatic in the beginning and sometimes it feels like its going to get worse before it gets better. This is because when the horse isn't accustomed to taking direction from a person they may be more likely to protest the exercise, but then a cool moment happens where the horse will realize it no longer needs to be responsible or in control of the situation. When they start to look to us for guidance, they will become less stressed as the weight of responsibility falls off their shoulders. This is the moment where the energy shifts, no more demands, no more corrections-- just questions and responses. This is what were aiming for. This kind of attention is the whole goal of liberty work and how we can bring it into all aspects of horsemanship. By teaching the horse to think through its decisions and react less we are opening the doors for better communication, more willingness, and a better overall partnership. We are so excited that Tracy has decided to start on this journey and learn how to be a safe place for her horse by providing firm but fair leadership.