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Case Study: Savannah Rose
In last month’s column we began discussing the importance of
recognizing your horse’s emotional level and personality in order to
use the most appropriate application of pressure and release in your
training program. We talked about Bandwidth, an AQHA that was a
Nervous Nellie. In this column you will meet Savannah Rose, a truly
“Timid” OTTB (Off The Track Thoroughbred).
Savannah is 12 years old. She is a big-boned,
dark bay who stands at 17 hands. Savannah’s owner, Kate Hartmann, is
a dressage instructor with whom I work with frequently. Much like
Bandwidth, Savannah appears to be quite relaxed on the outside.
However, the moment you add certain types of pressure – especially
around her face, she overreacts. I began working with her as she had
a serious pull back problem, but that was simply one symptom of the
same root issue. Savannah wants to escape pressure and to do that
she will explode, whether pulling back, bolting or simply running
away with you. She is very expressive and unpredictable in her
timidity, and thus very dangerous. While Savannah would not
intentionally hurt someone, she was certainly not a horse that I
wanted to ride due the sheer strength of her reactions to pressure.
As I do with every horse that comes to me for
training, I started Savannah with the round pen and line work
exercises that we reviewed in the previous columns. Those exercises
alone probably brought her emotional level down from a 12 to an 8,
but the real work with building emotional control started with
sacking out. Savannah needed to learn to accept pressure, especially
around her face, to be comfortable with it, and of course ultimately
to yield to it.
Sacking out is an old cowboy expression. It
originated from the common practice of using old sacks to rub all
over a horse, cover its eyes, etc., as part of a common approach
used by many cowboys for “breaking” horses. I use the term in a
similar fashion, but in my vocabulary it encompasses a comprehensive
program of desensitizing (de-spooking) a horse to a variety of
objects and situations in order to prepare them for “almost”
anything they may come across later. It is a method by which you
deliberately raise and lower their emotional response to fear in a
controlled environment.
I begin the sacking out process with objects.
With Savannah I started with a lunge whip, which allows me safe
distance. Remember – safety first, especially with an emotional
horse. I began lightly touching her with the end of the lunge whip.
When she pulled away, I stayed with her until she stopped moving her
feet, and then I immediately released the pressure. I allowed her
time to smell the whip, to see it, and slowly spent the time
touching her, releasing, touching, then releasing; always allowing
her to relax in between as we progressed. As she became accustomed
to the contact, I started to increase the time I was applying the
pressure, and also made sure I was touching her all over with it:
back, legs, stomach, shoulder, etc.
For the next sacking out exercise I introduced
plastic bags. And she did have a major issue with those! Again,
simple pressure and release at work. I started out far away with the
bags and slowly came closer, moving away each time as I saw she was
beginning to back. After about 30 minutes, I was able to stroke her
all over with the bag itself.
The next step was going over objects. A pole or
tarp works great. I put her on a line and asked her to go forward
(note – the go forward cue should be solid before you start any of
these exercises). It is important to position the length of the line
and the object such that the horse must cross it in order to move
out. However, please keep in mind that if they are very fearful of
the object, you should start with moving them around near the object
before actually asking them to cross over it. If a horse is fearful
of a tarp or pole, simply have one on the ground in the vicinity of
where you are doing standard change of direction line work, and then
slowly move closer and closer to the object, until you can see that
she is beginning to relax around it. Then, when she is ready, you
can position the horse in such a way that when you ask for the go
forward cue, she will have to cross the object. Now, whether she
bolts, jumps, trots or walks over it does not matter at first,
simply that your horse does cross over it.
Your goal is to incorporate crossing over the
object into your change of direction line work, with the end result
being that the horse is standing (calmly) on the object at the end
of the lesson. Once you are ready, have the horse cross over the
object, and then ask for the stop when she is at the furthest point
away from the object (opposite side of the circle). Let her relax
for a moment, and then reverse direction and do the same thing – a
full circle over the object. Stop at the furthest point, relax,
change direction and move out again.
As you do this, watch your horse’s body language
carefully. As she begins to relax, what you want to do is start
stopping her closer and closer to the object, until her comfort
level is such that she will stop and stand on the tarp or over part
of pole. So you may go from a full circle, to 7/8 of circle, then ¾,
then ½, and so on. What are the signs that she is relaxing and you
can begin stopping her closer to the object? Ears forward, licking
and chewing, head dropping, you should see her overall energy level
coming down. Instead of jumping or bolting over the object, she may
slow to a trot or even a walk.
With Timid horses you have to invest the time to
build their confidence. And how you do that is by introducing
pressure in very small increments, always allowing them to relax
after each application of pressure. You do not want a horse you have
to tiptoe around, they are dangerous and not fun to spend time with.
So it is absolutely critical that you work with Timid and Nervous
horses to learn to control their emotional response. The key to
success is to exercise caution and not put too much pressure on them
as you progress. Make certain that you are always giving them an
“out” from the pressure you are applying! Anytime you force a horse
to accept pressure without giving them an out (an escape door if you
will), you risk creating a major training wreck. You could easily
lose most if not all of the progress you have made with their
emotional level, and have a far harder time going forward.
We have already seen huge improvements with
Savannah, but the foundation training continues. Emotional horses
are more work. You often need to introduce the lessons in smaller
steps and take longer to do it. That does not mean an emotional
horse cannot be the horse of your dreams, but you must be willing,
patient and interested in spending the extra time addressing their
emotional level. And not only will you need to do that work up
front, but will also need to do regular emotional control exercises
with the horse for the life of your ownership. They don’t get
“fixed” from these training exercises, they become desensitized to
the fear response. But unless you continue the work, the sensitivity
returns and the horse that used to be able to be completely covered
by a tarp three months ago, may start to bolt after seeing one fifty
feet away.
The fact of the matter is that most horses have a
higher emotional level than most riders want. There are far more
horses with an emotional level of a 7 to 10 than there are in the 2
to 4 range. Fear is a natural instinct in horses and it tells their
brain to flee. You must continuously condition your horse in order
to have the control you want, when you need it.
Emotional control exercises provide a tremendous edge in that
conditioning.
When it comes to the importance of working with
emotional control to create the relationship, attitude and
performance you want from your equine buddy, I really do know what
I’m talking about. It is an extremely emotional and very high
maintenance horse that made me the trainer I am today. My horse
Tennyson… I tell you, I have learned more from working with him than
most other horses combined. People see us at expos and clinics and
are amazed at everything I can do with him, and often without any
tack at all. He appears so light and responsive, ultra relaxed….
Well let me assure you, I have to work him constantly to keep him
that way. Sacking out is a key component of our regular training
routine. It has to be. There are plenty of days he acts like he has
never seen tarp before and wants to jump into my lap for protection.
But after a few minutes of sacking out, his emotional level is back
down to a 4 or 5, and his mind is back on me, and what I am
asking him to do. And when that happens, I have a safe and
FUN horse. Seriously, I love Tennyson and would not trade him for
anything. He is definitely more work than a lot of other horses
would be, but as I said, he also has taught me more than most other
trainers have learned. I figure that’s a pretty good deal for both
of us….
Until next month,
Charles Wilhelm |
