I saw an early version of it in the 1990s. Some of my fellow boarders were raving about this trainer when they all came back from a clinic. I was unfortunate to ride in the arena with them all the next day. They happily ran their horses in circles smacking them on the sides of the neck to try to turn them. The smacks were loud and obnoxious. The horses all had tight mouths and high heads. My horse was watching them like they were nuts. I kept thinking, “Why not use your legs, if you don’t want to use the reins?” I decided no thank you back then, and nothing I have seen of it since has changed my mind. Over the years, I really did try to watch and listen to others as they explained it, but I could think of an easier way to do the same thing that didn’t seem as stressful or weird for the horse, so I never bothered to try.
What does make sense is that the people that go for these “I’m-the-only-one-that-knows-how-to-train-a-horse” type charlatans are the kind that lack the humility to listen to the people around them. They can watch a video and they become the expert. It definitely feeds their egos. The best horse people I know (and parents, too), absorb as much as they can from the experienced people around them, use what works for them, and play to their own strengths to work with horses (or children). I teach kids and the same thing applies in a classroom. You can’t teach exactly like anyone else because you aren’t that person (plus, kids and animals can see right through any fake). You have to be yourself with both and that means you have to find your own way. You can’t do that if you try to follow one particular person and shun everything else.