Helping Horses & Humans
Around The World
Quickly Past Attention, Trust,
Fear & Respect Issues
NOTICE: THIS PROCEDURE IS *NOT* INTENDED FOR USE WITH MENTALLY ILL, OR AGGRESSIVELY RANK, OR HORMONALLY UNBALANCED MARES WITH OVARIAN CYSTS. THESE HORSES, AND PERHAPS SOME OTHERS, REQUIRE EXTREMELY EXPERIENCED HANDLING AND TREMENDOUS CAUTION.
IF YOU PARTICIPATE IN EQUINE ACTIVITIES YOU ***WILL*** BE INJURED AT SOME POINT, AND THOSE INJURIES CAN RANGE FROM MINOR CUTS, ABRASIONS AND/OR CONTUSIONS TO DEATH..
AGAIN, IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF *IF* YOU WILL BE INJURED BUT *WHEN*
YOU ACCEPT ALL RISKS INHERENT IN THE USE OF THIS PROCEDURE. THIS PROCEDURE WORKS SO SMOOTHLY YOU MAY BE LULLED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. ***ALL*** HORSES ARE SUBJECT TO UNPREDICTABLE OR UNEXPECTED REACTIONS
This procedure is now fully explained and demonstrated in these and other DVDs.
Establishing a mental connection with a horse is absolutely necessary for bringing out the best in both horse and human. The more mentally connected they are to each other (or as we humans like to say, "bonded"), the better the communication between the two. In a mentally connected relationship the constant exchange of information overcomes fear, confusion and anxiety. When these barriers are dealt with, rapid progress can be made because the time wasted on the "just doesn't seem to get it" obstacles is spent far more productively. Since a mentally connected relationship improves as it ages, comeraderie and learning speed increases.
"Bonding" to use that term for an awesome mental connection is an area of differing opinions both in what it is and how to achieve it. Some point to their horse's nickering to them, walking up to them, hanging around them while they are in the horse's area and the fact that they "just feel such a rapport" with the horse as proof their horse has bonded to them or is in the process of bonding to them. Many feel if they are able to get along with the horse with a minimum of hassle they have bonded.
I believe a VERY HIGH percentage of horses are not "broke". Most horses do not have a bonded sense of partnership with humans. This is evidenced in any number of handling & training problems. You may be able to get the horse to accomplish all sorts of things and it still might not be "broke". If a horse has disrespect issues (moving into your space, improper leading, moving away from saddling, bridling or grooming in the apparent absence of injury, barn sour, herd bound) for instance, it is not "broke." You may be able to fling the horse to victory or do any number of things with it, but it is not "broke". Most horse problems I deal with are the result of a horse not being "broke".
How can you end up being able to get a horse to the point where you can ride it and accomplish things with it and still not have it "broke"? I'd have to say it's success. Success is the number one reason, as I see it, that so many people have problems with horses. How can that be? Well, we start a horse on Monday and he lets us put the bridle and saddle on and even lets us get on him and go twice around wherever. Success. On Tuesday we start teaching him to steer and he goes around fairly well. Success. By Saturday, we're all the way up to proper leads, canter departs, roll backs, what have you. Success.
We get rolling along on our wave of success. Sometimes luck holds out and we're able to get all the way to the ribbons or wherever else we're heading. Many times our success turns on us when we least expect it. We may be going around a barrel or doing a shoulder-in and wham! We then get focused in on the turn or shoulder-in as the culprit when in actuality the initial bitting "success" months before may be the problem. The horse accepted the bit under optimum conditions only to have it fall apart down the line. He was never "broke" to the bit...he accepted it but he wasn't "broke.
