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Question:
I have a mare
that spooks at what appears to be nothing. She spooks at it every
day, and she has been by it many, many times.
Answer:
I think that
many times spooking is a conditioned response. The horse has
learned to spook as a response and when we don’t do anything about
it, when in effect we accept that behavior, the horse learns that
this is what we want.
The first thing
I would do, before I addressed this as a training issue, is to check
the horse’s diet. If she is on any kind of alfalfa, I would take her
off it. Or, if the horse is on a high protein grain with a lot of
molasses or any sugar in it, I would take her off. Put her on a
bland diet like oat hay, wheat hay or grass hay. It only takes
about eight to 12 hours for food to go through a horse’s system.
I’ve seen many horses like this that notice everything, are
concerned about everything, and when I put them on a bland diet
there is almost a 75% change in the behavior. Once you make any
such diet changes, then go ahead and do the following ground work
exercises.
I start by
teaching the horse to go forward and go forward consistently (see my
book, Starting Baby Jaz). The next thing I do is teach my
horse to stop at a light command. In other words, I just barely
take the slack out of the lead line. This may take me a two or
three days. Depending on how sensitive or dull the horse is, this
exercise may need to be repeated for two or three weeks. I begin
with a lead line and increase the length of the line as the horse
progresses.
Once the horse
has learned to go forward and stop, I do the “change of direction”
exercise. This is a very good foundation exercise in that it keeps
the horse’s attention on you and not the scary object. It also
teaches the horse that it is a lot better not to be concerned about
the object because being concerned creates too much work. This
exercise usually isn’t too difficult because I’ve already taught the
horse to go forward and around me and to stop his feet. If he steps
into me like he saw something for the first time, I step back away
from him. I do this to keep myself safe and to give myself room to
go ahead and start teaching him to change direction.
My goal is to
have the horse eventually stand comfortable next to the object. To
do the “change of direction” exercise, I am going to work the horse
in a circle. I am first going to stop the horse at the furthest
point from the scary object. In other words, if twelve o’clock is
the scary bush with the teeth, I’m going to stop the horse at six
o’clock. There is the least amount of pressure at this location.
At first, I stop as far away from the scary object as it takes to
get the horse to relax. At the same time I’m starting to show my
intention, which is to show a visual of where I want the horse to
go. Then I have him change direction at this location. We keep
moving closer and closer to the scary object, each time having him
change direction back and forth, until he will stand next to the
object without reacting to it.
I keep
repeating this exercise until, finally, the horse just doesn’t care
anymore. I may have to repeat this exercise several times for a
week or even two weeks. It will finally get to a point where it is
way too much work for the horse to react to the fear situation,
rather than to just ignore it and walk on by.
You need to be
consistent yourself and do the exercise every time your horse reacts
to the scary object. This exercise works because it keeps the
horse’s feet busy. It takes the negative flight response and turns
it into positive energy. It is positive because it is getting the
horse’s attention on us and not strongly involved in what it is
afraid of. Anytime we can control the horse’s feet, we establish
leadership, which in turn establishes confidence.
Charles Wilhelm
It’s Never Ever the Horse’s Fault
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