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[RC] Spooking/Punishement - GarnerTMy horse, Taz, was a pretty good spooker when we began training for endurance 3 years ago. He did the tuck his tail & bolt spook, and the drop my shoulder & spin sideways spook. I had my back & neck popped many times when he bolted & I ate it several times (involuntary dismount) when he ducked & spun. I'm not much of a hitter, so I never really punished him. Usually you're supposed to do it within 3 seconds of their misbehavior, & I was usually airborne at that point. I would usually verbally scold him - after I caught him! I tried to be very patient with him. I let him really look at things & walk around & up to things. To my way of thinking it's ok to be scared of new things at first. If you're always trotting/cantering by the scary thing they never get to really examine it! Of course, that has backfired like the time I was letting him really sniff some paper & it moved. I almost got thrown standing still. All in all, through patience, letting him have time to look, & experience/training/riding on his part, we have come through most of the spooking issues. He's turned into a very nice horse on the trail. Now he's to the point where he'll trot wide around scary objects. We'll be working on that issue next I'm also a big talker to my horse & he's really learned to listen to my voice. I look ahead down the trail & I've learned to watch out for those objects that I know can startle him. On the plus side, the person who wrote that spookers make you a better rider is correct! I'm no longer a lazy rider, I'm more proactive & alert! Kathy Garner & Taz =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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