"Bonding" or connecting with a horse works the same way. Just because a horse *appears* to be bonding doesn't mean it is. For the purposes of this discussion, I define "bonding" as that state where both horse and human are of one mind with the horse willing to be, and content to be, the mirroring partner. Expanding further, it should include what I call the "mother mentality". The horse should ACT like a mother. Not BE a mother, ACT like a mother in that a mother pretty much tolerates anything a kid does. The kid can climb on her, play, do whatever and the mother pays no attention...until the kid says, "MOM!" I want the horse to tolerate whatever I do (within reason of course) and only give me his attention when I mention his name by giving him a direction or cue. Since horse human relations consist of streams of directions and cues, he gives me his attention constantly.
When I can do whatever I want to the horse short of hurting it or demanding it accept something it is unable to do, the horse has "mother mentality". When the horse has mother mentality toward another being, it is bonded, or connected to that being.
Bonding can be predictably, rapidly and verifiably accomplished in less than an hour with practically any horse by utilizing eons-old horse herd dynamics in a psychological pattern that unifies the horse with its herd or human acting as the herd leader would act. The horse willingly gives its compliance in return for a sense of place and belonging - a productive member of the herd.
For eons and eons horses have been herd animals. In nature, the horse MUST be part of a herd to survive for any length of time. In the herd is his life. There is safety on numbers. He has more eyes and ears available to watch for predators. He can sleep and eat more because predator watch is shared by other herd members. If a predator comes, he only needs to be faster and warier than the less capable members of the herd. If he is alone, he is as good as dead when danger threatens.
In return for this security, he must comply with a very rigid scenario - either lead or follow. When presented with the actions of a leader, the horse genetically has two options - become the leader or become the follower. When we use herd dynamics and exhibit leader actions, the horse reacts to the leader actions.
Because we have greater reasoning ability than the horse we can set up a situation where he has only one reaction when presented with leader actions and that is following the leader's lead. If he chooses to comply quickly, good. If he chooses to try to become the leader we defuse that by refusing to comply with his actions. If we don't comply, he is not a leader. Since a horse is either a leader or he's not, and we deny him compliance, he is left with one option - since he was unable to become leader, he must become a follower.
Click here for herd dynamic over view in a new window.
In any relationship there always has to be a leader. The one who is the most capable of making decisions must be the leader or confusion reigns. Since the horse is incapable of making beneficial decisons in the human world, the human must be the leader. In order for the human to lead the horse, the human must be able to communicate with the horse. There must be a flow of information between the two beings. This flow opens up wide avenues for both parties. Both parties become one unit. When that happens, they are bonded.
What follows is my herd dynamics bonding scenario. It is a narration of the results I get 100% of the time. This bonder is, in essence, the sequence I use to develop initial bonding. There are some variables in the length of time between stages and how the horse acts between the stages, but, so far it has not failed to produce bonding and a strong willingness toward submissive cooperation in a VERY short time for me.
This is ONLY the bonder which is but a small part of the Awareness Horsemanship techniques. The bonder is the foundation on which everything else is based.
While the idea enclosure for this procedure is a round pen, it is NOT a round pen exercise. Any enclosure large enough to keep the horse away from you until it shows you the respect you want and small enough to be able to control the horse will do. The object is to control the body by controlling the mind NOT control the mind by wearing down the body. Ideally, the slower and calmer you can perform the procedure the better.
There are many extras I would do in a clinic. There is quite a bit of theory involved in what I do. Nothing complicated or involved, just fairly intensive. I cover pre-evaluating the horse. I teach knowing what the horse is like before we begin bonding so that we have something concrete to compare to afterwards. We look at the shape of its head, facial features, eyes, length of mouth, position and location of ears, how it is moving, its apparent mental state and so on. All of these factors have a bearing on the way the horse is going to go through the bonding process...not whether or not it WILL go through, but HOW. Some horses take longer to between the stages, some are more cooperative and so on.
My partner in the horses, as well as a couple of other businesses, Kellie Sharpe, likes to tell folks to be aware of tension signs before you begin the procedure...expanded eyes, tightened lips, drawn up stomach, jerky movements, rapidly flicking ears, quick blinks, etc...and to look to these areas for signs of acceptance...eyes soft, lips "flopping", stomach swaying to the stride, smooth movements, steady ears, etc...to help you gauge your progress.
