de-spooking excercises

[ceej]

I am pretty sure M will be less spooky after some time R&R here - I think it has come from lack of routine, lack of secure fieldmates, and a smack whenever she is jumpy and also I think its defo more when she is in season.

Rode today in the field and she was well chilled out! We could only walk because the ground is too wet and I dont want to churn my flat field up (plus also her work is often all about faster paces and I do think work at the walk is often neglected)

We did some lovely long and low walking then coming up and into the bit and leg yeilding and some spanking turn on the forehands

Willow was loose so he did the schooling with us by our side, getting in the way every now and again and having to stop every now and again to cough (walking is exerting dont you know)

but...she is a nervy old thing with rustly, plasticy bright things, (and various other things) and I think some de-spooking excercisies would help bond us and can only help for x-country etc. Are there any specific exercises anyone can recommend? I will get some tarp to walk on (that could take some time ) and a rustly bag on a stick, but anything else? Spotti i know this is your forte....

Thanks

[Blonde Donkey]

My mum has been doing some spookbusting with our gang. If you are going to get them to walk over a tarp I would make sure that the tarp is as small as possible to start with and make ure that it isn't going to fly away. If you can get hold of a friend with a pony that will go over it to give you a lead that might be useful as well, it just gives them that much more confidence.
Is M inquisitive? If she is you might be able to do the things we do with Sunshine. Because he's a nosey parker we hang things on the fence line like plastic bags, headcollars and pretty much anything we can think of that he'll come across in the outside workd and we gve him chance to walk upto each of them and have an investigate with us there for moral support. We also have a "washing line" made from massive jump wings with a thin stick over the top covered in towels, though this didn't work so well he just pulled the towels down and walked under .
If she's more of a shrinking violet like Chip it might be an idea to walk her out in hand (do you have anywhere thats not near a road?) with you on the side of anything that could be a pony killing monster (this does mean swapping sides quite often, not very BHS but it does work) to show her that you've got her back if she needs a bit of support.
What we do with hours is keep going until they stop so if we have something like a plastic bag and they are spooking at it we keep the bag going until they stand still and stop whatever behaviour they were doing then they are praised and are taken away, this teaches them to stop when they are scared which in turn will limit the times when your horse becomes genuinely dangerous to be around so far its worked wonders with Chip and is beginning to have an effect on Rupert.
Hope some of that heps I realise its a bit rambly .

[FirenLady]

I used to take Trav treats in placcy bag and feed them to him as I shook the bag. He now associates the two so much that if he sees a bag in the hedge he wants to take a closer look! and hasn't spooked at a bag since.

[spotti]

Hey ceej, I've been meaning to post a reply on this for a few days now but I've been so busy (and still technically v.busy now) that I've not had a proper chance to write you a good reply. But basically I personally would clicker (or other simple noise/word) train her as it just makes later training far far easier if you have an easy way of marking a behaviour you like, then work on slowly introducing tasks involving familiar objects/scenarios so M can perform on cue, then start doing those same tasks with less familiar objects/scenario until eventually she learns that in 'new' situations she just performs the task you've been training her to do...for example, Faith learnt to "touch" objects on cue, initial training began with my hand, then progressed to a sweat scraper, a bucket, a blue recycling box (she used to spook at these!) and nowadays she sees 'odd' objects, such as a skip with half a tree and a toilet seat in it ( ) and instead of eyeballing it, spooking or bolting in the opposite direction, she now takes herself over to it, touches it without being asked, then looks to me as if to say "did you see that mum?". She's a much braver pony now and I think that all stemmed from learning to "touch" things. It might sound like a random thing to do but it's not what they touch that is important, nor is the object they touch really...it's the process of them seeing something new/'scary' and instead of panicking, thinking "lets go over and investigate that as it might earn me a treat" - the process behind the training is the important bit (changing the horses mind about how they feel about a situation, i.e. feeling positive and eager to interact with something that they once found scary). I guess what I'm trying to say in a very drivelly longwinded kind of way is that its not the PHYSICAL RESULT of training (e.g. touching a traffic cone on cue) that helps in spookbusting; it's the teaching of the THINKING PROCESS behind that result which allows the horse to use what they already know to solve the problem posed. So as an example, its not the fact that Faith can touch a bright orange traffic cone on cue that makes her brave; it's the fact that she's learnt that new things, that may well look scary, often bring good things that she enjoys, hence scary-looking things = tasty treats, hence it's a bit hard to scared of something that feeds her treats!!! Does that make any sense?

