Bay Area Liberty Horse Training

Bay Area Liberty Horse Training Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Bay Area Liberty Horse Training, Horse Trainer, Bay area, San Francisco, CA.

02/23/2024

We're looking for a new venue to host our Liberty Clinics. Any leads?

great intro to in-hand work
02/11/2024

great intro to in-hand work

Classical dressage based on biomechanics with Thomas and Shana Ritter. Horse and rider training with gymnastic, progressive exercises. Develop your timing, seat, aids, and mindset including Feldenkrais for Riders with Catherine McCrum.

Next Liberty clinic in the works - any requests? ideas? preferences?I'm thinking April - what works for you guys?
02/05/2024

Next Liberty clinic in the works - any requests? ideas? preferences?
I'm thinking April - what works for you guys?

02/03/2024

XENOPHON – ON HORSES

Xenophon, a Greek soldier, historian, essayist, philosopher, and horseman, (431-354 B. C.) was born to a well to do Athenian family and was a student of one of the fathers of Greek Philosophy: Socrates.

He was also responsible for one of the oldest treaties on horses and horsemanship. His famous book Περ ὶ ἱ ππικ ῆ ς (peri hippikēs) – ‘On horsemanship’ was a huge contribution to horsemanship. The work shares his experience and insight for the selection, care, and training of horses. His advice notes the importance of understanding behavior, the importance of welfare, and the general well-being of horses.

Over 2000 years have passed, and his advice has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, although many consider him the father of horsemanship, especially among many elitist riders, his timeless advice remains highly ignored in the same modern equestrian circles that praise him.

Below we include some of his observations in quotes. These are headed with our own summarized titling:

Graceful handling is majesty itself.

“The majesty of men themselves is best discovered in the graceful handling of such animals.”
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No Hoof no horse.

“Just as a house would be of little use, however beautiful its upper stories, if the underlying foundations were not what they ought to be, so there is little use to be extracted from a horse, and in particular a war-horse, if unsound in his feet, however excellent his other points; since he could not turn a single one of them to good account.”
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Reinforce wanted behavior, Do not reinforce unwanted behavior.

“At the same time pains should be taken on the owner’s part to see that the c**t is gentle, tractable, and affectionate when delivered to the professional trainer. That is a condition of things which for the most part may be brought about at home and by the groom — if he knows how to let the animal connect hunger and thirst and the annoyance of flies with solitude, whilst associating food and drink and escape from sources of irritation with the presence of man. As the result of this treatment, necessarily the young horse will acquire — not fondness merely, but an absolute craving for human beings. A good deal can be done by touching, stroking, patting those parts of the body which the creature likes to have so handled. These are the hairiest parts, or where, if there is anything annoying him, the horse can least of all apply relief himself.”
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Desensitize gently

“The groom should have standing orders to take his charge through crowds, and to make him familiar with all sorts of sights and noises; and if the c**t shows sign of apprehension at them, he must teach him — not by cruel, but by gentle handling — that they are not really formidable.”
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Revise hoofs frequently

“But if food and exercise with a view to strengthening the horse’s body are matters of prime consideration, no less important is it to pay attention to the feet. A stable with a damp and smooth floor will spoil the best hoof which nature can give.”
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Be aware of your emotional disposition. Be calm, be soft, and be gentle.

"The one best precept — the golden rule — in dealing with a horse is never to approach him angrily. Anger is so devoid of forethought that it will often drive a man to do things which in a calmer mood he will regret.Thus, when a horse is shy of any object and refuses to approach it, you must teach him that there is nothing to be alarmed at, particularly if he be a plucky animal; or, failing that, touch the formidable object yourself, and then gently lead the horse up to it. The opposite plan of forcing the frightened creature by blows only intensifies its fear, the horse mentally associating the pain he suffers at such a moment with the object of suspicion, which he naturally regards as its cause.”
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Against pulling on the bit, spurring or whipping!

“But possibly you are not content with a horse serviceable for war. You want to find him a showy, attractive animal, with a certain grandeur of bearing. If so, you must abstain from pulling at his mouth with the bit, or applying the spur and whip — methods commonly adopted by people with a view to a fine effect, though, as a matter of fact, they thereby achieve the very opposite of what they are aiming at. That is to say, by dragging the mouth up they render the horse blind instead of alive to what is in front of him; and what with spurring and whipping they distract the creature to the point of absolute bewilderment and danger.”
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Reinforcing through rest and relaxation.

“For ourselves, however, far the best method of instruction, as we keep repeating, is to let the horse feel that whatever he does in obedience to the rider’s wishes will be followed by some rest and relaxation.”
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Grace and beauty over clumsy gestures

“To quote a dictum of Simon, what a horse does under compulsion he does blindly, and his performance is no more beautiful than would be that of a ballet-dancer taught by whip and goad. The performances of horse or man so treated would seem to be displays of clumsy gestures rather than of grace and beauty. What we need is that the horse should of his own accord exhibit his finest airs and paces at set signals.”
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I often wonder why horsemanship in general has largely ignored his sagely advice.

Why do you think much of what he suggests has been ignored?
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This is an excerpt from our original 2015 article, where you will find references and a few more quotes. You can read more on our site here:

https://equilibregaia.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/xenophon-on-horses/

If you do visit our site, browse around some of the content, drop us a like or a comment if you find any interesting posts. This ultimately helps us reach more people, and would be very much appreciated.