This bonder as presented is also intended for horses who have reached a somewhat mature mental state. It is not for weanlings or babyish acting young ones. Those animals are susceptible to the bonder, but require a different bonder application. Foals and yearlings rely on throwing themselves on the mercy of more dominant horses. They communicate this action by popping their gums which is saying, "I'm just a little baby...be gentle with me!" Adult horses, when confronted with the same action that promotes gum popping in young horses, tend to respond either with, "Okay, I'll comply," or "I will overpower your action". Two year olds are like teenagers in that they mentally bounce between being a child and being an adult. The trick in dealing with two-three year olds is to be able to tell which side of maturity the horse is on at any given moment which may be difficult.
Using the bonder on young horses requires a very laid back, almost indifferent approach. The bonder is best performed low-key and matter of factly with all horses but young immature horses require an almost feather light approach.
If you have a horse that is exceptionally anxious you may want to adjust the bonder accordingly. The bonder does not need to be done all at once. With a highly agitated horse, you might increase the initial distance by staying on one side of the pen and gradually claiming the middle as the horse accepts your presence. If you have a horse that is blindly circling or racing around the pen erratically you can stop the circling by claiming a wedge of the pen for your own and not allowing the horse to enter it. As soon as you decide to stop a wildly circling horse, quickly get to the spot it was leaving when you made the decision so that when it comes around again you'll be there. Let the horse know that is your area and if it comes into your area there will be trouble. Leave yourself enough room between you and the pen fence so that if the horse's momentum carries it into your section, you can let it go by.
Taking a wedge means thinking of the RP as a pie and the wedge as a piece of the pie. You stand in the wedge halfway between the center and the fence and prevent the horse from entering the wedge. If you prevent it from entering your wedge it will retreat in the other direction. Occupy the wedge until the horse calms. Then you can resume the bonder from the center.
This bonder as it is set up, is for 3 year olds and up. (I don't know why the first draft said yearlings. It works on them, just isn't as predictable.) It is for horses of all levels of training. It is designed to instill a mental bonding between horse and human. It puts you one with your horse...it is a platform, a spring board to a mind boggling unity.
The bonding process itself is pretty concrete. It is a sequence of acheiving and passing through different stages of herd dynamic negotiation that establishes a leader/herd member relationship where the horse looks for and accepts the wishes of the leader. The bonding aspects are also pretty straight forward. This bonder *WILL* mentally join you to your horse. It is up to you to recognize and maintain that bond. You recognize the bond by the changes in the horse and in you. You maintain that bond by tuning yourself into what that horse is saying and doing and acting accordingly in a positive manner.
Since the bonder involves horses and requires some horse handling abilities, it is important to know that if you engage in horse handling activities you accept the risks involved. Having personally known people who have both been killed and vegetated by horses, it is my desire to lessen these occurrences. Your safety is the first concern. The safety of the horse is a close second.
I want to stress again that I have yet to have a problem or to have the bonder fail from the moment the nuances of it fell into place for me. But I am VERY, VERY experienced with horses and this procedure. Properly performed, this procedure goes so smoothly it is very possible to be lulled into a false sense of security. You must keep in mind, horses are known for unexpected and unpredictable actions. Be sure you take all possible safety precautions.
I used to say, "The ideal bonding area is a 60 foot diameter round pen." That was when I was relying on mental measuring. Having since worked tape-measured 60' pens, I've revamped my ideal. The ideal bonding area is a round pen large enough to keep the horse a safe distance away from you for as long as you wish, yet small enough you don't get exhausted moving around in it. My new ideal is somewhere around 50'. (Oh yes, those 10' DO make a major difference.)