I've got to dash now but I'll be back soon so if I've been talking rubbish that you don't understand, please do say and I'll try to explain it better .

[ceej]

great thanks everyone...well I have hacked out a few times and actually been quite surprised at how little she has been spooking and how relaxed she has become (she did this before with me but at the time I put it down to it being sunny and warm!!)

I think that her biggest time for being an absolute tit is the couple days she is in full season (biggly eyed monster!) but I have put her on chaste berry so we will see if that helps. She is not marish AT ALL, just on edge.

I think she was always quite held back by L (who rides on a pretty tight rein, always playing with their mouths) as a result her neck is always tense and up int he air as if ready to have an argument. What I have been doing since she arrived is giving with my hands whenever she feels a little spooky or tense, she immediately lengthens her neck (having done this with me in the school and realised I think she is a good girl when she lowers it down) and as soon as she does this she relaxes - so I am wondering more whether her spookiness has been caused rather than her simply being like that. I think she had a highly strung owner for all her life and its made her a bit like that. (get me, giving a horse its head (not losing contact mind) when it is having a freak out! It almost goes against the grain because your natural reaction is to hold on more if they are excited or spooking, but its works so well giving her her head - maybe not for every horse!!)

Dont get me wrong, she will always be a bit mad (and indeed I hope so too!) but she has defo relaxed already.

I think that the above will be really helpful and I will defo do some ground work with her and de-spooking - however, I dounbt I will use treats as her reward - I personally try to use treats as little as possible only as i cant bear horses constantly looking for them...but I dont think she will need them anyway - I dont think she has had a lot of one of one cuddles and she absolutely adores the attention ...she is very happy with the reward of 'good girl' and a friendly face rub - you can see her visably relax and come to me for it when I say good girl!, so I think I will stick with that reward - she likes to please...and learns so quickly!!

I think she has been craving cuddles for a long time...and a bit of peace (she comes form a busy yard - there, she box walked, banged the door, pawed at the ground (so far none of the above at mine, even at tea time)

I think we are going to build a fab bond initially just by 'much love, little admonishment (Spanish Riding School) ;D

Sorry, going on a bit, just couldnt be more chuffed that she's mine - even more so that she isnt push button and I can see an improvement in her so quickly - we really click - I knew it before but never let it happen as she wasnt mine

[fimacg]

great news - glad it is all coming together for you

[racaille]

Oh Ceej, this is such wonderful news and how wonderful that the solution to your horse hunt was right there under your nose all the time!

Sounds like you have found a way with her already and I would say you would do well to go with your instincts.

[baymare]

i would place spooky things around my yard that i would have to walk past every day.its amazing that if you do it every day they soon get use to it.bay.

[brigadier]

From someone with a very spooky horse- brilliant! I think having a relaxed attitude really helps but it something very hard to do when their spookiness makes them unpredictable. A friend was saying the other day how Basil wasnt an ogre he was just spooky, and to some degree I agree....except that time he leapt and struck out at the riding instructor and would have walloped her with his front leg if I hadnt caught hold of him
Her back was turned so she didnt see what happened so I told her he had stumbled

Just be careful that you dont allow your anticipation of spooky happenings to compromise your position, it would seem that Ive started to ride defensively (didnt realise it but now its pointed out its obvious ) which means forward seat and a bit crabby which in turn makes them worse, keep getting someone to have a look at you to keep you balanced.

[racaille]

I too have noticed that when I expect the worst - I get it!!!!! It takes a big effort of will to be relaxed but P does seem to feel my fears.