The time when I put together a liberty team - When I had NO idea HOW!

Lets just start by saying, please! Do not try this at home!!

This is a bit of a blast from the past, a video series I have had locked in a vault for some time.

In January of 2020, which if I’m “mathing” it right, was five years ago! I had had the resolution to “do more liberty” with my horses for 2-3 years, but I never got beyond a session for fun, here and there.

I wanted to put my youth makeover horses together as a team. I just didn’t know how. At the time, I could not find any free content on youtube on putting together a liberty team. I didn’t have the funds or even know where to look to find it anywhere else, so I was stumped, but also determined.

Time passed by and it just wasn’t getting done. I knew I wanted to do it before I graduated high-school, I had big horse fair dreams at the time, and this seemed like a logical thing that you “had to be able to do” before you were qualified. Time and experience have taught me that there were many other more important things that also needed to be learned and experiences that needed to be gained. But alas, I was a teenager, and I had to prove my ideas wrong for myself.

Anyway! I decided that I would just devote 2 weeks in January, when I was busy studying and dealing with the weather, and never end up having any time to ride, (or good enough ground to get it done!) I would devote 14 training sessions to figuring it out. I called it “Learning by Experiment”. I had ZERO plan or idea of what to do. My horses could do liberty one on one, why shouldn’t they be able to do it together??

I vlogged all 14 days, so that I could watch my “progress” and learn from it, but I kept the videos private because this was an experiment, I didn’t want anyone watching my mistakes! I have finally decided to share them, but only here. The playlist is public, but the videos are unlisted. That means you can only see them through the list below. This is because any one video should not be watched alone, taken out of context or used as training advice. Not letting the algorithm catch these!

WHY I AM SHARING THESE:

I want to make it clear that these are not being shared for horse training advice. I am thankful I was not injured, as I put myself in some situations that I would not now allow a student of mine to be in. I thank God and the quality, respect based groundwork foundation that I put on both horses before starting this experiment.

I am sharing because I frequently hear people say “well I cannot do something as well as so and so, so I might as well not do it” or they try something for two days and it doesn’t work so they quit.

In this series, you will see an amateur youth trainer, try, fail a little, succeed a teensy bit, readjust her plan a bit, and try some more. It takes time to teach a horse something, and it takes even more to teach them when you aren’t exactly sure what it is you are trying to teach! You owe it to yourself to take the time it takes. Reward yourself if you have to! For me, I wanted to give this Liberty Team dream a fair and fighting chance but I knew I needed a little extra something to help me push through the ups and downs that are inevitable… so I literally rode it out on a daily Peanut Butter Cup and a Prayer :)

I made a realistic time commitment, and I stuck to it. That is what I want you to learn from this!

I also hope you see how there are ups and downs. We make some progress, we regress. We gain it back and then take a step back. It’s not always as black and white as a Before and After instagram photo!! This is a normal part of the training process: as you introduce new expectations, and as you as a rider learn how to lead your horse. You will make mistakes. Learn from them, do better next time, but don’t take it personally!

Notice how each individual has good days and bad days. Sometimes it’s Sunny, sometimes its Diva, sometimes it’s me. Sometimes its the camera. I want you to realize that, and don’t let your horses’ or your own bad days define you. Just keep showing up the next day and the next, always open to adjusting the plan, but never giving up on the goal.

Also, feel free to laugh at our shenanigans, we are all being silly within the diligence of the consistent liberty “playtime”.

BEFORE YOU WATCH: please!!

-Watch them in order. Or watch the first one, and the last one to see where we started, verses where we ended up.

-This was an experiment. Many mistakes were made. Please learn from them, don’t repeat them! If you have questions, reach out.

-Please don’t try any of these training “methods” on your horse. Ride the roller coaster, learn from my mistakes, and be inspired by what can get done with nothing but consistency on your side!