The smaller the round pen, the more centrifical force and physical strain there is on the horse as it moves. Since we hope to keep the horse's speed to a minimum, joint strain is usually not a factor to worry about. Larger breeds are at a disadvantage in smaller pens and cannot move as freely as smaller breeds. The larger the round pen the more difficult it is to control the movements of the horse. The pen does not have to be "round". In the absence of a round pen I have used other enclosures and even made temporary ones in the corner of a larger arena using jumps, boards, pallets, ropes, whatever I could find to keep the horse contained. I have no problem with corners, others may. If the horse sticks in the corners find something to put in the corners that will prevent the horse from "hiding" in them. Ideally, the horse should be unable to get farther than 30 feet from you at anytime and you should be able to keep a similar safety distance between you until the horse asks if is okay to approach you.
We begin the bonder...
I take the horse into the round pen and set it free. Nothing on the horse... no halter, no leadline, nothing. I move to the center of the pen and wait for a few moments. I allow the horse to do whatever it wants. If it wants to stand, run, hang over the rail, whatever, so be it. I try to not look directly at the horse during this time, but I usually watch him out of the corner of my eye. I want to give him every opportunity to acknowledge my presence even though I know he's not likely to. And if he does acknowledge my presence and comes over and acts buddy buddy, I'm not going to accept that anyway...because it is an action he chooses to suit his own whims. I don't want buddy buddy. I want "What is your wish?"
My goal is to have the horse obviously come up to me and patiently await my directions. If through some quirk of fate, the horse does do that initially without any previous herd dynamic before, I will still insist we go through the bonder so that the horse and I both have the memory of the sequence and effects. I want the horse to discover I *KNOW* how to be a leader and I have the ability to lead.
Now then, if the horse has been through the bonder previously (either with me or someone else) and the horse obviously comes up to me and patiently awaits my directions, I will accept that and act accordingly until it demonstrates it's having second thoughts. But since we're talking previously unbondered horses here, I don't accept apparent acceptance of my leadership.
THE HORSE MUST *DEMONSTRATE* ITS ACCEPTANCE BY GOING THROUGH THE PROCESS. It simply must go through channels, to use a cliche.
The horse ignores me for the most part and I ignore him. This is as far from bonding as we can get. I don't think he really cares because his actions say he doesn't. I'm the last thing on his mind. There are far more important things around than me. "That's my buddy, Bosco, over there! Hi Bosco!!!" The rails on the pen are more important than I am. Heck, something moving on the next farm is more important than I am. If he does have any interest in me, it's usually "Anything in this for me?"
He may be content with this situation, but I'm not. And if he was in a herd ignoring the higher members of the herd so blatantly, they wouldn't like it either. Even though he and I are the only ones there, we are a herd. Since every herd needs a leader (that's nature's way, actually, nature's **law**) and he and I are the only two candidates, one of us better step up to the plate and hit the ball or we will be out.
Chances are good people have been letting HIM hit the ball all his life. But people, as a rule, don't understand the leader game and act unpredictably. The horse acts like a horse, the human acts like a human. Two different species. There is no unity there. No bond. The human has no idea what the horse is saying when it enters the human's space without regard. The human does not react in a manner the horse expects. The result is confusion. The horse does not respect the human because they have not gone through the respect or bonding interaction ages of genetics have instilled in the horse. It may tolerate the human all day long, day in and day out, and still not respect the human. It has not worked out the ranking order in an instinctive manner, therefore, it is not totally certain how to act toward the human.
As I said, he's ignoring me and I'm tapping my foot (figuratively) in annoyance. Since I'm not happy and have greater reasoning abilities than he does, I want to fix this problem. First, I have to make him aware there *is* a problem and that I'm not happy about it. So, I mentally cloud up and rain and tell him, "I am NOT happy. You are ignoring me and because you are doing that, I want you to leave now!" I will do whatever it takes to get him to move away and keep moving. I look into his eyes and glare at him as I advance toward him in an "I'm just going to chew on you awhile" manner. If he is moving already as if looking for a way out of the pen to greener pastures, I let him move and keep looking directly at him. As long as he's moving the way I want, I stay in the middle of the pen. I only leave the middle to signal him to do something and then return as quickly as I can.