Elsa Sinclair is coming to the bay area! Clinic is full but you can audit.
01/30/2024

Elsa Sinclair is coming to the bay area! Clinic is full but you can audit.

New and Improved! The first class of my online course (free for everyone!) has been redone with never before seen footage from the Taming Wild films! Enjoy!

12/22/2023

Inspiration

free right now - all about liberty
11/09/2023

free right now - all about liberty

In the hushed expanse of an arena, a unique ballet unfolds. This documentary takes viewers into the mesmerizing world of equestrian freestyle. Beyond mere sport, witness riders emerge as artists, choreographing a theater of motion with their equine partners. Watch as three distinct riders share t...

10/29/2023

In hand work is not just for the purpose of moving a horse’s body around, teaching them movements.
In hand work serves the purpose of teaching the rider body awareness, how to balance their steps and create fluid and peaceful energy. It educates the rider to connecting their movement and posture on the ground to ridden work: to create a connection between the two bodies that a horse can understand and translate from the ground to being ridden.

In hand work is largely about the humans body awareness and self control: making themselves clear and balanced, not making corrections erratically and always guiding from a place of their own center first.

The last and least important part is moving the horse around. Good in hand work teaches the horse to follow the human’s balance: teaching humans self control and balance seems to be the least interesting thing for the public, but the most important.

10/23/2023

Cues such as the human pointing gesture, gaze or proximity to an object are widely used in behavioural studies to evaluate animals’ abilities to follow human-given cues. Many domestic mammals, such as horses, can follow human cues; however, factors influencing their responses are still unclear. We...

10/19/2023

The difference between making and asking.
A few days ago I shared a video of a Ted Talk by Amanda Palmer. It's an inspiring video, and if you missed it, I can post a link in the comments.
The talk was about a very human social condition about feeling like we don't deserve what we ask for. As always I drew parallels to horses.
As a society we have become accustomed to the idea that worth is the result of grind. The harder we work the more we succeed.
This filters down into our horse interactions too.
What's the saying "warm up hard to ride light?". Could that be why so many horses have issues with warm-up arenas?
In the above-mentioned talk, Amanda Palmer was asked by people : "how can you give your music away and still make people pay for it?" Her reply was sublime : "I didn't make them, I asked them, and when you ask you connect"
Whenever I see a horse being MADE to do something I see resistance in the horse, but when you ask, they seem willing to follow you through the fires of hell.
Some people get really good at punishing resistance, and some horses can be disciplined out of resistance, but punishment doesn't engender the type of willingness we need to keep ourselves safe on a 600kg prey animal. At some point they will feel the need to defend themselves against that punishment.
The rest of us that prefer our rides to look like a dance rather than a wrestle still deal with this social conditioning, albeit on a subconscious level.
Directing a horse is one of the areas I see it the most. Even the kindest of rider tries to drag a horse in the direction they want. This is where I have people use one finger on the rein to point a horse to a destination, and suddenly all resistance crumbles.
A mind changed by force isn't changed at all. We are blessed to partner with the most cooperative species on the planet. If we stop trying to make and try asking nicely, we get blown away by just how cooperative they can be.

Thanks to Claudia Pretorius for the photo. I hijacked this amazing mare at Saturdays clinic in Plettenberg bay.

Liberty Clinic Cotati
10/19/2023

Liberty Clinic Cotati

10/19/2023
Clinic photos - I love seeing the moments of true connections in these
10/19/2023

Clinic photos - I love seeing the moments of true connections in these

10/16/2023
Fun clinic yesterday! I'll post photos soon
10/15/2023

Fun clinic yesterday! I'll post photos soon

10/13/2023

CAN HORSES SMELL FEAR?

I have just come across this great study again. The results suggest that horses may be able to smell human fear when presented with their body odour.

Researchers at the University of Wrocław presented twenty-one Thoroughbred and Arab horses with body odour samples collected from humans who were either happy after watching a cartoon, or frightened after watching a horror film.

Before watching the films, the humans had spent a couple of days only washing in unperfumed soap and had not smoked, drunk alcohol, eaten strong-smelling food, or performed any strenuous exercise so that their scent would be as neutral as possible. Whilst watching the cartoon or horror films the human subjects had sterile pads in their armpits to collect their body odour.

The pads were then presented to the horses and their response to the smell of fear, happiness, or a control (without odour) was recorded.

The research team found that horses showed quite different behaviours in response to the odours. They lifted their heads significantly more frequently and for longer in response to the fear odour and the control, compared to the happiness odour.

Similarly, the horses tended to touch a familiar person that was present during the test more frequently and for longer in the fear condition compared to the happiness condition.

The researchers concluded that the presentation of human body odour from humans in different emotional states is enough to induce different behavioural responses in the horse.

Olfactory-based interspecific recognition of human emotions: Horses (Equus ferus caballus) can recognize fear and happiness body odour from humans (Homo sapiens). Agnieszka Sabiniewicza, Karolina Tarnowska, Robert Świątek, Piotr Sorokowski, Matthias Laska. Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2020) vol 230; 105072

09/07/2023

and little more verve on the circle

09/07/2023

Learning the Spanish Walk - the verve is there!

Good simple explanation about horse straightness - skip to chapter 2
08/16/2023

Good simple explanation about horse straightness - skip to chapter 2

Animal Flatmates: Deep into their minds

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San Francisco, CA

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