Beyond Bridles: Understanding True Liberty Horsemanship with Zoë Coade

In the evolving world of equestrian practice, liberty horsemanship stands as one of the most profound yet misunderstood approaches to building a genuine partnership with horses. Far from the trick training that often comes to mind when we hear "liberty work", horses rearing on command or bowing for applause, True Liberty represents something much deeper: a conversation between species based on trust, relaxation, and mutual understanding.

Zoë Coade, founder of Get Good With Horses joined us on Curious Equestrian to discuss this transformative approach to horsemanship. Her insights challenge conventional thinking and offer a fresh perspective on what's possible in the horse-human relationship.

What Is True Liberty?

"True Liberty is when I go into my bubble and every communication that I ask from the horse is returned in a conversation," explains Zoë. Unlike traditional horse training or even trick training that relies heavily on food rewards, True Liberty focuses on communication and developing a herd-of-two instinct.

Zoë distinguishes between two fundamental approaches to training:

Reward-based training (often used in trick training):

• Uses treats or goodies as incentives

• Essentially "tricks" the horse into performing actions

• May create dependency on treats for compliance

Communicative training (the foundation of True Liberty):

• Based on release for effort

• Encourages horses to solve puzzles using their brains

• Builds on the horse's natural instincts

• Creates a conversation rather than a transaction

"A successful True Liberty session should be like watching paint dry," Zoë notes. "Everything should just be really slow, easy. The horse feels great... It should be unified and very beautiful, and the horse should not be nabbing at your pockets every five minutes for the cookie because it's now performed its task."

This approach creates what Zoë describes as an "energy flow"—a connection so tangible that observers can see and feel it, even if they can't necessarily explain what they're witnessing.

Breaking Through Barriers: Zoë's Journey

Zoë journey into True Liberty work wasn't without challenges. She recounts her experience with her mare Mia, the subject of her award-winning book, "The Horse That Broke Two Legs and Survived."

After moving to the Netherlands in 2005, Zoë found herself working 72-hour weeks, leaving little time for Mia. The once-close relationship deteriorated to the point where the mare would chase Code across the field, making her feel physically ill at the prospect of retrieving her horse.

The turnaround came through consistent groundwork and dedicated time, rising at 5:30 am to work with Mia before going to her office job, then returning to the stables at 7 or 8 pm. The transformation wasn't instant but required fundamental changes:

1. Stopping self-pity

2. Respecting the horse as a species

3. Getting proper education

4. Committing consistent time

5. Rising in hierarchy above the herd dynamic

This experience proved transformative not just for Mia but for Zoë herself, setting her on a path that would define her approach to horsemanship.

The Science of Trust: Understanding Horse Psychology

One of the most insightful aspects of Zoë's approach is her emphasis on understanding horse psychology and physiology. Her explanation of the brachiocephalicus muscle (what she calls the "flight-fight muscle") offers a practical example of how True Liberty principles translate to safer, more connected horsemanship.

This muscle runs along the horse's neck, and when engaged, it indicates tension and the presence of adrenaline in the system. "When that muscle is tense," Zoë explains, "you can bet your bottom dollar that there is adrenaline in their system, and then only the shuffle of a leaf or somebody's clapping their hands, the horse is going to spook."

Teaching horses to relax and lower their heads disengages this muscle, the foundation of building trust. This principle explains why Western-trained horses, traditionally ridden with lower head carriage, are often perceived as braver and more reliable: "They never had the opportunity to raise their heads to get flight."

By contrast, practices that keep horses' heads artificially high or overly flexed (what's sometimes called "rollkur" or "low, deep, and round") force the horse to operate in a state of tension, with limited field of vision and compromised relaxation.

Horses as Horses: The Species-Specific Approach

Perhaps the most fundamental principle in Code's philosophy is remembering that horses are horses, not humans in horse bodies. This may seem obvious, but the tendency to anthropomorphise our equine partners often leads to misguided approaches.

"Sometimes we forget to look at them as a species," Zoë observes. "The anthropomorphism gets a bit too strong." While loving our horses isn't the issue, treating them as if they think, perceive, and process emotions like humans can create confusion and undermine training efforts.

Code shares amusing examples: a client who allowed her horse to play with (and ultimately destroy) an expensive coat, and another who prevented her horse from rolling to keep its blanket clean. These extreme examples illustrate a broader point about recognising and respecting horses' natural behaviours and needs.

Horses are, in Zoë's view, "species-specific thinkers," with distinct ways of perceiving the world that differ dramatically from human perception:

• They primarily see us as silhouettes rather than detailed forms

• They are masters of body language, often anticipating our requests before we make them

• They have very different relationships to pain and fear

• They live in hierarchical social structures that shape their responses

Understanding these differences doesn't diminish the horse-human bond but rather strengthens it by allowing for clearer, more effective communication.

Getting Started with True Liberty

For those inspired to try True Liberty principles with their own horses, Zoë suggests starting with something seemingly simple but profoundly important: learning to lead properly.

Traditional riding schools often teach children to lead horses from behind, with the horse following. While this may work for lesson horses conditioned to the routine, it doesn't build the connection needed for True Liberty work. Instead, Zoë recommends:

1. Having the horse walk beside you, where you can see their face and read their expressions

2. Being mindful of rope and stick positions and how they communicate different messages

3. Understanding how pressure toward different parts of the horse's body creates different responses

4. Starting with clear positioning: the horse should be an elbow's distance away, neither pushing into you nor lagging behind

"If you can master that," Zoë explains, "you're already changing the way your horse perceives you. They'll take you more seriously, and you can already practice the first elements of 'stay with me.'"

This seemingly basic exercise sets the foundation for more advanced liberty work, establishing the communication patterns and mutual respect necessary for true partnership.

The Future of Equestrian Practice

Zoë sees promising signs that True Liberty principles are gaining traction in the broader equestrian world. She notes that natural horsemanship recently ranked third in a survey of favorite disciplines in the Netherlands, a position unimaginable just five years ago.

Publications traditionally focused on competitive disciplines are increasingly featuring groundwork and liberty articles, and major events now showcase liberty demonstrations. In countries like Denmark, competitive classes using neck ropes rather than bridles are becoming established.

Beyond competition, however, Zoë's deepest wish is for a fundamental shift in attitudes: "I really hope that people start to realise that you don't need gadgets. The bigger the bit ain't gonna help ya."

She makes a poignant observation: if horses could scream like dogs when in pain or distress, many common training methods and equipment might already have been abandoned. "If horses could scream," she notes, "we would already not be training them half the way they're getting trained today."

Conclusion: The Path Forward

As equestrians seeking deeper connections with our horses, Zoë's insights offer a valuable roadmap. Liberty isn't just a training method but a philosophy, one that places horse welfare, clear communication, and genuine partnership at its centre.

The journey begins with seeing horses as they truly are, not as human-shaped entities but as complex beings with their own ways of perceiving and interacting with the world. From there, it's about building trust through consistency, learning to read and respond to subtle cues, and creating a space where both horse and human can thrive.

For those interested in exploring True Liberty principles, Zoë can be found across social media as Get Good With Horses, and through her website getgoodwithhorsescourses.com. Her approach offers not just better performance but something far more valuable: a profound connection with these remarkable animals who share our lives.

As we move forward in our equestrian journeys, perhaps the most important question isn't what our horses can do for us, but what kind of relationship we want to create with them. True Liberty offers one path to an answer—one based on mutual respect, clear communication, and the joy that comes from true partnership.