Horses at Liberty

What is Liberty Work?

Liberty work is interacting with horses without any ropes, halters, bridles or tack of any kind on them. It is a way to communicate using body language, positioning and intention to achieve certain goals with your horse. We usually work in a round pen or an arena at first to encourage our horses to stay with us.

Isn’t Liberty just another word for teaching horses tricks?

I have heard this alot from horse owners throughout the years. My answer is that Liberty work is a way to check out whether you have a connection with the horse and how strong it is. For example:  when you go to catch your horse out of a pasture you may want them to come to you. Liberty work and the communication it requires between the human and the horse is what will allow you to teach the horse to come to you consistently and calmly.

 The real point of this work is to offer the horse a choice. Liberty encourages the horse to have an opinion. It also offers busy minded horses a way to use their brains in a useful creative ways. For example:  a horse that chews on things or is mouthy can be taught to pick things up and bring them to you or a horse that paws can be taught to do Spanish walk or to step up on things when asked. I don’t consider behavior’s in a horse to be bad if I didn’t ask for them. I just think “hmm” how can I use this to keep my horse focused and maybe it will be useful, fun and trust building for both of us. That is what Liberty is to me.

Why do Liberty?

I hear folks say my horse is fine. They do everything I ask when I ask it of them and they are great to ride and be around. I say wonderful to all of that! I also say how great it would be to add in another level of communication to an already very functional and enjoyable interaction with your horse. Liberty work by its nature helps develop your eye as a horseman and also helps you understand your horses needs and checks into those needs as they tend to change over time with age and experience. It also gives your horse a chance to move freely with no restraints while following your suggestions. Most of our interactions with our horses involve some kind of tack whether it be a halter or rope and so giving them chance to interact with us in with no tack can shed light on trouble spots, which will teach us to enhance  communication with our horses and take our horses  trust in us, to another level.

Liberty Work does not have to be fancy.

Liberty can be something as simple as just spending time with your horse in his environment. Horses hang with each other all day. Horses out in pastures in herds will pair up and sleep under a tree. Even stalled horses will share a fence line with one another. Establishing repore, by just spending a calm and relaxed time, with your horse you are developing trust and confidence in your horse. This is extremely important to your relationship and simple to do. Also teaching your horse to do something like follow you and respect your body space is a simple form of Liberty that is safe and practical.

The Importance of Lateral Work

What is Lateral Work?

 Lateral work is any movement where the horses body moves in a side to side motion or causes the legs of the horse to move more toward its midline. Lateral work encourages the horse to shift its weight from the front end of his body toward the hind end preparing him for a higher degree of collection, freeing up his forehand, and teaching him to shift his balance in a way that allows him to carry himself and his rider more efficiently. Lateral Work includes things like turn on forehand, turn on the haunches, small circles, shoulder-in, haunches-in, sidepass, Lateral bend in the neck, counter turn on the ground and any combination of movements that includes forward and sideways.

When do you begin Lateral Work in a horses training?

 A good time to introduce this idea in a horse is when teaching a horse to lead and pick up his feet. I introduce this very early on in halter training. In truth what you are initially teaching a horse when introducing lateral work is to learn to shift their balance to and through different parts of their body.

How does Lateral Work Benefit the Horse?

 One real benefit is that to care and handle a horse safely on the ground the horse needs to know how to walk around us and not over us, how to go in a circle, and how to give us their feet. The simplest thing like picking feet requires a horse to shift its weight from leg to leg and from front to back which is why picking feet for horses can be a challenge at first. One concept that lateral work teaches a horse is the idea of our circular body bubble. Since a horse has an oval body bubble they are unaware of other shapes and tend to think in straight lines and not in circles. Lateral Work is challenging because the horse has to learn to organize its feet and move body parts separately from one another. Another benefit is that horses learn to bear weight evenly through their spine, pelvis and hind end which will help maintain good posture in the horse.  Lateral Work will help all horses on the ground and under saddle by helping them to become postureally straight and aware of their feet.

How does Lateral Work benefit the rider?

The rider/ handler benefits from this work in several ways on the ground by becoming aware of their horses handedness and improving communication with horse. It also helps riders develop empathy for how hard this may be for their horse to do. Under saddle the rider has to learn to feel where their horses ,feet, weight and balance is. Riders also have to learn to use their legs, hands, and seat bones independently of one another which begins to develop their independent seat and feel of their horse.This will allow the rider to move onto more collected movements and higher level of education with their horses.

 Please add your comments and questions to this blog. The more we communicate in the Horse Industry the more we all learn and the more our horses benefit from our knowledge.