In addition to working regularly with Freedom, Emma also teaches non-traditional horsemanship and the techniques she employs in Freedom’s training to interested students.  Young equine lover Benah sought out Emma as a horsemanship teacher after learning of her techniques from a friend and following her own disappointment with traditional horse riding lessons.

Even at her young age, Benah realized the horsemanship techniques she was being taught in her riding lessons just didn’t feel right to her.  She did not want to inflict any pain on these beautiful animals, yet was instructed to use force applied with the bit, the reins, her feet and legs, and the whip to control the horse.  She couldn’t bring herself to use these pain-driven techniques to get the horse to follow her lead, so quit the lessons and gave up the idea of learning to ride.

When Benah first started her lessons with Emma last Fall, Emma was using training techniques with Freedom that she had learned in her own natural horsemanship training.  In this first video clip, Emma is teaching Benah how to establish her leadership role with Freedom and maintain control of the grooming using some natural horsemanship techniques. 

Emma instructs Benah in the use of the rope halter attached with a lead.  While not painful like a bit, the rope halter has knots on either side that, when exercised, put pressure on Freedom’s cheek.  Freedom follows Benah’s direction to “back up” due to this pressure.  Benah also lets Freedom know it’s not okay to push her around and she must have Freedom’s complete attention before leading her from the barn.

The second video clip is a continuation outside of the training session started in the barn using natural horsemanship techniques.  Emma is teaching Benah how to get Freedom’s attention and follow her direction even when Freedom really would prefer to graze and just do her own thing.

Using the lead as an extension of her arm, Emma shows Benah how to encourage Freedom to keep her attention on Benah with the driving of the lead at Freedom’s hind quarters.  Benah is a quick learner and is obviously pleased when Freedom responds appropriately without Benah having to cause her any pain.

This third video clip was captured this winter after Freedom had moved to her new, more open stable, and Emma had begun to follow horsemanship techniques involving no force, not even with the use of the rope halter or lead driving.  The entire relationship between human and horse had now become voluntary with Freedom choosing to interact with Emma and Benah.  Emma is teaching Benah companion walking with Freedom without using any force.

At the start of the clip, Emma is using a cordeo with Freedom – a very loose rope that is draped around Freedom’s chest as a guide for Freedom to “hear” what Emma wants her to do.  There is no force, no pressure.  When Benah tries to put the cordeo on Freedom, Freedom refuses. As a result, and based on Emma’s new, no-force approach to horse training, the cordeo is not used.  Freedom gets to decide to companion walk with Benah because she wants to, not because she is asked with the cordeo. 

It was wonderful to watch Emma, Benah, and Freedom as I was capturing this footage.  Emma works with Benah in the same way she works with Freedom – with loving patience.  Benah establishes a relationship with Freedom that is based on love not fear.  Freedom enjoys the companionship and loving attention from her human friends.  Most importantly, seeing these very young people working with Freedom made me realize how readily our children can recognize force and pain with these intelligent, spirited animals – and choose not to participate in it.

By Emma Cruse

October 2007

My interest and love for horses reaches back as far as I can remember into my childhood.  Though I had been a “once-a-week” riding student when I was younger, it had been several years since I’d even been on a horse.  In September of 2007, finding myself at the end of two semesters of traveling abroad and faced with the decision of what to do next, I decided the time was right to pursue my life-long fascination with horses.

A few years before, I’d had the opportunity to attend a performance of Cirque du Soleil’s “horse circus” Cavalia.  The riders and horses in Cavalia epitomize the heights to which the human-equine bond can reach, with the horses responding freely and with joy to their human partners.  I was inspired to learn more about the training methods that could achieve such heights and knew when I did return to being with horses, it would have to be through a more “untraditional” or “natural” path, like that which I’d seen on stage during the Cavalia show.

Like most people looking for information on something they know little about, I started with the Internet, eventually finding my way to Franklin Levinson’s web site.  Right away, I could tell that they way things on his web page were phrased made me feel good about it.  I read his articles and interviews and was impressed by the testimonials of his students.  I called him up and was even more impressed by his kindness and forthright personality over the phone.  In a matter of days, I decided to drive out to Snowmass, Colorado, from m home in Maryland and spend a few weeks with this “horse whisperer.”

