Compostulating With The Times

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Monty, where are you?

I don't think one can argue with saying "Maybe there IS a better way?"

4 comments:

Sherry Sikstrom said...

couldn't get sound on the video, but I beleive I got the gist of it . I have used a scotch hobble (first tool shown) but NEVER in that way , we have worked with a couple young ones who were determined to fight a trimming . We never tied them hard and fast , and always worked them in a soft area . and do not keep agitating them . Not perfect , and we don't use it often but. Like many tools the premise is not so cruel when used in the right hands for the right reasons. What was shown in the video, beyond making no sense whatsoever (no quieting those horses at all) was quite simply over use of the wrong tools in the wrong hands (IMO)

GoLightly said...

Oh, sorry, I forgot, BLAST sound, because it is realllly low.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Yep, I'm with fern...tools used inappropriately.

I grew up with my father using a scotch hobble. Horses were never tied like that, at the worst they were snubbed to a post in the middle of the round corral. But it was a different time, horses were not handled and often we started with 3-4 y/o's that were not even halter-broke.

I was also taught the CORRECT way to use a Running W and I have NEVER seen anyone try to use it without a halter and lead rope or lunge line on the horse's head to maintain the horse moving around you. The goal is never to jerk a horse's front legs out from under them when they are moving away from you like what was shown.

Sure, it looks crueler than round penning a horse into a frenzy or waving a flag or carrot stick around it incessantly and there is a greater chance of physically injuring the horse when used incorrectly...but a ruined horse is a ruined horse...no matter the method employed.

kestrel said...

Hmmm, I went all the way to Calgary to watch ole Monty...and I thought he was a charlatan. He has some good talking points about non aggression, etc., but chousing a horse into trauma bonding is kinda sick. Monty used a bucking dummy on one horse and tormented it into bucking...and used a sash cord gum rope on another. I looked at that horse after the show, and it's gums were bleeding. His Dually halter is a chain over a padded noseband. BFD. It pinches. The chain hung up and didn't release properly, and Money just sidled over and loosened it while keeping up the sales patter, instead of explaining where there might be a problem with the tool and what to look for. Now that may not be blatant abuse, but it scars a horses mind just as bad, and maybe worse, than an outright battle. (Kind of like those people who tell you what a loser you are for your own good...if they'd just hit you it wouldn't do as much damage!)

I've seen horses get disciplined properly and dangerous behavior solved with a scotch hobble, and I've seen them thrown brutally. I've seen round penning done brilliantly, and I've seen horses ruined in one easy session.

Monty's made a lot of money with his 3 day whiz bang training, and I just hate 3 day training programs. I saw his methods in the hands of amateurs ruin some good horses and get some people hurt.

I don't think banning any one tool is going to make much difference, it's all in the person's attitude. Monty has done a good job of getting people to think about kinder ways, and so have the Parrellis. Are their horses happier than the ones trained using Buck Brennaman, Bill Dorrance, or old school English techniques? I'm not seeing it...