In the two DVDs From Wild to Willing, trainer Kitty Lauman demonstrates the step-by-step method she learned from her grandfather for gentling wild horses.  Lauman works with three fresh-off-the-range Mustangs in the DVD, individually taking them into a 20 x 20 foot, 6-foot tall pipe corral. Her training method centers on the use of a 10-foot long bamboo pole that she uses to first touch and scratch the horse just above his withers.  After the horse accepts being touched in one spot, Lauman moves on to the next, eventually touching the horse all over, while moving around the pen and inching herself up the pole and closer to the horse.  By the end of this work the Mustangs allow human contact.  Next she introduces a cotton rope to the end of the pole.  After the horse accepts this, it’s used to halter him and he is taught to give to pressure.  The phases take place over several days.

            Although all three of the Mustangs in the DVD have very different personalities and levels of fear, the method seems to work well for each—but it certainly takes more time on the most fearful of the group.  Lauman work with all three horses at each phase on the DVD, so viewers get plenty of time to watch the method in action.

(Lauman Training; 2005; DVDs; 3 hours; $39.95; www.laumantraining.com)