Emma in Snowmass, CO, 2007

Immediately upon reaching Snowmass, I knew I’d made the right decision.  The beauty of Colorado in the fall is beyond description.  And after spending a few days with Franklin Levinson and experiencing the way he interacted with horses, I knew I’d made a choice that would change my life forever.

The work Franklin does with horses and the way he lives his day-to-day life are both based on a philosophy rooted in compassion, understanding, determination, and patience.  Though Franklin chooses not to identify himself as a “horse whisperer,” his understanding of horse psychology and herd behavior makes his training techniques appear magical.

Emma and Franklin Levinson

Franklin taught me that horses are “genuine.”  He showed me that with horses, what you see is what you get unlike with humans, who can have ulterior motives and are adept at concealing emotions.  Franklin demonstrated to me on a daily basis that successfully working with horses requires skill, perception, and a true heart.  Because Franklin possesses these qualities in abundance, I began to see how much his success in communicating with horses was grounded in the kind of person he is.

I remember being immediately struck by Franklin’s openness and honesty.  Here was someone who wasn’t concealing anything.  Like a horse, Franklin had everything out in the open.  Through being with Franklin, it was immediately apparent that what he taught about working with horses, that they can “make you a better person,” was true.  The kindness, grace, and skill that Franklin possesses when working with horses, he also manifests in his life.

I worked with Franklin almost every day for three weeks.  I feel I went from being someone who knew virtually nothing about horses to someone who now has a passion for working with horses.  My work with Franklin gave me the foundation to understand what an appropriate interaction with a horse looks like–and the heights you can reach when creating a healthy relationship with your horse.  I saw what it meant to be skillful and compassionate with your horse, to read what the horse is telling you and how to be aware of the messages you’re sending to the horse with body language and energy.

Emma, Snowmass, CO, 2007

Franklin gave me the gifts of knowledge and understanding, as well as experience and guidance.  Not only was Franklin a wonderful teach, but also he became a mentor to me in both my journey with horses and my journey through life.

To anyone who seeks a more satisfying experience with horses, who wishes to have the highest kind of human-horse interaction, I would recommend working with Franklin Levinson.  Whether you’re an experienced horse person, or a beginner like me, the lessons are the same.  For me, it was working towards a new kind of harmony with horses and through that work, with myself.

“Ask. Tell. Make.” That was the catch phrase of trick trainer Tommy Turvey when he performed at the 2008 horse expo in Timonium, Maryland.  Tommy, who is well known as a horse trainer from movies like The Black Stallion, demonstrated to the audience his philosophies on “making” his horses comply with his demands.  Yet, as I watched Tommy asking, telling, and then making his horses perform tricks in the arena, a small voice inside of me asked “am I really that different with my horse?”

Over the last 18 months I have chosen to work with and study horses.  I began my path with studying the art of natural horsemanship.  At an early age I knew I was not attracted to the more traditional methods of working with horses and chose to pursue learning the natural horsemanship principles of working with horses “according to their natural instincts” and through understanding herd behavior.   This approach made intuitive sense to me and the techniques are excellent for training a horse that will eventually be safe, calm, and easily adaptable to everything a human being needs from him. 

Using natural horsemanship techniques, horse handling goals such as “safety on the trail” and “smooth transitions under saddle” are achieved through techniques like “desensitization” and lots of repetition.  Natural  horsemanship practitioners like Pat Parelli offer horse owners  a “simple” program which outlines the step-by-step path to training a horse “the natural way,” providing the horse owner  with lots of information about horse psychology and behavioral patterns along with (in Parelli’s case)  “seven games” which are techniques an owner and his horse can master in order to “build connection.”  

The “connection” goal, which is the reason, I believe, most people are drawn to horses in the first place, seems to be the most elusive one in natural horsemanship programs.  There are a few practitioners who, in my opinion, understand the “connection” element to be a fundamental, and most important, part of being with horses. 

Yet even with this understanding, few natural horsemanship practitioners address this question:   Can we attain complete connection and harmony with our horses without giving them true freedom of choice in our relationships with them?  In other words, is use of any kind of force or coercion ever appropriate in developing a truly connected human/horse relationship?

