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Re: [RC] Being the Herd Leader - Marv WalkerABut whichever type of headgear anybody may choose to use to communicatewith their horses, they are decieving themselves if they don't acknowlege that this is a HUMAN communication tool, and that for it to be effective at all, the horse must learn "human." Round pens, halters, carrot sticks, EVEN just raising your hand are all human tools. Horses don't have round pens, halters, carrot sticks or hands.
I'm not challenging here, just questioning; email doesn't present tones well. The devices you mention, and others, are physical controllers. We use them to apply force in some manner. Since we don't have the speed and the obvious indicators that a horse actually has we have to adapt and grab a tool(s) as an extension of our being to make up for our shortcomings. We also can use the tools as signals. When you feel this, do this. THAT is the same thing a lead mare does. The fact that I'm using something different than the mare to get the point across does not mean the horse doesn't think I'm a horse. If I use a round pen to create a barrier area of my own choosing, it doesn't make me unhorse like since the herd dynamic ACTIONS are what I'm presenting. If I use a longe whip to quickly increase my reach, I'm merely substituting that for my teeth and hooves. It is the actions that are important not the mirroring. When we drag a horse into our world and expect it to conform in the normal horse training sense we strive to reach a happy medium over time. Some do. Most don't. They send any horse they can't reach that happy medium with down the road, reproduce it or whatever. For every 1,000 horses in existence I'd be real surprised if 20 of them have reached the happy medium point. There are those who have reached the happy medium point and they are going along just fine, more power to them. If it ain't broke, I'm the first to say, don't fix it. But if you want an easier, smoother, faster way to quickly go beyond the happy medium point, then I suggest YOU go out into the HORSE'S world and become a leader being. You establish leadership and control of the horse in its world then you lead it into the human world. It isn't the fact that people don't understand it that makes them feel inadequate. It is the desire to do it when they cannot that makes them feel inadequate. I have seen moose treat a guy with moose antlers on his head like they would another moose. There are goose decoys the size of VWs. There are documented instances where plains dwelling Indians crawled among buffalo herds with just a hide draped over them. Marv "Not sure if a horse thinks I'm a horse or not, but it sure acts like it does." Walker
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