Pat Parelli says that when you take off the halter and lead, what remains is the truth. “Liberty” is the practice of engaging with horses without the aid of ropes or halters. If your horse decides they don’t want to be with you, well, you can’t make them do it. You have to learn to be so interesting and fun and compelling that your horse chooses to be with you, regardless of other temptations or distractions.
In a Liberty lesson, students learn to use their energy and body language to draw the horse in and to guide the horse through the obstacle course.
Liberty offers students an opportunity to improve communication, timing, and feel, which also improves all other aspects of their horsemanship, on the ground and riding.
Our youth students recently practiced working on Liberty — keeping their horses connected to them even though there were six horses in the arena. There’s nothing like that feeling you get when your horse chooses to be with you and work through the course together!
