Hello again. Well, my post on Tuesday sure kicked up a bit of a storm judging by all your comments. Thank you so much for these and it’s great to see such lively debate.

I want to make it clear though that I am not condemning the use of round pens entirely. They certainly do have their place in training and I use them extremely regularly. What I am saying is that, in my personal opinion, they are not the place to start building the bond with a horse that I believe is absolutely essential to any sort of shared performance. So let me talk a little about bonding.

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The old system of round penning has been glossed over by fancy words. I remember when I was a child, I was told that a round pen was used for breaking a horse’s spirit. Then it was shortened to “breaking a horse,” and today it is said to be a way to start a horse that would “develop a bond.”

Round pens and ropes are wonderful tools but the most misused. Ropes are many times used to jerk a horse into submission. Round pens are too often used as a tool to gain a horse’s trust by the horse running himself ragged into submission. The round pen was designed so that the human can always influence the horse and the horse can never escape his handler’s influence. This is too much pressure on a horse to start a proper relationship with him. The bond gained from the inability to escape is created from a dominant leadership pursuit. This is not natural or easy on a horse. I clearly would not use one to start a relationship with a horse. It isn’t easy on a horse nor is it natural.

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Hello again. Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments about my plans for a school. Of course, its early days and we need to find the funding to make it all happen but your kind words are very encouraging.

Today, I want to share a story with you that was sent in by Katie from northern California. Katie’s story just shows what can be done if you just go out and follow what’s in my book and in my DVD’s. You will see how much and how fast her relationship with her horse, Picasso, changed just by doing these simple Rituals. She also has a similar success with a couple of wild paint colts she was hired to gentle.

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The Sorraia Center for Equine Facilitated Learning

At the end of 2008, an apprentice student Virginia Vassette came to me and presented architectural plans for a horsemanship school I had talked to her about in our Self Realization and spiritual evolution course. Virginia put my dream down on paper as her project design for her graduation term paper from San Diego Design School. It was a grand surprise!

Because of Virginia’s work and her continued interest in my project and my own desire to have a permanent school for the general public I am now looking forward to bringing the school into operation. So far, people are excited about the school and its purpose. Because the Waterhole Rituals are an evolutionary experience in learning, I envision the school to grow in the same manner.

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Hi again. Continuing on from my post on Tuesday, I’d like to give you my views on how we can best help horses.

We need to change the concept that there is only one right way to approach a horse and that it has already been discovered and that the horse and human must cater to it and that the best method is the fastest method. Fast is not better. Relationship is about time spent in connection. We need to recognize that better horsemanship is achieved through being continually educated by the horse to adjust our leadership to create a true working bond.

By training a horse in the moments he wants to be trained and by taking the time it takes to rebuild his enthusiasm when he stops liking it, we will continue to advance our horsemanship skills and hone our methods and in the process gain a higher consciousness.

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I hope most of you had a chance to listen to the The Path of the Horse Teleseminar Series. I would like to reflect a moment and thank everyone.

Thank you Stormy for hosting and allowing me to reach people on the ways of horses as I hoped I could. Thank you for being the leader that you are and having the strength, the perception and know how to bring a higher consciousness to the equine world. Thank you Mark for bringing the show together for all of us.

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Here is the second part of my New Year message from the heart.

We must spend more time walking in the shoes of our horses to realize how we can bring a better quality life to our equine friend. Though the process of finding a better quality of life for our horses we can find a higher consciousness and a better quality of life for ourselves.

I want people to love horse because of their spirit, depth of character and the magnetic connection we share with them rather than the service we expect from them. What stands in the way of a love connection is expecting a horse to do what he is told and thinking that we have a right… Read more

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