A bit of a strange comment from someone that advertises blingy browbands in their signature…
Yes, some of the Liberty linked above is used for exhibitions and therefore a certain “look” goes with it -long hair, costumes, bling, etc, but I personally know several of these individuals and can assure you they are extremely brilliant at what they do (and very smart to boot.) Several of them work with stallions on a day to day basis and believe me, they are very aware the horse (any horse) can kill you or hurt you in the blink of an eye. So just because you don’t have a halter with chain over their nose doesn’t mean you don’t demand respect from the horses. It’s actually more the other way around. Since there is no physical mean to restrain the horse when working at liberty, the horse MUST respect you and respect the boundaries, and the trainer is much more aware than 95% of us when we interact with our horses.
If the OP is still checking this thread, here is one of the forms of Liberty. You can watch and listen and see that it is the exact opposite of having the horse walk all over you. To have a horse that proficient takes countless hours of practice. This stallion has been in many exhibitions over the world and is a wonderful teacher and helping me learn. Those horses are trained to the whips so that each whip position means something. You have to be aware and careful of what you are telling him, as you can see halfway through the video when he thinks I want him to back up because of where my whips are - my bad!
http://youtu.be/_1gitKwFsmw
And this was with my own horse last year (self-taught, before I started learning about the double whips and whip position)
http://youtu.be/0dsbQ4WCcC8
So yes, there are many different forms of “liberty”.
PS: I don’t suffer from any known mental illness and my horses also compete in Dressage, Eventing and are great on the trail 
Apologies for the comment. As I said, it was based on only some of the videos, and certainly neither of the Frenchmen (or is it a Frenchman and a French Canadian?), and I only watched a short portion of each video. Here on COTH, we tend to be quipy and frothy, but it doesn’t always translate well. I was clearly in need of some caffeine this morning! :lol: (But I do stand by my fashion comment. :winkgrin:)
Personally, I am a huge fan of Sylvia Zerbini and really wish she had some sort of book or DVD. I’ve heard she does clinics, and would certainly be thrilled to attend one. But, as I previously mentioned, Carolyn Resnick is also quite good.
And I actually do a form of “liberty training” every day–my horse has to back up and then stand and wait while I dump his feed, and is not allowed to walk up to his feed tub until I give him the signal. Not fancy, but definitely a good behavior to train.
[QUOTE=Frizzle;7943123]
(But I do stand by my fashion comment. :winkgrin:)[/QUOTE]
Hear, hear!
Somebody please post the link from the other thread of a girl running around with her stallion - until there is the most God awful crack as he kicks her in the face…also, take not of the farm and fencing!
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;7975313]
Somebody please post the link from the other thread of a girl running around with her stallion - until there is the most God awful crack as he kicks her in the face…also, take not of the farm and fencing![/QUOTE]
That girl had no idea how to do the liberty work safely! You should never put yourself between the horse and the fence!
[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;7975891]
That girl had no idea how to do the liberty work safely! You should never put yourself between the horse and the fence![/QUOTE]
That girl’s error came way before the kick…she had NO idea how to read her horse.
