About
Nancy Zintsmaster
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Founder of LHEAP
Master Trainer and Certified Instructor in Carolyn Resnick Liberty Horsemanship
A student of the horse.
I teach horse owners and equine professionals to communicate with horses at liberty, through body language, intention, and energy. I’ve taught hundreds of students, and I still consider myself one.
Carolyn and me
For more than ten years I’ve worked alongside Carolyn Resnick, the creator of the Waterhole Rituals. First as her student. Now as her business partner and lead instructor.
Together we teach a way of being with horses that starts with connection, not control. At liberty, the horse is free to leave.
When they stay, it means something.
Every student and every horse has taught me something. But it was four rescued horses who first taught me to listen.
The horses who taught me to listen
Years ago, I rescued four Andalusians from a neglected farm here in Costa Rica.
They were starving. They seemed “shut down.” They wanted nothing to do with me.
I did everything I knew to help them. Nothing reached them.
Then I spent five days at a clinic with one of Carolyn Resnick’s clinicians, and everything changed.
It wasn’t the horses who were disconnected. It was me.
I was in Trainer’s Mind. I was so busy trying to help them, trying to “fix their problems,” that I couldn’t see what they were telling me.
So I stopped asking. I sat with them. I shared their territory, and I let them come to me.
Slowly, one by one, they did.
The horses had been communicating the whole time. I just had to learn to listen.
That is the heart of everything I teach.
Pericles
Years later, in 2020, I was given Pericles, a six-year-old Friesian with very strong opinions. Other people found him difficult.
When the pandemic came, I was locked down in California with Carolyn, and with Pericles. I was already advanced, fluent in the language of horses, but Pericles showed me how much more there was for me to learn.
I shared territory with him for hours at a time, and asked him for nothing. Slowly, he started to choose me.
And once he did, he would do anything I asked.
He reminded me that I am forever a student of the horse.
Learning from Carolyn
Carolyn Resnick developed the Waterhole Rituals from years of observing wild horses, and how they build trust and leadership with each other.
Everything I teach rests on what she taught me. I’m proud to carry it forward with her.
Visit Carolyn Resnick Liberty Horsemanship
What I believe
Leadership isn’t domination. A horse doesn’t need you to be louder. He needs you to be clear, calm, and present.
Most problems aren’t training problems. They are relationship problems. Fix the relationship, and the training gets easier.
Every horse wants to be understood. Our job is to learn to listen.