Living at Liberty
First things first, what is liberty horsemanship? Generally, working with a horse at liberty is the art of connecting and communicating without the aid of tack such as halters, saddles, and bridles. The method of liberty horsemanship I am studying was originated by Carolyn Resnick who describes working with horses at liberty as “...a conversation that allows truthful feelings to be shared between horse and human. It is based on two sentient beings sharing flexible boundaries and communicating with one another where both are open to listening and responding rather than reacting and surrendering.”
The idea of communicating authentically is appealing to me not just in my work with horses, but in my day-to-day life. I often find myself thinking about how I can apply these lessons to live at liberty. At its core, I define living at liberty as embracing the freedom to say “Yes!” to what I want and “No.” to what I don’t. While seemingly simple, as an inveterate people pleaser, this is a concept I will be practicing for the rest of my life. The opportunity to practice being true to myself is one of the reasons I am drawn to liberty horsemanship. After all, if I can’t be honest with myself and my fellow humans, how can I expect to have honest relationships with horses?
So far, I’ve realized the first step towards authenticity is being clear about what I want and recognizing that what I want may change over time. As a kid growing up with Nature on PBS, I fell deeply in love with the natural world and felt a strong sense of responsibility to protect it. For the last 10 years, I followed my heart into the field of environmental conservation. However, the skills I developed were better suited to a desk than the documentary crews I had idolized. I found myself working one office job after another, longing to be out in the natural world I had been striving to save. As I considered what kind of career might get me out from behind a desk, my thoughts kept returning to my other great love, horses. It has been a longtime dream of mine to run my own stables and teach horsemanship. However, when I considered this drastic career change I found myself paralyzed with fear. Was it wise to leave a comfortable well-paying job to take a leap of faith? What would my family, friends, and co-workers think of me, would they be disappointed? What if I failed?
Fortunately, I also grew up loving Star Wars, and I could hear Yoda’s voice telling me fear is the path to the dark side. Instead, I embraced hope, left my office job, and gave an authentic “YES!” to this free-spirited journey. So far my decision has been rewarded with incredible teachers, opportunities, and an outpouring of support from the very people I was afraid of letting down. Still, I have a long way to go on this path, and I am sure I will meet fear and doubt again. I count myself lucky to be learning from the horses, empowering me to be honest with myself and others, embracing the freedom to say “No.” in the face of fear and “Yes!” to my hopes and dreams.
What do you want out of life? Do you feel you have the freedom to communicate honestly with the people around you? Who or what inspires you to live authentically? Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. May the horse be with you, always!
