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(3)
use discipline to correct him when he spooks: Say "NO!" and give him a good,
loud smack with the palm of you hand on his neck. Eventually just "NO!"
will be sufficient.
I don't think I would use smacking your horse as a
discipline. These are herd animals and are very sensitive creatures. They are
not like dogs who are predators. A herd animal does better with subtle
discipline instead of yelling and slapping. Things are changing in the horse
world, hopefully for the better, as far as understanding what type of
disclipline works for herd animals.
I would recommend seeing John Lyons video on spooking. I
used it this winter in the large arena I was riding in. Everytime my guy spooked
at something scary (which I put out on purpose) I would circle him near it for 5
minutes or so and then be on my way. When he passed it again and he spooked, I
would circle him again (ah, more work.....), then when he wouldn't spook, we
passed it right up. He got tired of the extra work and got really tired of the
small circles at a trot near this scary thing. So much easier to go past it just
sort of looking at it then jumping sideways. It did not take him very long to
figure this out.
When out on the trail, I would then try to do little circles
near the thing they spooked at (if road was wide enough), if not I would then
trot back and forth past the scary thing til they just passed it without
jumping. When he passed it nicely without spinning or jumping sideways (he could
still look terrified), then we would go on our way and I would give him TONS OF
PRAISE.
Don't stop your horse and make him walk up to it to sniff it
and look at it. (Gee, I got to take a break.....). Your goal is to have your
horse work/trot right past something. No need to stop and check it out. They are
smart and figure out that a break is a break, so spooking at something will give
them a short break if you stop and check it out. But if they have to stay there
awhile and trot back and forth or around in those awful circles, then gee, thats
not fun....its MORE work and even the most conditioned endurance horse does not
want to expend more energy than they want to. They are
VERY SMART ANIMALS. Give them credit. They will figure things out with time and
patience. Nothing is a quick fix.
Yelling or slapping a horse just takes their focus away from
working and makes them upset and not calm (you do want calm, right?) and
they get more nervous. They are already nervous of that scary shadow so then you
add more to their nervous state of mind and you have a horse that is not
performing calmly. Remain calm and talk to them kindly. After all, they are
still herd animals and ALWAYS on alert for anything that moves that will more
than likely KILL them while they are out on that trail. They are no different
than a wild mustang. They still feel threatened by noise and movement. So if you
are calm, they will eventually feed off that calmness and take your lead (just
like the lead horse in a herd). My horse can be trotting and see something
really scary but as long as he continues to trot past it (even if its WAY around
something) I don't mind. We are still focused on going forward and once we are
past the scary object, I give him tons of praise for being so brave.
Karla Watson
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