by John Gault

 

 

 

Bondage Scope

From conversations I’ve had with regards to bondage it seems there are two primary views. One view is that bondage is exotic fun and the other view is bondage is boring if not a total waste of time. For me bondage is a method with a purpose. It can be used for some twisted sex; damsel in distress being forced to participate unwillingly and so on and so forth, but at the root there is a purpose behind bondage. Not everyone can put themselves in a mental frame to be tied up. The thought of being held captive with total loss of mobility can also be frightening for some. For the sadistic person the fear of bondage in the participants is motivational as well as for a masochist who fears bondage. For the majority of people bondage must have limits which provide the bottom - submissive - whatever you refer to it as, with the ability to escape and/or call a safe word or two to slow down or stop the play. I suppose it always boils down to what you want to gain from the bondage experience.

When I was seven years of age my parents sent me to my uncle’s ranch for the summer. I suppose it was easier on them to have one less child home during summer vacation, but I won’t digress. My uncle had a lucrative horse business in Colorado. There were the horseback hunting trips during the winters, the tourist rides in the summer, and he was also fairly well known in the rodeo circuit and as a horse trainer. I spent the next 6 summers working for him at the ranch. It amazed me to see his horses perform so precisely and exactly on command. The animals obviously had a true fondness for him too. When he would approach the corral or a stable each horse would charge to the fence or gate to gain his attentions. Once the saddle was on it’s back the animal was in work mode, responding to every hand command and word he spoke. An experienced rider was more than satisfied with the ease of handling and the novice rider had nothing to fear. Each of the nearly 100 horses had unique personality and manners, but each performed their work exactly on cue. My desire was to learn how to control such a huge and strong animal while at the same time have the animal’s admiration.

During one of the summers I spent there I was taken on a trip to the top of the Grand Mesa in Colorado. My uncle had received a permit from the state to capture 10 wild horses from the area. We followed one herd and then another and another as my uncle carefully selected which of the animals he wanted to take. A make shift corral was constructed at one end of a narrow gorge and one by one the ten horses were captured and taken to the corral. They were wild! Horses don’t have a killer instinct; in fact I doubt they have any concept of violence. They are fearful, loving creatures. In the wild they have few natural predators, primarily mountain lion and alkaline poisoned water though not a predator. The most vulnerable place on the horse is its large back. The horse knows this and fears, above all else, anything touching its back. It is where a mountain lion attacks and a place the horse cannot protect except to toss its body wildly in effort to throw the predator off. A horse must be trained to loose this their deepest fear.

I asked my uncle if he had ever come across a horse he couldn’t train. He told me there had been many he couldn’t break. “What happened to them”, I asked. He explained how the state had set population controls on horses to keep them from becoming too many and spreading disease. The permit he had received from the state was part of that control. If he captured a horse that proved to be un-trainable he turned the horse over to the state which then killed the horse and used it for science and industry. “Twenty or so years ago we would either let the rogue run free, or shoot it.” He concluded.

“The first thing you have to establish is the relationship” he instructed me. The rope around the neck doesn’t cause the horse any discomfort except the feel of foreign matter. With the rope tightly around the neck the trainer on the other end of the rope has one purpose. You force the animal to face you straight on. A man can’t hope to stop a horse from running free with just a rope in this fashion, but the corral prevents it from running free and controls the range of travel. Staying in front of the horse provides the horse with eye contact. Eye to eye contact has a definite affect on people as well as horses, it provides an eventual assurance of safety. Looking someone in the eye and making them look at you in return provides the most precise communication. The horse will eventually stop its frantic efforts to avoid the trainer and will begin to hold the eye to eye contact. The next step is to approach the animal and touch its head keeping your hand where it can see it. Then slowly work around its head and stroke its throat. Proving to the animal that you are not going to rip its throat open as it fears you, like the lion. Continue running your hands over the shoulders and across the back. Once you get to this point it’s time for the hard training: putting the saddle over the back.

A horse analogy: Horses spend their adult life learning to be independent while running with the herd. They must make their own way, find food when hungry, shelter during a storm, and protection from enemies. After a few years the animal depends on nothing except itself and has also learned to fear everything including its own herd. Now that it is captured you must change that independence to dependence. Most animals including humans desire to be taken care of and protected. Thus allowing the animal a chance to live free of worry and fear knowing its provider is there. Breaking that learned behavior and allowing the animal to accept and then to trust the master is the scope. Bondage is the method. The animal learns freedom from captivity. The mountaintop where it once roamed free will become the new fear. The desire to be in the master’s corral and gaining the master’s attention are the animal’s desire. A beast-of- burden serving in admiration of its master the objective.

Some horses have a stronger will than others do. No amount of eye contact will suffice to allow the first touch. For those animals more restrictive bondage is required. A short rope tied to a post in the center of the corral is a first step toward breaking one of these hard cases. If that wont calm the beast, a hobble tie is used to restrict its front legs from movement. If this only causes the horse to rear up and kick another hobble is used to bind the front and rear legs together. In harder cases yet, a blind fold is used. Eventually the animal surrenders to its captivity. At this point the animal’s will is broken. This is a critical stage in training. All that the horse once thrived on is suddenly gone and this can cause depression as the animal looses direction and reason to live. You have caused the animal to face and live through all most all of its phobias (irrational behavior based on perceived fear). It is at this point that the trainer has to begin providing structure. With a horse the structure comes in the method of making the animal run around the corral in the direction the trainer wants it to go. The trainer stands in the center of the corral, the horse with rope around its neck and the other end held by the trainer, runs the outer most edge of the corral. The trainer can use a switch or whip to tap at the rear of the animal encouraging it to run. From time to time the trainer must change the direction of the run. The horse has now begun to learn a new direction in life and a new will to live begins to emerge.

Training must be precise, timed, and consistent. The restrictions of bondage can cause more stress than contact with the trainer can overcome. Once you have the animal responding to your running directions, it will allow you to place and remove the rope from its neck, then it is time to move on to the next phase of training. Reinforcing the animal’s new surroundings and discovery of serving a master and protector is accomplished through reward. In the case of a horse as well as humans the basic needs have to be a foundation: food, shelter, and a sense of belonging. Taking a short break to let the animal have some oats and water is a good foundation builder. The trainer must be ever present until the training is complete. Feed the animal from your hand sends a strong message. The horse no longer has to feed watching for its enemies, it no longer has to scavenge for food and water. The master provides all. The message is clear and easily communicated. Bondage has a purpose and must be used in a precise method used by a master with clarity of vision and purpose. In the right hands, the horse doesn’t actually loose its independence or its personality. The end result is a horse with more zest for life, less fear and restriction, and a stronger desire to bring service and thereby happiness to its master.

I’ve seen horses as well as people who have derived a desire for bondage as a result of having their freedom gained from a good training. A horse that brings a rope from the corral over to the master is a begging to be tied as much as a slave who greets you at the door with cuffed hands wearing a ball gag. Where is their fear now? Most of the people who have been forced to suffer through the agonizing realization of bondage phobias through restrictive bondage, or to surrender control to a master advance forward with stronger personality. Free of fear and in control of their mental capability and purpose of life, they are superior to the average animal - person.

What about all those pretty knots and Japanese techniques? Where’s the tie her up and fuck her up the ass theme? Sure bondage can be fun and games too. But, how much more rewarding the game when it’s real and not just some imaginary or half hearted sexual interlude!?

Until the next issue, try to loose that over concern for safety and go out there and have some fun!

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