Back in the '80s we spent a lot of time giving clinics and demonstrations on the art of Free Longeing or, as it is commonly referred to  today, Liberty Training.  The goal of this technique is to longe a horse without the use of a  longe line using body positions and directed energy to control the movement of the horse.

Dancing In Space is a feature that ran in a magazine after we gave a demonstration in Fresno, CA for the Bank of America Horse Expo. The demonstration was performed on the race track in front of the apron where the bettors normally gather to watch the horses run down the stretch and cross the finish line.

There were 5000 people in that audience on the day that we free longed  that young 2 year old filly and got on her bareback without a saddle and bridle. I personally want to thank each and every one of you that were there for not clapping or creating a distraction.

The filly was a bit fractious, never having been to town. When she saw the crowd, she started to bounce off the walls of the temporary round pen where we were scheduled to work. She chined the top rail. She pushed her body against the side to see if the rails would give. Personally, I was green with stage fright!

It turned out the filly was great! When I entered the ring to work her, her mind just clinged to my mind and the world disappeared for both of us as I maneuvered her around the ring with body clues. When Jim lifted me onto her back (I never could jump), you could have heard a pindrop. 5000 people never moved. Never said a word. At least not that I know of.

The only words I heard were those of Jim on the microphone describing for the crowd what was happening. After a little few turns around the ring. I dismounted. We tacked the filly up, put a hackamore on her and Jim stepped up on her and guided her around the ring easing her into a trot.

In a nutshell, this was our procedure for training young horses. Free longeing them to show them that we could "talk horse". Getting them to allow us to mount them while they were standing free. Riding them bareback without a saddle and bridle. Adding the saddle and hackamore only after they were comfortable with the concept of being ridden.

This is how we taught students to "become one with a horse." These are lessons that we are going to share with you in hopes that you too will be able to find your way to 'become one with a horse.