True Trust – Bareback and Bridleless
This video shows what a beautiful trusting relationship can look like. Stacy and her Arabian mare ‘True’ go on a 4 1/2 mile trail ride in a local canyon.
She purchased True as a 4yo in 2004 after finding out she had cancer and needed a reason and a positive thing in her life as well as another focus. Interestingly True and Stacy have the same birthday.
True was halter broken but hadn’t been ridden, so she and Stacy’s family gave her a good reason to want to stick around. Stacy did one year of ground work with her which really helped establish their relationship.
When she finally got on her back, after the fourth time she was able to take her out on the trail. So far, Stacy has never been tossed off or hurt by her horses.
She says “I think this is because I create a trusting relationship and begin after their minds and bodies have been allowed to develop. I can’t imagine actually riding any of my horses at the age of 2 like many people do. I find I have been able to avoid any issues or trauma because my horses minds are allowed to develop before I ask them to carry me. I also think horses need a decisive leader, and once they trust you they will easily allow you to call the shots as long as you do it with gentle authority. I love this mare, as I do my other horses. She is a great endurance competitor as well and has a calm disposition.”
Be sure to watch the second half of this video to fully appreciate their relationship.
Such a beautiful, inspiring video and what I’m striving for myself.
What a fantastic rider you are being able to ride and video at the same time!! Especially trot and canter and video – amazing!!!
Thank you for providing such a beautiful video to watch. You’re horse is very special.
What a beautiful relationship to share with your horse.
Something many of us dream about but have not achieved.
So gentle! xxx
Thanks so much for making this video it made me cry. This is how I want to ride my horses. Do you follow any particular training style or trainer?
Hi Miriam, yes it was a very moving video. Our hearts know when we are seeing something special. I will ask Stacy if she follows a particular trainer, but I myself, am now learning about Friendship Training and can see that you would be able to achieve this sort of relationship with that method. Hope you get to check it out at http://www.friendshiptraining.org
Funny coincidence… I was just going back through my emails looking for where I had got the link for friendship training, as I am just contacting Chuck about his training course and wanted to let him know who had helped promote him. I was sure it was you but I can’t find the post? Have you started the course already? I have been holding off joining any particular trainer/course as none of them have really felt right. The closest has been Marlis Amatro of The Mea Way. Have you heard of her? I like her attention to detail and the way she has studied video footage of her horses to pin point their exact subtle body language. Although she is still working with the herd hierarchy rather than the peer relationship that Chuck talks about.
If you are not too busy I’d love to know how it’s going.
Take Care
Hi Miriam,
I’m so glad you’re looking into FT and I’ve made many mentions of it in my blog – you just click on Friendship Training in the tags on the right side of the page and all posts relating to that will come up.
I hadn’t heard of The Mea Way but just looked at the website and am watching some of her videos. She has a professional approach and is on the right track to commnicating with horses, but I believe FT takes things to a whole new level.
I have started the program briefly with my stallion, but as he’s not living on my property right now, I will have to wait for when I have more time to further things with him.
I think its a great program and worth every cent.
I work with all my horses using the feeding routine to establish the peer relationship and all are polite about food and listen to my signals and voice to back up or wait or ‘give me pretty ears’!
So go for it – if you’re still not sure, join the yahoo group for a while (if you haven’t already) as it doesn’t cost you anything to learn from what others are saying.
And you can ask lots of people in the program questions too.
Hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Cynthia.
Hi Miriam,
I’m replying on behalf of Stacy (the rider int he video) who asked me to so here is what she says:
Regarding my training- years ago I read the book “The Horse Whisperer” about Monty Roberts. I had a stallion at the time, who was actually very well behaved, but he was a stallion and I had a desire to learn more about what makes a horse listen and respect us. So that is when I first began my round pen work and learned there was a more gentle way of starting a horse and developing a stronger more satisfying relationship.
Years later, in 1998, after I started my endurance riding career I was given a couple of horses who both had problems.
This was my first real opportunity to see how my round pen skills could actually change a horse’s attitude. Once I became aware of a better way to communicate with horses, many different people and their information were crucial to my knowledge. Carolyn Resnick was a woman who I happened to run into and worked with on two occasions, and I was influenced by her “At Liberty” work. This seemed natural for me and this type of comminication and relationship with my horses was very easy to understand. In the end, I have come to realize that Trust is the most important thing for me to have from my horses. After I get a horse, all of which have not been started yet, I spend an entire year on the ground, developing our relationship. I have started 3 of my most recent mounts and there have been times or situations where most horses would freak out in a situation, but fortunately, I find my horses fight that desire to flee and will listen to me- keeping us safe in the end. I think a horse also requires a decisive and fair leader and with this, they will follow much more readily.
Just last night, I watched the movie “Buck” about a “Horse Whisperer” named Buck Brannaman. After watching it, my husband said to me: “That’s how you work with your horses” So somewhere, amongst many horse people who believe in the gentle way to start a horse and develop a relationship with them, there seems to be something of a universal truth that works. The horses know this, and it’s just up to us to give them the time, patience and respect to allow us to lead them.
Stacy Jett.
Beautiful video! What a great relationship you both have! I wish I could ride like you do.
Fabulous!