Many frothy types of horses are insecure (Cammy, sometimes) and are
so worried that it's impossible for them to slow down and relax. They
may be worried about being left behind, about getting hurt, about
performance.
Cam was like this right off the track, and what worked the best was
spending time with her developing good behaviour under circumstances
where she could relax and where it was easy for her to be good. I made
"having fun" a real high priority.
For her, this entailed lots of grooming, hand-walking with no destination
or objective, playing stupid games that she could excell at (like learning
to start grazing when, and only when, I said "head-down"!!) and giving her
lots of complements and positive feedback for anything that she did the
way I wanted her to.
My goal was to build up her self-confidence and her trust in me. Horses,
like humans, give us lots of credit for recognizing their apptitudes and
abilities, ("Cammie, how clever! You started grazing right when I said
'head-down'!! Good Girl!"). May sound stupid, but it works.
Another thing I like to do with young horses is make them responsible
for their own behaviour by "throwing away the reins" strategically.
Shatirr was a horrible spooker, and could do a 190 reverse faster than
most reining horses. My strategy was to keep him pointed at the "boogie"
using my legs, release all pressure on the reins (let them hang loopy)
and encourage him to touch whatever he was afraid of with his nose. Leg
him gently towards it, encouraging. "Put your nose on it" was taught
by making him "ask" for his bucket; no goodie untill he'd respond to
the request to "put your nose on the bucket".
His spooks dropped significantly once he realized he'd have to touch
the boogie if he spooked! The boogie that I had the most fun with was
real estate signs - I made him stand there and swing it with his nose!
A cow-carcass was the worst, but he touched it.
The objective here is to communicate that the situation doesn't concern
you, and that you are confident that the horse can handle the situation.
I laugh out loud alot, chuckle even more. It relieves stress and the horse
associates the sound with relaxation.
Good Luck! Let me know how it goes!
Linda