To Search MarvWalker.com Go To Google.com and type site: marvwalker.com followed by the subject you are searching for in the box.
For example: site: MarvWalker.com subject
I have been asked how I control the horse no matter where I'm at and move that control where I want it to be.
Pretty much anyone believes that fear has an odor. I once saw a Far Side cartoon where a house guest is coming into a room only to face the ugly mother of all giant squids taking up half the room. The guest is told, "He's harmless. Just don't show fear. Squids can smell fear!".
Horses can smell fear, uncertainty, or any other emotional reaction that changes one's body chemistry..
The ONLY thing I use a round pen for is to keep the horse far enough away from me it cannot get me and close enough to control the horse WITHOUT BEING PHYSICALLY CONNECTED TO IT..
The round pen simply makes the process faster and easier for ME. I can do the procedure in a hundred acre field of any shape if that is all that's available to me..
I merely want to show the horse that I can control it with touching it..
Since horses are herd animals, and I have presented it with herd leadership actions, it invariably becomes part of the herd and stands by me..
If I work a hundred horses I've never seen before they will all come to that point. Because this has been demonstrated to me and others so many times I am completely comfortable with the result, the location is not a factor, it is merely a location. The horse responds superbly within the enclosure because the human is comfortable where they have obtained the control..
The thing I hear most often is, "Everything fell apart outside the round pen (location)!" And then there is "I was unsure when I was somewhere else!" Uncertainty changes the body chemistry, the horse smells the uncertainty and immediately says by its actions, "Oh, the human is uncertain so I need to be uncertain too.".
See how it works?.
Because I am so experienced in the use of herd dynamics I pay no attention to the location, I only pay attention to the result. The second the result changes I can re-establish the result no matter where the horse and I are at. I can do the herd dynamics presentation on a leadline, end of the reins or the end of a 100 foot longe line IF I HAVE TO..
More often than not, I don't have to. All I have to do is say, "No." My body chemistry changes to irritation and the horse says, "Ooops! The leader is displeased!" When it complies, I'm back to normal and the horse prefers the leader normal..
I have demonstrated this so many times at clinics, and I'm certain there are those reading this who have seen me standing in an arena yammering away with a horse standing quietly and freely at my side the whole time and the horse may idly lower its head to graze to see if there is anything on the ground. I will simply and quietly say, "No," and that head will pop back up to where it was..
There is incredible power in a determined, "No.".
I take the horse from the round pen and the second it acts up it gets a determined, "No." And if it does not comply we immediately head toward the most convenient spot for a herd dynamics touch up..
Using horse loading as an example, I move the horse (control) toward the trailer. The second I feel the control getting iffy, I re-establish the control there if possible. Once the control is re-established I move the under control horse in the direction I want it to go.
I was brought down to Mobile by a lady who mentored a number of 4H clubs to do little appearances between the clubs. We were driving along and she remarked we were going to barn where there was a mare who hadn't loaded in years. I thought, "Okay, no big deal." She said, "A good number of big name gurus have tried to load her with no luck." I thought, "And now it's the little name guru's turn to put up or shut up..."
We get there and I see an unhitched horse trailer out in the middle of a field with a bunch of people settled in for the afternoon to watch the show and I thought, "Yep, it's put up or shut up time..."
We walk up, the young lady hands me the leadline of the mare then scrambles for a seat.
I bent her head to the left a little and then to the right to see if she would lead, no problem. Then I just walked her up to the trailer and she hopped right in. There was whistling, clapping and flashbulbs popping and people came up wanted to know how I put her in the trailer.
I told them I didn't put her in the trailer, she was too heavy for me to lift, she went in on her own. Then I explained that I never expected she wouldn't load but if she refused to move forward at ANY POINT I would stop right there, regain control and ask her for one inch. If she gave me six, golden. But we were not going back or off the track. I unloaded her handed her to the young lady and told her to load her and she did several times because she saw the mare loaded flawlessly and the young lady had no doubt chemicals floating through the air.
Does that make any sense?.
For Further Information Contact Marv Walker 706 816-7190 Evenings 9 to 12 PM
Questions, comments or suggestions
Back to Marv Walker's Index Page