Freedom Song Ranch

Depending on how much the person knows already, is where we start.  If they know nothing, we start caring for/with a very cute non-intimidating pony.  Cleaning feet, grooming, etc.  then lunging.  Looking for signs that the horse is responsive and developing a bond.  We don’t go further with each horse until that horse feels trust and has bonded with you.  Too many people and places just plop a rider on top of a horse without making sure there’s a connection between them.

As a young girl, I cleaned stalls every day after school until dark so that I could ride a rent horse for an hour on Saturday.  I felt I had developed deep relationships with some of those horses.  When things felt tough at home, I’d run away and my parents always found me sleeping in a horse’s stall at the stables.  So they shipped me off to a boarding school/ riding academy. We did math, English, History and rode horses!  By high school, I had my own horse. After HS I spent my Summers starting horses for a cowboy who lived in a log cabin in the Tetons. For the last 40 years I have been a horse breeder and have had young horses to start almost every year.

i have had people pay $200 per month to come for unlimited time to learn and spend with the horses.  $25-$40 for individual sessions....depending on what is covered in the session.  I cover all the basics of horse-man-ship and learning the basics of a correct seat and safe riding principles.  If a person wants to go on and refine their riding skills and prepare to show horses, they will then take lessons from our fabulous (patient and non-intimidating) trainer.

Back when I was pregnant, doctors did not want women riding while pregnant.  The only way I could spend time with the horses was to teach from the ground. I discovered that it was quite fulfilling passing on knowledge about horses to others.

Both children and adults.  But only people who have a real passion to learn more about horses.  It’s very easy to tell if a child is there because they genuinely want to learn or because their parent wants them to learn.

each person starts learning by working with a horse in the roundpen.  The horse is completely free with no equipment or halter on.  By the time the person has worked with them they have learned to tell the signs if the horse is listening and learning but most of all, if the horse is accepting them as their leader.  If they have, they will willingly follow the person by their ow free choice.  This moment is always a magical experience.

Always seek to get to the above mentioned moment with a horse BEFORE getting on the horse!  Otherwise, how can you trust that the horse will want to take care of you if he doesn’t trust you?

If they sincerely want to learn how to have a relationship with a horse(s) or if they just want to learn how to keep one between themselves and the ground!