horsewhisperer in Monteverde Costa Rica

The Rough Guide to Costa Rica 2004: "...who has several healthy, well-cared for horses..."

FRANK BELL, well-known horse whisperer in the United States came to our favor to Monteverde in Costa Rica and held a 2-day clinic in March 2004.

	The 2 day clinic was about Frank Bell' s 7 step safety system that you can learn more about on his web page at www.horsewhisperer.com. We had very nice weather up here in the mountains and the energy of the people was highly motivated to learn and improve their communication with and handling their horses. 15 persons brought their own horse which is a good number for a small place like Monteverde, that is isolated in the mountains of Costa Rica 35 km rough dirt road of any other civilization.
	The owner of the horse, reported that she pulled and broke posts, that it was never possible to touch her ears. After Frank Bell worked on her with the 7 step program for only about 15 min. it was possible to touch her ears. The second day, after she was sure her owner understood the pressure and release principal, she did not even try hard to pull over the post. This is only one of many positive results with horses, that have been in this clinic. Read more about results in Frank Bells newsletter about the clinic held in Monteverde Costa Rica.
	Same thing for this horse. Costa Rican men like to be able to ride a "spooky" horse. May be after Frank Bells power of touch this horse gets boring for the owner, but last not least might get a new one and live in happily peace.

After all this positive results we would think, everybody will teach his horse in soft and easy way of communication, but it is not that easy. Since I am in Costa Rica working with horses, the question, why in western countries horses are a female "thing" to do and in Central America it is a male "thing" to do, gets me different answers and more and more understanding. How does Frank Bell think about this - my question was:

[Sabine] Did you realize in the 2 days that you taught, that the first day there was
15 horses, 8 men/7women and the second day you had
8 horses 1 man/7women
I just find it a petty, that in a macho country even you were a man teaching it is so difficult to reach them.

[Frank Bell] PRETTY HARD FOR THEM TO OPEN UP. IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW THEY PICTURE THEMSELVES RELATING TO HORSES AND ACTUALLY SEE THEMSELVES ON THE HORSES, AND THEY WANT TO APPEAR MACHO, NOT SOFT AND THAT IS THE WHOLE PROBLEM. IT'S BECOME A COOL THING HERE TO BE IN CONTROL OF QUIET HORSES, BUT NOT THERE.

[Sabine] Isn't this what we are all trying to achieve in our lives, be more and more in self control, calmness and peace? The soft way might seam easier, but is not the easiest to learn for everybody.

To me the best I learned in this 2 days was, that time builds trust and is not replaceable. The other thing, not new, but never be repeated enough is that pressure is only answered by pressure. To be cool you need to be better than that!!!