Our website for “Freedom’s Choice” has just been released!!

Please take a minute to visit us there and learn more about the story of this special film.

http://www.freedomschoicethemovie.com/

Thank you for visiting our new blog for the documentary film “Freedom’s Choice.”  We hope you will return often as we will be posting regularly about the progress of our filmmaking including photos and rough footage of this adventure! 

 Freedom

 (affectionately known as Saoirs – pronounced Seer-sha – a Celtic word meaning Freedom)

Emma Cruse, Horse Trainer    

Joan Copeland, Filmmaker

 For more information on this beautiful film, choose a Category in the right panel.

My parents gave me the great gift of homeschooling throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years.  I had a group of fellow homeschooled friends and a variety of teachers who gave us individual attention and who were also our friends and mentors.  Choosing to homeschool your child, especially fourteen to fifteen years ago when my parents were making the decision, was considered radical, out-of-the-norm, and, by some people, even abusive and neglectful. 

Having experienced being a home-educated student, however, I see my parent’s choice as having  fostered my free-will and given me the space to expand my understanding of the world at my own pace.  My parent’s belief that putting me in school would be condemning me to learning through conditioning and intimidation gave me a kind of freedom of experience and expression that would have been unattainable for me in a more conventional educational setting. 

Through homeschooling, my parents acted as my teachers and supporters, allowing me to make choices about my education and schedule at an early age.  Giving me this freedom not only supported  happy and healthy emotional growth, but helped develop my mind in an environment without stress, coercion, or force.  This philosophy of child rearing is based around the belief that children do not need to be forced to succeed or molded into functioning human beings “for their own good.”  This philosophy incorporates discipline and learning through explanation, reasoning, and patience. If we are given the freedom to choose to say “no” and not be punished for laziness or failure to “follow the leader,” we become more willing to please and motivated to learn.

Linda Kahonov writes in her book Riding Between the Worlds about the extensive emotional depth of horses, their ability to seemingly “sense” things before they happen, and perfectly mirror emotions presented to them by human beings.  She relates stories about her own therapeutic practice with horses and their perceptive nature when it comes to patients who have suffered severe physical and emotional trauma.  Kahonov finds that horses can serve as “spiritual warriors” in bravely assisting patients’ encounters with their darkest demons and supply a shoulder to cry on where many humans would feel awkward or overwhelmed.  (Horses and the Mystical Path: the Celtic way of Expanding the Human Soul by Adele Von Rust McCormick and Marlena Deborah McCormick also explores the significance of horses in history, the mythology of many cultures, and the spiritual connectedness so many people find in their company. )

If these highly perceptive and emotional creatures were given the freedom and encouragement to learn and play in a healthy environment, would they flourish into independent and interested creatures?  If given the choice to eat or play liberty games, to run in the pasture or learn the components to a Spanish walk, would horses become more motivated and proficient if they knew they were allowed to say “no” ?

If I want love, companionship, trust, bravery, respect, and willingness from my horse doesn’t it seem obvious that I would want my horse to choose to give them to me? 

Alexander Nevzorov, the founder of Nevzorov Haute Ecole (high-school) of dressage, believes this openness to choice is the key to harmony and expression with and from your horse.  Haute Ecole is a form of dressage that focuses on the natural movements of a horse.  It is centered on precise movements with a lot of power and expression.  The horse practicing Haute Ecole builds muscular strength and control through gradual developmental training.  What differentiates Nevzorov’s from other Haute Ecole schools is his strict insistence on abstaining from the use of bits, bridles, shoes, and any other form of restraining equipment.  He believes the use of horses for sport and showing to be cruelty and that horses should only be ridden for short periods of time and only after they have been properly taught to natural collection (the posture which teaches the horse to carry themselves correctly and to form muscles) on the ground .  

The idea of releasing control and domination from a relationship with a horse is a frightening one.  Of course we must use common sense and safety at all times with our horses, and immediately running out to the barn and riding your horse at liberty through the woods is not in the best interest of your horse.  But by beginning to form a way of communicating with your horse that is void of force or coercion, and abandoning your previous agendas and embracing play and learning opportunities “in the moment,” perhaps it is possible to foster a relationship based on freedom of choice and affection.

After ten months I have finally decided to listen to my small voice.  It is reaching out from my own soul and bidding me to give my horse the same respect and love I received from my parents in presenting me with the freedom to choose.  I don’t know if Nevzorov’s Haute Ecole is the answer, or if it is possible, in the real world, for man and horse to exist as equals without force.  But at least I am listening and ready to head into the unknown in the hopes that it will lead me to the magic of unity between horse and human.

“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.

I am pleased to announce Crabtowne Productions has begun filming ”Freedom’s Choice”, a documentary featuring young horse trainer Emma Cruse and her 5-year-old Appaloosa mare, Freedom. 

The footage is being shot in Freedom’s horse facilities in Annapolis, MD, the home of Crabtowne Productions and Emma.

Emma and I are both very excited about the topic this film will highlight…

The spiritual journey Emma and Freedom take as Emma begins to experiment with non-traditional horse training techniques

Emma has been trained in natural horsemanship over the past 18 months.  She began training Freedom, still a green horse at age 5, in the Spring of 2008 following the natural horsemanship approach she had learned.  

As the training progressed, she began to question ”making” Freedom do what she wanted her to do.   Following attendance at a Nevzorov Haute School International Seminar in Montreal, Canada, Emma is considering radically changing her approach with Freedom.  Could all aspects of the training now become

Freedom’s Choice?

Our film will follow Emma and Freedom’s new path and watch as they begin to embrace a spiritual relationship that may involve “no force, no restraints, no bits, no bridles, no spurs, and no punishment.”

Please join us as there is so much more to come!