When I saw Tommy Turvey in January of 2008, I was just beginning to learn the principles and techniques of natural horsemanship.  I dismissed the small voice in my head with excuses about the difference between his and my own “intents” and continued my path of study.  Since then, I have completed a Level 1 Training Certification in Natural Horsemanship program and bought my own green horse, “Saoirse” (Pronounced Seer-Sha, a Celtic word meaning “Freedom”)  to train.   

I have been working with Saoirse two hours each day, combining the different methods I learned pertaining to natural horsemanship techniques and working “at liberty” with her.   

I have made progress and Saoirse has become significantly calmer, responsive to cues and phase systems, and is gradually becoming more in sync with my energy and projection.  Through continuing to practice technique and consistency, I have confidence these and many other aspects of my horse’s behavior will improve and change, resulting in a calm, safe, sweet-natured horse who understands my role as “herd leader.” 

A great gift I received from my natural horsemanship training was an awareness of the power of the relationship between me and my horse. 

“The relationship comes before everything” my trainer would  tell me and in order to get complete connection, “join-up,” and partnership between me and Saoirse, I knew I must foster a relationship built on trust and consistency.  These principles have been the core of my beliefs about horsemanship and have been, up until now, what has driven me to ignore the small voice that began at that Expo last January and has continued to get louder ever since. 

I have been training my horse using a “phase system.”  This system, unlike more “un-natural” forms of training, teaches the horse cues through consequences.  If I am teaching a horse to back up, I wiggle the end of my lead line ever so slightly (starting as light as I’d like to end up) gradually (every three seconds) applying more and more pressure until the lead line and metal clip may be smacking the horse under the jaw which causes them to “move away from the pressure” and back up.  Eventually, the horse will learn to back up at the slightest wiggle of the lead line because they learn to expect what is coming. 

A similar approach is used when lunging the horse in a circle.  I will first use my body and projection to “send the horse where I want them to go.”   I will give them a soft “feel to follow” by putting tension in the directing hand holding the lunge line.  My final phases will be to bring up a carrot-stick (a stick with a long rope at the end of it) or the opposite side of the lead rope with more and more intensity until, the final phase, making contact with the horse’s rump with my stick or lead line to make them move. 

The idea behind this method is that it is more humane to the horse because, eventually, the horse will understand this system of requests and consequences which will result in less progressions to the final phase, and, in general, a “light” and responsive horse.  Though this system, when used appropriately with patience and without anger and with clarity and consistency, is highly superior to others where trainers will beat the horse into submission without warning, am I not asking with my first phase, telling with my second, and making with a final phase where I am literally inflicting pain on the horse in order to get them to do what I want?

Though I tell myself these “phases” are necessary and best for the horse and that they “settle their minds” and teach “patience,” I still wonder:  Is “making my idea his idea” not coercion?  Is holding a horse’s head down towards their chest with the reins (after applying the correct “softer” phases, of course) until they “find a release” and soften, not force?  Yet what’s wrong with using a system of phases to make a horse do something if eventually it will end in a more docile and safer animal?  Isn’t it our duty as humans to make horses safe and compliable to our needs for their own good?  Horses are for riding, right? 

Through practicing liberty work, watching my trainers play with horses, and reading about other people’s emotional and spiritual experiences with their horses, I have always believed in something deeper and more profound than owning an animal and training it to carry me around.  How then could I long for and pursue a meaningful relationship with my horse based on trust and love when I employed techniques of force and coercion as my foundational building blocks? 

In order to have a partnership, there must be equality and freedom of choice for both partners.  The horse does not have a choice whether or not to be domesticated and cared for by humans.  The more I work with horses, the more I have come to believe that they are not our slaves or our possessions or our rightful play-things.  Can we really justify that it is physically or mentally in a horse’s best interest to endure long distance running and jumping with a rider, pull heavy carts or carriages, have metal bars placed in their mouths for control, or carry a rider and saddle on long distance trail rides?    If I want to share a relationship with my horse that is a true partnership,  I have come to believe I must abandon these human-centric ideas of what horses should be for and embrace the magnificence of what the horse is.