The Bonder

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

>The Bonder process is merely foundational. Marv makes that very clear.>

I'm sorry, Shannon, if I misread Marv in any way, but I didn't find that it
was "very clear" from the site nor from his post.  I haven't been to a
clinic, so I don't know whether it was made clear there.


>I chose to use the bonder because 1) it focuses on the horse's
brain...instead of running them into the ground and 2) because Marv is
honest about results and how to get them and what to do when you don't get
them.>


I'm afraid that I just don't follow the logic of round-penning as a method
of "natural horsemanship".  There is nothing natural about running a horse
around a lunge ring.  End of Story.  It might be a gentler way of breaking
than some of the harsh methods of the past, some of which are still in use
today, but it is not, to my way of thinking, nearly as natural a way of
bonding as going OUT with your horse.


>I agree with all of the physical things you have all mentioned about
spooking, but an overwhelming number of horses out there just plain need a
leader.>

Maybe, maybe not.  If your horse is a natural alpha, then you're just going
to confuse the hell out of him by trying to be alpha yourself.  In the wild,
there would probably be a huge stallion fight about this.  You have
prevented it by taming the horse.  Don't make the mistake of assuming that
this horse will simply accpet you as "alpha" as a result.  I've thought
about this, and watched a heap of horses relating to their owners, and I've
come to my own conclusions.  I may be way off base, but I'll share them
anyway.


The "alpha" horses that I have seen who are the happiest, and the easiest to
handle, are not those who have learned to accept their owners as "alpha",
but those whose owners have learned to work WITH the horse.  This doesn't
mean that the owner has to pussy-foot around the horse and be trodden on,
but simply that, with this kind of horse, you work differently - you outfox
them, and out-think them, rather than tell them what to do.  NH says this is
wrong, as it's not how the herd works, but at the end of the day, by taming
the horse, and taking him out of his natural environment, and asking him to
do what we've asked, we're really removing him so far from the herd that
doing something else which is "unnatural" is not such a big step, is it?


>The Bonder sort of inserts you in the herd as that alpha mare....I'm alpha
mare everywhere else...why not with my horse?! ROFLOL ;o)   Now, when we
approach a booger on the trail or elsewhere (and we ride around heavy
construction and development and traffic & Ranger is only gonna be 4 in
Oct.), Ranger flicks an ear back at me to see how he is going to react.  It
is a wonderful side effect of being my horse's leader...as well as him
coming to me when he sees me in the pasture (I used to spend 2or more hours
chasing him if he was out there), him respecting my space while leading, him
allowing me to handle him all over and responding quietly and willingly and
well...you get the picture...he's a different, better horse. >


You're fortunate that Ranger is willing to accept you as alpha.  I have the
same reaction from PG.  He is a follower, not a leader.  I don't get that
from Toc.  Both are safe, bombproof horses, who will face really spooky
things, but the approach I took with them was different.  With PG, I say
"it's okay" and he says "great, let's go".  With Toc I used to say "it's
okay" and he says "and what do you know anyway : I need to check this out
for myself".  So, with Toc I now say "what do you think, boy, we gonna do
this thing?".  Nine times out of ten, he goes "of course we're gonna do this
thing, now you just sit tight and let me handle it".  On the tenth occasion,
I let him suss it out from all angles, mull it over, and decide for himself.
It's a longer process, but he will do what I ask, eventually.  And without a
fight.


>I just don't have time YET for hours of training every day.>


Doesn't take hours.  The time comes in weeks, months, years, not in hours.


>I'm not Marv, so I can make a shameless plug and say that I truly believe
that this is mostly because of the bonder and the relationship it has
fostered with my horse in such a simple manner.


I'm glad his methods worked for you, Shannon.  I'm sure they'd work for
others, as well, but I do not believe they'd work for all.  That was the
only point I was making in my earlier post.  Of course, I've now opened a
whole new can of worms ("unnatural horsemanship"), but what the hell, I've
been on holiday, I'm refreshed, I can take the flaming....


Tracey