MOST of the time I need nothing other than my mental energy and body language to get the horse to move away and keep moving until I say otherwise. There are those horses who require a little more effort to get moving for whatever reason. For those, I do what it takes to get them to move around the pen. If a horse does not move without serious physical pushing (waving a whip, tossing a rope, etc.) it is doing more than ignoring you. It is ignoring you AND challenging you to do something about it at the same time. You then have to step up the energy and the body language to the point it takes to get him to move away.
(UPDATE) Previously it was not real clear about the use of whips, ropes, etc, to direct the more "resistant" horse. I personally seldom had to resort to a rope, or whip and in the interest of striving for perfection I preferred to downplay their use. However, in the round pen teaching someone how to do it, I discovered having something they were used to and understood handy gave them more confidence.During a clinic in Wisconsin I was working with an experienced horsewoman, who wasn't using a whip, and an off the range mustang. As she moved toward it to make the horse move it backed toward her and mule kicked at her head missing her so close I thought she had been kicked in the face. After that, I make sure everyone has a whip, (and use one myself to demonstrate its use) and get them to use it as a physical extension of their arm. Use whatever you need to use to control the horse while keeping a safe distance. At all times you want to strive toward using JUST the amount of pressure needed to get the job done. If he's moving, stop exerting the pressure. If he stops doing what you want, apply it.
Usually, his eyes get big and he acts surprised by me telling him to get out of my sight, which he is, and since he's surprised and caught off guard by my displeasure he complies with my wishes. This is his way of saying, "Forget you! You are nothing! I will just leave you here all alone to think about *your* attitude! Humph!"
(UPDATE) I said earlier that the horse has only two options when presented with the actions of a leader and they are become the leader or follow. If he chooses the become the leader option he may immediately move in on you with a "I'll show you whose leader, let's you and I duke it out for the job" attitude. In nature the two leader wannbes would close in to each other and start exchanging blows until one gives up or is severely injured. You don't need to be rocket scientist to figure out that isn't too smart for a human to do. So you move around and come at him from the side and apply your pressure directly into his side. When he moves to set up again, you move to his side again. This defeats the duking it out option, you're doing all the duking. Since he cannot over power you (hopefully) you have removed his leader option. The only thing left is follower. At that point he retreats to reassess the situation.
My visual (eye to eye contact mixed with focusing just behind his shoulder) & physical pressure at this point says, "No, you will not leave me here, I will just follow right along behind you! I'm not quite done with you yet!" Since I am standing pretty much in the center of the circle he's making, I am always the same distance behind him no matter how long or how fast he goes. He is not able to leave me in the dust.
Since horses are pretty intuitive he soon thinks, "Oh! Oh! I am not getting away! He is still the same distance behind me! I have a problem!" At that moment, I have become something very important to him. So important, he dedicates one of his ears to me. The other ear whips and wanders, the ear closest to me focuses on me. Yes, I am suddenly very important. I must be dealt with in some manner. If he does not get me to call off the chase, my displeasure will land on him. He is in danger of me catching him.
(UPDATE) The ear does not have to be on me continously to meet this condition, just the greater part of the time.
The purpose is not to wear the horse down or exhaust him. It is merely to set up thinking opportunities. I seldom let a horse go around more than 4-6 times in one direction before I change his direction. I change his direction by going to the opposite edge of the pen from where he's at when I decide to change the direction. As he comes around he'll see me moving to cut him off and he'll stop and go back the way he came. Each direction change is a stop, turn and think breather. If the horse is getting too warm and or tired, I don't let him make any laps, I turn him repeatedly on one half, or smaller, sections of the pen. I refer to this turning him back and forth along one small section of the pen as "arcing". If he is getting far too tired or overheated, I will even stop for the time being, the day, whatever it takes. There is no failing with this bonder. You gain something toward bonding no matter where you stop the session.
