I Stopped Asking My Horses to Obey — And Everything Changed

Comments · 159

• KT

  @ktinxx · 1 month ago

  I stopped asking my STUDENTS to obey - and everything changed! <br>I teach Dutch for beginners at a private school in Germany to students (16 to 19 y.o.). When I first started, my teaching style was very much top-down: clear hierarchy, strict curriculum and tests, everbody learning the same thing at the same time with the same goal - pass the tests and exams. My students were only partly engaged, did not like to invest energy and time in learning Dutch, did not look forward to the classes. My role was mainly to give directions and correct mistakes. The results were very discouraging and the atmosphere in the classroom was subdued and felt like drudgery. <br>Then I was introduced to the concept of Autonomous Language Learning (ALL) and that was the turning point. The method is based on three key questions: Are the students motivated to learn? Do they experience themselves as competent in what they are doing? Do they feel connected to the group and like to share this new language between them? Having the autonomy to decide WHAT to do in the classroom, WITH WHOM and for HOW LONG was exactly what nurtured their enjoyment and motivation. Now, even on a Friday in the last class of the school week, they show up eager to learn, engaged and happy to share the language. It was hard for me to give up the control over their learning path, but everyday I feel validated by the joy, the playfulness and the creativity that I experience with them.<br>What works for horses, also works for people! 🙂

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• AS

  @Ascahr · 1 month ago

  Thank you for this video. <br>I used to care for a horse (belonged to someone else but they were not around so I had him all for myself for multiple years) and I&apos;ll never forget how upset people around me were that I&apos;d cancel training, cancel hacking, cancel anything if they horse showed me that he didn&apos;t want to do it. Once I wanted to take part in a tournament and the day we had to drive, he showed me clearly he didn&apos;t want to go so I cancelled. Tournaments weren&apos;t as important to me as the horse&apos;s trust. The absolute hate I received from both my trainer and others at the barn was unreal. I was told things like &quot;he is taking advantage of that&quot;, &quot;you also have to do things you don&apos;t want to do&quot;, &quot;your horse must know you are the leader&quot; (although we are currently in a century where we already confirmed that the whole &quot;dominance hierarchy&quot; in herds and packs aren&apos;t a thing), &quot;you are ruining the horse&quot;, etc.<br>Back then I was but a child so I thought I was doing something wrong, my parents especially my dad (he used to have horses) and the owner of the horse told me I was in the right.<br><br>Seeing this confirms to me that we, who want a true and honest partnership with our horses, aren&apos;t insane.

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• OD

  @ODINS_daughter · 1 month ago (edited)

  You nailed it. .It&apos;s the relationship where the horse communicates back to you. I &nbsp;was such a liberty novice, but the time I spent in the field with my stud colt or uncles gelding doing liberty, had to be the reason they&apos;d come RUNNING EVERYTIME I showed up at the gate. Where those who just &quot;rode&quot; them - were ignored - or they had to bribe the same horses to be haltered. 😂<br><br>The horses enthusiasm caused great angst in the relationship with my cousins. One was mad since they spent more time riding and &nbsp;doing the hard work in eveyday farm life. I was the occasional person interjected into farm life, for a few weeks at a time, due to distance- yet for me, &nbsp;the horses RAN to me. When I left, my stud colt/stallion for example would run the fence line -after me as I drove off property. <br><br>It has to be because I was the asker, listener, rewarder in the liberty relationship.<br><br> (Ive observed the cycle happening with my best friends Dad&apos;s horses too. I stopped going to see their Mares because I &nbsp;didn&apos;t want the jealousy nonsense with their humans &nbsp;But now you&apos;ve given me the TOOLS. Tools in my tool belt , so I can help Empower people in relationship building thru liberty.)<br><br>I think you&apos;ve answered the question that puzzled me for years. It wasn&apos;t because I was some special person &quot;horse whisperer&quot; 😂compared to my cousins. But it was the time spent doing liberty.<br><br>Thank you, thank you, thank you!❤<br><br>I wish I would have known of you 40 yrs ago. <br><br>You are going to make a world of difference.

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• LA

  @laverneverne · 1 month ago

  I had a doctor who was an &nbsp;osteopathic physician. In his bio he says he&apos;s interested in empowering his patients. I&apos;m 63 and I&apos;ve had exactly 3 doctors in my life that I&apos;ve liked. &nbsp;This most recent one &nbsp;taught me so much, held space, and helped me feel safe in my body again after a very long time. He does not do the typical doctor power struggles. (I relate to Nina a lot.) Every time I watch your videos I&apos;m reminded of him. He was a resident, he graduated from his program, and sadly he moved on. He taught me so much and I miss him. <br><br>Thank you for what you do, Nadine! I suspect your videos bring healing to a lot of people. ❤️

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• SU

  @SuzieQ7779 · 1 month ago

  Watching your horses do their best to make you happy is a beautiful thing!

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• BI

  @bigstar75 · 1 month ago

  This herd includes a human. Beautiful life all around.❤❤❤

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• JA

  @JaneStanton · 1 month ago

  It&apos;s the difference between a robot horse and an angelic being with a sense of humor.

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• JO

  @jobond3317 · 1 month ago

  I came from an old-fashioned farming background. I had a Shetland pony from the age of 3, who I was taught to ride. I was plunked on my pony&apos;s back and trotted behind the tractor. My poor pony was a very teacher; I learnt to see her behaviours and wonder about them as I fell again. Fast forward to having horses with unhappy histories but no fancy school or round pens, just an open paddock. I found that because I like to spend time with them, they happily choose to come up to me, be around, and leave to eat but come back. So a type of freedom was developed: less gear, the better; more acceptance, better trust when you have a horse that rushes to see you, not for food, just you; it&apos;s a privilege

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• SU

  @Sun-Soul · 1 month ago

  Oh gosh! What a beautiful video! Thank you so much for sharing your journey and how you came to where you currently are.<br>It was nice to hear a more in depth explanation of how you came to understand Nina&apos;s resistance and what you did together to overcome that. I would think that was an even more difficult transition since she had to &quot;unlearn&quot; your previous teaching style. I am truly grateful for your style of &quot;conscious horsemanship&quot; for lack of a better word. I hope that your courses become &nbsp;greatly successful and become a standard way of working with horses. How lucky are we to be honored with their presence?<br>Again, I thoroughly enjoy your channel and am wishing you the greatest success going forward! ✨💛✨

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• HS

  @hsgotwal · 1 month ago

  Im so glad you&apos;re sharing this information and perspective. The horse world needs this ❤

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• JE

  @JenniferHer-h4e · 1 month ago

  I think we don’t always realize that we ask a lot of animals. I wish they could just be.

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• LU

  @lulumoon6942 · 1 month ago (edited)

  AS A CHILD DV SURVIVOR &amp; LONGTIME VICTIM ADVOCATE I RELATE TO THAT &quot;GIVING OVER&quot; &nbsp;STATE YOU RECOGNIZED IN NINA... &amp; EXPLAINS MY OWN CHOICE BASED, INTUITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH HORSES &amp; DOGS! I&apos;M SO GRATEFUL FOR THE HEALING, COMPASSION &amp; JOY SHARED WITH THEM! &amp; AM SO GLAD YOU&apos;RE SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES &amp; TRAINING WITH OTHERS! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SMILES YOUR HER HAS BROUGHT! 🐴😍🐎💞🙏🕊️

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