Natural Horsemanship Demo

RTA President Lisa Hall hosted a Natural Horsemanship Demo at Margo's beautiful "Miles To Go" farm.

Lisa first did liberty work with her Rocky Mountain Horse "Aramis" and explained how to work the horse in the round pen to get the horse to move away from pressure by moving his feet. She first applied pressure as he moved away, then showed the release of pressure as the horse expressed the major signs of submission including licking and chewing, lowering his head and turning to face her, with "2 eyes."

The main purpose of this work is get the horse to become "soft" and compliant and accept the leadership of the trainer. Once that is achieved, the trainer will look for the "Join Up" where the horse comes into the center of the pen on his with a soft expression and lowered head. The horse is rewarded and the trainer then runs her hands all over the horse to build acceptance and trust. The horse then will follow the trainer on his own, signifying acceptance of the trainer as the leader in their herd of 2.

Lisa then worked with one of Margo's horses and discussed the similarities and differences in doing liberty work with different horses.

Many thanks to Margo for hosting us!