Often he will take a look at me as he's going around to see if he can pick up a clue on how to deal with me, he may even start making the circle smaller in a "You're joking, aren't you?" manner. When he looks at me I signal him to keep moving. That tells him there is no doubt I'm not joking and he keeps moving.
At this point he starts blaming me for his problem. He may pin his ears, snake his head at me, come closer and cow kick at me, flip his butt at me, any combination of threat signals to tell me he's not pleased either. He's saying, "This is all your fault! I think I'll just sail in there and mud pie you so easy!" I am not the blame for his problem, he is. He is in the presence of a horse-acting-like being who is insisting he follow nature's law often expressed as "Lead, follow or get out of the way!" and he is not complying with the law.
Let's examine lead, follow or get out of the way. He can't lead - he gave up that option by acknowledging I was superior enough to him to get him to leave in the first place. He can't get out of the way - the enclosure prevents that. The only choice he has left is to follow. Nature and his genetics and my will say that is his ONLY option. Nature has programmed him to follow. AND HE WILL DO THAT. I can take any number of horses who are not mentally-ill or hormonally unbalanced, set them up in a lead, follow or get out of the way situation and they ALL will follow. Some will follow more quickly and willingly than others, but they will all follow. Now, I need to backtrack a little...Do I KNOW it works on all horses? No. I haven't worked all horses yet. I do know that this bonder has worked on ALL the horses I've used it on.
I ignore his threats which tells him, "No, you won't do any of that, you'll just keep going." If it is a fairly strong threat in that he starts for me, I glare at him and close in on him which says, "If you come into me, you will really have problems!" I only move enough towards him to convince him I am *willing* to mix it up. Since he told me he was uncertain of how to deal with me at the beginning of the bonder and acknowledged that uncertainty by moving away, I can be reasonably sure he is *still* uncertain and will veer off at the first sign I'm prepared to retaliate. Under no circumstances do I put myself close enough to him at this point for him to reach me. If I feel I need to confront a half-hearted aggressive advance and enforce compliance, I will approach from the side, his least defensible area.
The threats, tantrums, agression *displays* are a normal reaction on the part of the horse but some horses do not exhibit these behaviors. They go from fleeing to acceptance fairly quickly and cooperatively.
At this point he's ready for the next stage. He'll shake his head, mutter and mumble under his breath and then his mouth will visibly start working. You may even see teeth and tongue. Once you see the mouth movement he's thinking, "Sheesh! Tried everything I can think of to get him to do what *I* want him to do, nothing worked. Maybe I better try to get along with him..."
"I know! I'll just tell him I'm an easy going ol' grass eater and I really think we'd do better if he and I agreed to be a team and I'm willing to let him lead the team." He lowers his head as he moves, which in effect, tells me that. Head-lowering is head lowering. He may skim his nose along the ground, or may just lower it somewhere below his normal carry height. Once we have reached that stage I let him make another lap, maybe two and then I turn my back on him and wait a few moments for him to come up behind me and tell me he's there. I like to have him make an effort to come to me because it shows a little more determination to bond on his part. However, if he does not, I casually walk directly in front of him at a 45% angle from his shoulder. At that point he usually falls in behind me and follows me willingly around the pen. We have bonded. We are one unit, our spirits have blended, our minds have met and come to agreement.
(UPDATE) A number of people have told me they got everything else but there was no licking and chewing. I have done this procedure so many times, I know what to look for and it, like head lowering, is always there. Giving it some thought, I probably should say ANY mouth action is "licking and chewing" because some horses do it so imperceptibly if you are not looking very closely, you will miss it. At a recent clinic, I had one horse that chewed constantly but the owner couldn't see it. Another horse was flicking his tounge out like a snake and everyone could see it. It is a matter of degrees. Any lip action is sufficient. If the horse is complying and you haven't seen mouth action, you probably just missed it.
