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FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2011 79

many horses have been subjected to that dominant model, where they’ve been pressured until they give up.”

Toci and Koko were truly afraid of and (as Robin puts it) enraged at humans. They didn’t want to have anything to do with people, but as Robin started out with very small movements, she taught them that if they reached out to her a little, they would be rewarded. Gradually, the mares let her lay a hand on their side. A month later she was able to pick up Koko’s hoof and run a brush over Toci’s face. Today, Robin and the mares’ owner Carolyn Ellis can ride the mares at liberty.

Offered Leadership

“I didn’t pursue leadership with Toki and Koko when they were saying ‘no’ to me,” she explains. “When I knew I could get a ‘yes’, I offered leadership. I never went into their resistance.”

People have controlled horses with ropes in contained spaces for so long that working completely without them is considered a novelty. Even “natural horsemen” who travel the clinic circuit begin their work with rope halters and guiding lines, and promote 30-minute methods of horse training with systems of pressure and release.

“But too much pressure erases the horse’s instincts,” Robin argues. “What I love about Carolyn’s work is that we’re not looking to erase the horse’s instincts. Every horse wants to go along with what you want and establish a bond. But by giving them a choice I’m allowing them to tap into their deepest instincts.”

Robin knew that working at libertywithToci andKoko would produce better long-term results. The kind of leadership she asked of the horses made them want to come back once they’d left. Being asked –and not told- for performance equaled empowerment. In Toci and Koko’s case, ‘performance’ simply meant looking at Robin, or walking one step towards her. Today, doing things like lowering their head when asked,

standing quietly during grooming, and even being vaccinated at liberty is as easy as swatting a fy.

On her website Robin likes to talk about “dancing in the bond” with a horse. It might be heavy in new age tones, but it’s an accurate description of the connection that Robin has with Toci and Koko. Now, they crave her presence so much that Robin doesn’t even peek sideways from under her hat when she walks at liberty with one of the jumbo-sized horses. She already knows they’re right by her side.

In the two years since Carolyn Ellis adopted Toci and Koko sight unseen from a rescue website, she’s gone from a naive frst time owner to a horsewoman who works with the Shires at liberty