Reply to rearing ~ Hey, Jim...

[Marv Walker <Marv@MarvWalker.com>]

At 10:00 PM 6/26/01 -0400, Jim Holland wrote:
>Marv...

>(Snipped content)

>Please do not confuse "whipping" with correction.  I would NEVER abuse a
>horse....or any other animal...and I resent your implication here. Get
>your facts straight and learn about the technique before you criticize.
>
>I just bought a 4 year old....it took me 10 minutes to teach him to
>load....and I rapped him on the cannon bones just twice.  He now steps
>right on with a kiss....and while I was at it, I taught him to come off
>with a tug on his tail.
>
>What method do YOU use?  After this post, I'm REALLY interested! <grin>
>
>Regards, Jim

I just went through my "Out" mailbox and looked over the email you're 
referring
to.  No matter how I try, I can't seem to find your name in it anywhere.  I 
spose
if I really analyzed it I could probably find something in it that might be 
construed
to be directed at you personally.  But since I didn't discuss you 
personally and
addressed the concept of "whipping" of a horse to get it to load I'm not 
going to
spend too much time looking.

Until your email came bouncing back on my screen, I had no idea who wrote it.
I don't care.  I pay little attention to who the author is.  I try to 
address the concept
and leave the individual alone.  If you're not "whipping" your horse don't 
jump on
the bait.  Not everything that comes across your monitor is directed at you 
personally.

We're on these lists to learn and to hopefully make things better for 
ourselves and
our horses.

Some of us have longer teeth than our horses and we have the luxury of saying,
"Well, maybe when he said whipping, he really meant tapping."  And then 
there is
JoEllen Newbee who doesn't have the same amount of experience we do.  To her,
whipping may NOT mean tapping and when her horse doesn't load, she doesn't 
tap.
And then when her horse doesn't load she thinks, "Hmmm...must not be whipping
hard enough."

Since you asked...

I establish a leadership connection with my horse which then allows me the 
control
horses give herd leaders.  I then move that control into the trailer.

Take care,

Marv "I may not look like a horse, but I can convince a horse I am one." Walker