I was hoping that either you could offer some suggestions as to resources that I could utilize. I did not expect that you would provide the training protocol yourself. I am truly interested in developing a deep bond with my horses.
It is *my* round pen scenario in that I merely put it in print. Actually, it is a scenario that has been worked out over many thousands of years of horse genetics and interaction dynamics. I have merely been fortunate enough to notice some things that when put together with what others have discovered and used in a set sequence almost guarantee the establishment of an intense mental connection between horse and human. I merely place myself, and teach people how to place themselves, into the dynamics in a way that produces the highest state of harmony between man & animal.
Have you ever seen a huge flock of birds that seem to be one? The whole flock seems to instantly change directions and speed as one. When you watch herds of hundreds of horses running flat out you see a form of this as they seem to flow like water...each drop seeking to be part of the whole.
The bonding scenario I lay out duplicates this phenomena between human and animal. Because we are cross-speciing here, it is not as fluid as within the same specie, but it is a heightened partnership that brings the best of two dissimilar beings together in a manner that appeals to and benefits both.
This scenario is complete in that is the whole bonding procedure from start to finish. It is also general in that there are slight nuances that may change the speed and flow. I repeat the sequence in the same manner every time and let the horse direct what it wants to do. I am only concerned with the sequential stages. What happens between the time I initially send the horse away and I get the validating ear, for instance, is unimportant. It can cuss me, look all over the place, run like a fool, whatever. All I ask is that it keep moving while I wait for that ear to "lock" on me. Once I have the ear, I then want proof that it is interested in figuring out how to come to some sort of agreement with me. I want to see it pondering its situation by working its mouth and how it is obeying my directions. I do not care what happens between those points, that is unimportant. See what I mean about it being a complete, yet a general scenario?
The stages are complete and concrete, the occurrences between them are general.
Because it is a bonding process, (actually, a genetically pre-programmed response to a specific set of actions) not a training process, it works on long trained or green horses, extremely nervous or laid-back horses. It works across the board.
Hmmm, I say flippantly that it works across the board. However if pressed for the answer to the question, "Does it work on all horses?", I'd have to answer, I don't know. I haven't tried it on all horses yet.
I only know that so far, it has not failed. I don't use it all that much on very young horses because I have had no call or need to, and because I like to allow young horses to mature mentally before I ask them to do too much thinking on their own. I would work a yearling, but with more restraint and less expectations. I do not work with any mentally ill horses, they're rare, you'll know one when you see one. Extremely rank horses require catching them off-guard with a "do unto them before they do it to you" approach.
I know the anguish of not seeing the cues. I have run myself and horses ragged until they were almost literally screaming at me..."YOU MORON! WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO DO TO CONVINCE YOU I HAVE THE PROGRAM???" It was only when the proof was so obvious any mouth-breathing cretin would have seen it that I said, "Oh!!! That's interesting!!! Glad YOU got the picture!"
As time went on and I uncovered some more sign posts, or cues, what formerly took hours or days to do began taking mere minutes.
Reread and dissect the scenario and that will help you see the cues easier...the most important being the validating ear, the reflective chewing and the submissive head lowering. Each cue in the sequence tells you you have completed one stage and are into the next.
And, you have not failed yet. You have a mighty good knowledge of what you don't want and when you get what you do want (AND IT IS ONLY MINUTES AWAY!), you will not have to spend too much time convincing yourself you have arrived.
I have given you the "training" protocol for bonding. What is there is what I do. I have held nothing back. I offer no other resources for the procedure because I don't know of any, nor do you need any. The bonding scenario works for me. Period.
I can work any number of horses I have never seen before, tell you what they will each do before I work them. No brag, just fact.
The Bonder info is available for free but I move its location around on occasion because I want to keep track of who has a copy in case I want to add some things to it. You can always find the current location by sending an email request to Marv@MarvWalker.com. Click here to request the Bonder.
If you are unable to achieve what you want, perhaps we can set up a clinic in your area and I'll show you and your friends and neighbors how to easily and rapidly bond with *ANY* horse not mentally ill. Guaranteed. No brag, just fact.
YOU ARE SO CLOSE TO THE RELATIONSHIP YOU SEEK, IT ISN'T FUNNY.