Re: RE:Spooking and other things you have asked me about.....

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

Hi, Barb,

>Tracey, I really agree with what you said (copied below).>


Whew!  I was waiting to be flamed, after my last comments about "natural
horsemanship"!

>I really think that most horses will respond with less spookiness, if the
rider spends ALOT of time, one on one with the horse out riding, walking,
grazing, seeing the world.  This takes ALOT ALOT of time.>


And this is why, with all due respect to Marv, this is not advocated at the
NH clinics which are becoming so popular.  People who attend these clinics
want to be told they can cure their horses of vices within an hour / day /
week, not that it will take an indeterminate length of time.  And the fact
that so many clinicians tap into this "quick fix" outlook, and claim to
offer solutions of this nature, is why I am so skeptical.  Again, no fingers
pointed at Marv, just an observation.



>The bonding process should build trust. >


And this is my primary objection to using round pen techniques to overcome
spookiness.  I see a person saying "unless you accept that this thing in my
hand is okay, I'm going to make you run round and round until you submit".
This does not build trust, as far as I can see, it builds up the kind of
blind submission that I would rather my horses did not have.


If you want your horse to trust you, you protect him every time he's scared,
and you don't "punish" him with round penning for showing fear.  The only
time a herd leader pushes a horse out, as far as I can tell, is if he's done
something wrong.

Tracey