If the horse watches you attentively but seems reluctant to follow you, it may be that you have not convinced it that it is an accepted part of the herd. What I do if I feel that is the case, is short-arc the horse. I send the horse out and then change its direction as rapidly as I can until the horse stops and looks at me. At that point I nonchalantly walk up and slowly walk away. The horse will almost always follow at that point.
(UPDATE) Sometimes it helps to gently reach under the horse's jaw and momentarily guide it or "unlock" it as you move away. You should be able to tell within half a step if the horse is going to follow. If it doesn't, try another unlocking touch. Another tip that helps is to remember to initially lead in a direction that requires a one direction movement for the horse to follow. If you lead away too abruptly it may be too distracting if the horse has to move its front feet in one direction and its hind feet in another direction to follow. Another little tip is to lean your upper body *slightly* forward as you start to move and to lead off with the leg that is on the same side as the leg the horse would need to move first to comply. This takes advantage of mirroring.
When this stage is arrived at he has accepted me as leader and will tolerate, for the most part, anything I do to him short of causing him pain. I say for the most part because if I grab a spook sheet and pop it on him he may get uneasy and move away. If he does, I send him out for a couple more laps. He often shakes his head side to side (Hmmm..why did I do that? I'm back out here again!" or whips his nose in a circle ("Ooops..screwed up, sorry." ) After he does a couple laps, I ignore him again and let him come in. If he doesn't, I angle across him and he follows along. Then I flap the sheet again or do whatever made him leave.
It takes more to make him leave each time he returns and he returns faster each time he leaves until he is leaving and returning so quickly, it is but a slight movement. Usually by that time, he much more willingly allows me to do pretty much what I want to do to him. I have free access to his mouth, his nostrils and his ears. This attitude carries over to other things as well, his first saddling, a new training bit and so on. As time goes on and you actively watch and listen to all of his movements with a "What is he saying when he does this?" attitude and then acting accordingly on that information, the bond you have forged will strengthen.
The rapport this bonder generates between horse and human is so moving, I have difficulty getting the human's feet back on the ground. A feeling I know all too well. I feel such an emotional connection to each horse I bond with that I almost zone out.
Seeing the look on a student's face when she gets on her formerly antsy horse all by herself with no one helping for the first time ever, having to threaten a rider off her horse because she is in Nirvana trotting her best ever 20 meter circle over and over, being able to take a highly agitated horse and with a mere touch having it calm immediately, is truly spirit blending and electrically mental.
This bonder should take less than one hour from start to finish. It does depend on the individual horse. Some horses will take longer than others, but 30 minutes is about average for me if I do not have to do a lot of explaining to observers. This bonder is but one part of a series of complimentary scenarios that are designed to build unity between horse and human. A unity that will enable them to work together as one in anything they go on to do.
(UPDATE) The bonder is not an exercise and is ONLY intended to be done when you feel you and your horse are having communication problems and then it only needs to be done until the horse exhibits compliance. Touch ups, if needed will be needed less and less and will take less time to perform. My formerly nutso riding mare has never needed a touch up. One of the colts needed it about every three days but it got to the point where heading to the round pen was enough.
If in reading this bonder narration, you feel there is something that needs to be clarified or addressed, please let me know. I invite you to join my Horses Discussion List which has a considerable collection of experienced bonder believers where all manner of horse subjects are welcomed. If you're interested in attending or possibly hosting a clinic in your area, I'll be glad to talk to you.
I also am available to discuss your horse problems by phone. Should you feel the need to talk to me, I am usually home most evenings from 9pm to 12 midnight EST. Of course, you may call during the day, but I'm not always here during the day. (770) 760-9561 in the US.
Good luck...keep me informed.
Marv Walker
This procedure is now demonstrated on the following videos.