Equestrian Spotlight: Liz DeLuca

Many equestrians talk to our horses, but few of us know how to listen. Liz DeLuca of DeLuca Equine, LLC, in Galway, NY, focuses on hearing what horses are trying to tell us so that she can begin to have conversations. Beginning in the hunter/jumper world, Liz was drawn to natural horsemanship early on and now aims to make it accessible to everyone, helping them to build strong relationships with their horses. 

An equestrian from the very beginning, Liz’s parents owned draft horses and she grew up riding and driving them. “I was probably right out of the womb when I first sat on a horse,” she says with a laugh. Once her passion for horses was evident, she became one of those lucky young horse lovers who received a pony for Christmas, and soon she was riding and driving her new miniature horse all over their property. 

Throughout her childhood, horses and ponies were a constant. As Liz outgrew her ponies, she started taking lessons on off-the-track thoroughbreds and eventually graduated to her own horse, a Paint Horse named Levi. “He’s truly the one who put me on the path of where I am today,” Liz explains. “I did the hunter divisions with him successfully for a while, but after an incident in the schooling ring where he ended up dumping me three times in a row, I knew I needed some serious help! He had a lot of physical and mental baggage that we needed to address before I could be successful with him under saddle.” She methodically worked to gain his trust through groundwork exercises, while expanding his range of motion, and therefore assisting with his physical limitations, with stretches.

For the first time ever, Liz was introduced to natural horsemanship and how groundwork can influence a horse’s behavior. “Everything that I had seen before that were training exercises with no real feedback from the horse. You taught a horse through repetition; there was not a lot of back and forth communication and horses were treated a bit robotically,” she comments. “Natural horsemanship is such a feedback loop. Everything that you do is in response to what the horse is telling you.” 

After seeing how successful natural horsemanship was for Levi, she began to steadily climb into that world, trying to understand and learn as much as she could. She found herself at Higher Ground Farm in Hoosick Falls, NY, where she was able to focus on this new-to-her method of training. She started at Higher Ground as a client, and then became an apprentice, eventually working her way to becoming an assistant trainer. 

“Seeing how I could work through the issues under saddle through groundwork gave me more confidence,” Liz explains. “I began breaking horses and getting horses back on track with quality groundwork, with the preparation on the ground making the under saddle work simple.” She utilized methods from many different natural horsemanship approaches, all focusing on how horses communicate with each other.

She continued to expand her knowledge, enrolling in various clinics and training sessions from a large number of reputable horsemen and women. You can read all about her experiences riding with Clinton Anderson in the popular blog series: Texas Adventures with Downunder Horsemanship. Liz wrote this series when she was a valued employee of The Cheshire Horse, working at Cheshire Horse Saratoga as a Sales Associate. She even went on to train with Clinton and become certified in his method of horsemanship. 

Earning an Equine Business Management Degree from Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, NY, in 2012, Liz constantly looked for ways to integrate horses into her adult life, but had reservations about becoming a trainer. “I resisted horses as a career for a long time. I was afraid to make horses my job and end up losing them as my passion,” Liz told us. “But thankfully my love of horses is actually fueled by my job. I love what I do, and on most days I honestly feel like I don’t even have a job. I can’t believe I get to play with horses all day and work with truly amazing clients.” 

After managing a beautiful Gypsy Vanner farm just outside of Saratoga for five and a half years, Liz decided to pursue her training and lesson business full-time, as well as working on developing sale horses. “I get in a few horses each year that I retrain and sell. I like to get horses who have some sort of baggage or training issue and we work through that together until they are comfortable and confident enough to find another owner.” 

I am a firm believer that there are no ‘problem’ horses, rather they are just misunderstood and often mishandled. I can really test my theory on these horses that groundwork can correct almost any issue you can have with a horse. So far the theory stands true.

Liz Deluca

She has a number of Western, dressage, and hunter/jumper clients. “My work really isn’t discipline-specific,” Liz explains. “Natural horsemanship works with every single horse. I wish more people understood it was for everyone, not just cowboys.” 

It’s not just her clients who are learning from Liz, however. Liz finds that her knowledge base expands with every horse that she works with. “Every horse is a trainer,” she acknowledges. “The best way to learn about horses and natural horsemanship is to get out there and observe what the horses are saying to you. They are always talking to us – it’s just a matter of if we are listening.” Her journey with all the horses she gets to meet has helped her to realize that every horse is an individual, “I am truly learning from all of them.” By closely observing their mannerisms, facial expressions, and changes in behavior, Liz has learned to have two-way conversations with the horses under her tutelage.

She always has the same end goal when working with horses. “I want to create the mind that I want to ride while on the ground. It’s really important to me that I am building trust and confidence between the horse and me, and subsequently between the horse and their owner. I do this by really trying to think like a horse and looking to understand where they are coming from. It is important that I help them to relax and learn to yield to pressure far before we introduce (or reintroduce) the idea of being ridden.” 

“When it comes to working with horses, I pull inspiration from numerous trainers, both in the natural horsemanship realm and across various disciplines. Good horsemanship is good horsemanship, regardless of what type of saddle the horse has on its back. Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, and Warwick Schiller are three horsemen that I always recommend people to look into if they want to deepen their understanding of natural horsemanship. I am always drawn to any philosophy that focuses on trying to keep the horse out of a state of anxiety. That approach really resonates with me because it stops problems from ever occurring in the first place,” Liz tells us. “We ask our horses to live in a human world and place them in very unnatural situations. We owe it to them to help make the adjustment as easy and tension-free as possible.” 

Her goal for the future is to make natural horsemanship a bit more mainstream in her equestrian community and continuing to introduce as many people as possible to the principles and benefits of groundwork. “I don’t think that people realize just how subtle proper groundwork can be,” Liz concludes. “We all strive for the ideal of a ‘horse whisperer,’ but honestly I think the noblest pursuit is to be the best ‘horse listener’ possible. They will teach us far more than we could ever teach them. We just have to be open and present enough to hear what they have to say.”

All Photos Courtesy of ​​Tracey Buyce Photography