Liberty

[Lexi]

Okay, I've only watched a liberty class one time and I thought it was really cool. I was wondering if anyone knows how in the world you teach your mini to do that. Also I don't really know the amha class rules to liberty if anyone know.

Thanks so much!!

**Lexi**

 

[Leeana]

IMO its not really something you teach, its something that has to come natural to the horse. The horse has to WANT to go out there and trot, look prissy and pretty and proud, and play and showoff and just MOVE to the music. Of course some of the things you could work on is getting the horse to know the lunge whip means MOVE. Also let the horse get use to the fact that they must let you catch them after the go and get worked up and show off and prancy.

If you ask me, the best liberty performances are the ones that are not practiced everyday, that just takes away from the horses fun IMO when liberty becomes a training/job thing. Also, i was told the best liberty horses are the ones who as soon as you take the halter off in the show ring will take off, not just standing there and wait for you to get the whip going. Its the ones that go ZOOM as soon as that music starts and the halter is off. I've heard different things, some dont want to horse to canter and some want to show as many gaits as possible. I just want my horses to go out prance, look proud, kick, play, trot fancy and look like they are having fun and move with the music. I am practicing right now in my drylot getting the horse to speed up and slow down along with the music and whent he song has more energy, i want my horse to match that energy. When the part of the song back off, i want me horse to back off slightly as well. I use pressure to get them to slow and speed up, pressure being the whip and just thinking 'go go go go goooo' when i want them to move and then thinking 'calm calm caaaaalmm that a boy' when i want them to slow down. Pressure and energy to speed up, calm and relaxing when i want them to slow down or back off.

Not sure what the AMHA rules ....should be in the AMHA rulebook though. I know the AMHR Rulebook has the rules of liberty class in it and the R rulebook is right on their website www.shetlandminiature.com in a pdf. file.

Hope i helped some

 

[Sanny]

Leeanna pretty much summed it up. Like with jumping though, first and foremost you need to have a horse that likes the class. Some just do and some just don't. You also need to pick music that suits the horse. Some are fun and goofy and show offs and a fast fun rock song might be just right and others are smooth and flowing and elegant and classical or instrumental music might be best for them.

I have a couple of terrific show horses that don't like liberty at all. I've tried it with them and they wander around the arena looking pathetic and just keep coming back to me wanting to be done. We have other horses that just love it and will take off like a bullet when we drop the halter, put on a show on there own and come trotting back when the music stops. Some of that is learned but most of it is just in the horse. I did liberty for the first time with one horse two years ago at nationals and I'd been told he liked it but we'd never practiced. I unbuckled the halter and dropped it and he tore off with his tail straight up bucking and prancing and honestly I didn't do a thing. Just stood there with my mouth open. He put on his own show, used the whole arena, did bucks and fancy trots and snorts and flagged his tail at the judges and I stood there thinking "I WILL NEVER CATCH THIS HORSE" and the music stopped and lo and behold he came trotting back to me. We got 5th place out of about 75 horses that year. At the same nationals there was a FANTASTIC horse in liberty and I think every person watching was in awe but the music stopped and that horse was NOT going to be caught. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think it was at least 30 minutes of trying to catch him ithat eventually included 10-15 people in the ring making a human chain and trying to trap him in a corner and he would manage to escape even that. I don't even remember how they finally caught him.

I do keep liberty in mind when I work the horses so I guess I am one that "practices". I don't feel it takes away from a horses fun because no matter what a show is different. It is like the difference of practicing at home and stepping out on stage for a performance in front of an audience. The whole atmosphere and energy level at a show is fun for horses that like liberty and practicing at home is not going to feel the same to them at all.

I like to do a lot of free lunging for conditioning and I incorporate working on hand signals into that free lunging time. I can get the horses to reverse directions, cross at a diagonal and do a big figure eight using the whole arena and change gaits and come to me at the end. I'm not sure how to explain the hand signals-- basically using my whole arm to point the horse in the direction I want him to go in and if I want him to reverse holding my arm out like a stop sign and facing them and then when they stop and reverse switching to a point with the whole arm in the direction I want them to go - either straight along the rail or at a diagonal across the ring. When they are going fast and I want them to slow down I say "easy" and "trot" and when they are slow and I want them to get going I give the kiss noise and "canter". I don't use a lunge whip at all, just hand and voice signals.

When I'm done free lunging I kneel down and hold my hand straight out and using all five fingers do the "come to me" motion and say "first one to me gets a cookie" so if I am free lunging several horses the first one to come to me gets a cookie (they all get one eventually) and they learn when I kneel and that hand comes out they will get a treat if they come to me. You CANNOT bait your horse with treats during a show but I do keep treats handy so that as soon as we leave the ring they get it. I've got one horse that stops in his tracks when he sees me going down and comes to me at a strong trot. He is the first one to me every time.

Good luck....it is a fun class. Whether you do AMHA or AMHR though read the rule book and learn everything about it. I always see one or two people get DQ'd in the class for not following the rules. I was once DQ'd for touching my horse after I dropped the halter and I had no idea what they were talking about. I took the halter off and gave him a pat on the neck as he was trotting off.

 

[susanne]

Great comments so far...

We go into Liberty with the idea of it being fun and giving our horse a chance to unwind. If we get a ribbon, great, but that's more of a side benefit.

Like Sanny, what training we do is really just part of our free longeing. I did clicker train Mingus to stick his head into his hhalter and we do work on the catch, but that's about it.

For us, Liberty is all about Mingus and my husband, Keith, bonding. They have a blast, and Keith wrote, performed and recorded an original song for Mingus. I'm just their assistant, standing there with goose bumps and tears in my eyes.

 

[Sanny]

For us, Liberty is all about Mingus and my husband, Keith, bonding. They have a blast, and Keith wrote, performed and recorded an original song for Mingus. I'm just their assistant, standing there with goose bumps and tears in my eyes.

:
perfect example of having a good time and doing all of this for all the right reasons.

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

I'm just their assistant, standing there with goose bumps and tears in my eyes.

i have goose bumps and tears just READING this!!! how awesome...