Liberty Rein work: What and Why

In the past years several, I have been increasingly drawn to working with less and less equipment and more and more communication and natural outlines. I am studying where a horse tells me he wants to put himself when asked to collect as opposed to where I want to put him. It has answered several questions and debunked several things for me in my personal study of horsemanship. I find it fascinating.

I started playing with corderos and learning how to apply them to my play and horsemanship and was pleasantly surprised at how much the horses took to it and showed me there was no need for control of their head for even challenging movements. I observed with trust, connection, and clear communication that they would offer me beautiful round postures and collected movements and they seemed to enjoy it more when allowed to carry there necks and heads freely. There was clearly more pride and spirit in the movements. I was having more fun and so were they. It is very hard in advanced work to introduce challenging exercises while maintaining the fun and pushing just enough to encourage, but not too much to worry or stress the connection. It is a constantly changing conversation that is lively and fun as long as it stays balanced. 

I was taken enough with this tool to have Buckaroo Leather work with me on a design. I now use it in conjunction with my Bitless bridle for ALL Line to Mounted phase communication. I often warm up with my Liberty rein around my horses neck for In Hand and line work after my Liberty phase. I ride with it on with my bridle, not necessarily because I may ride bridless but because I can work on communicating more with my body and leg and less with my bridle. I can hold the Liberty rein and keep a long rein on my bridle and take the emphasis off the bridle. I have found there are many applications for this versatile tool and who knows, I will probably discover more, I'm always experimenting! Here is a sample video of what can be done with the Liberty rein. It should not be assumed that it is just for riding bridless. It has replaced my halter and sometimes my bridle! I will be introducing more exercises for In Hand and Line work with the Liberty rein soon so keep an eye out! If you are interested in purchasing a Liberty rein, you can get one here http://fdhorsetraining.com/Bridleshop.html