Starting Over!

[Fancy's Mom]

Ok the story, I took Fancy to the arena last weekend..OMG she was terror..She acted as if she has never seen green panels before (The "fence" is green panels). Acted as if she had never seen a barrel before (she has seen them numerous times). Acted as if she had never heard music before. Pretty much spooked, reared, tried a buck the whole night..I walked her around the arena twice and she settled down and finally got to ride her pretty decently..She was relaxed and even began walking near the announcer area (she always had problems there). Well i entered her in speed, i was only going to let her slow gait the class as i know she isnt ready for it so when we got near the barrel she jumped 3 times sideways like she has never seen it...AND the thing is i had been riding her for the past 2 weeks.


Ok she has started shaking her head and wont turn to the left (a day or two before arena, i just figured it was her being a pain) so I'm getting an Equine dentist out because i know that has to be her teeth (vet said they was fine back in March BUT a vet isnt a dentist) It will be July before this can happen because im getting nearly 2k in July..My BO said he charged around 400 for 3 of her horses so it might not be too bad for one horse, depends on what he has to do..The good thing is the BO has stocks to put her in..Yippe!



Ok anyway back to the reason for this..Since her teeth need worked on and we finally got the round pen up and i will have 2-3 hours to work with her every afternoon ive decided to start her training all over again like she has never been touched/handled/worked with, ect..The saddling part will come easy since she has no issues with that and with the help of some Clinton Anderson DVD's and a few other training DVD's and TIME i believe i can save me lots of money and embarassment and finally have a horse that uses her thinking side instead of reacting side..Wish me luck!..


First up on the list is lots of Desencitizing(spelling) tools and games..

Please give me more ideas on what to use or do.

The List:
1.Umbrella
2.Pop Guns (get at dollar store)
3.Flags (big or small)
4.Tarps (walk over, put on her, ect)
5.White Object (poster board from dollar store to be like white sign)*i know she is afraid of white object.
6.Plastic grocery bags
7.Loud speaker(can be a toy kinda thing that makes weird noises) or Radio (loud)
8.Party Whistlers you use at birthday parties
9.Bicycle ( i really have no idea how i will be able to get that unless i find one at a garage sale really cheap)
10.Motorized vehicle ( golf cart, lawn mower, 4-wheeler, ect)*she is pretty much used to those but still useful and we have 2 of the 3 at the Farm
11.Ropes (being thrown over her back, around her legs, ect) *she doesnt mind that one bit but still wont hurt to work with it..
12. Fly spray*she is pretty ok with this but still need to work on it.

No more riding for a while, unless its one of the peruvian paso horses ...Which i got to ride her stallion bareback on a lunge line of course since he hadnt been ridden in a while..It was pretty awesome. Cant wait to really ride one of the peruvian paso horses.

[foggyridgefarm]

Pool noodles, mail boxes, cell phone rings, drinking around her (one of my old horses FREAKED at the sound of ice sloshing while drinking and riding), if you could do water "hazards" that'd be good, cars, hobbles if you want to use them, voice commands, hose, ground poles..... that's all I can think of right now off the top of my head....

[Fancy's Mom]

Mailboxes are a great one- she has freaked out over them...

She doesnt mind the cell phone rings but i know some horses who would jump at the sound.I always carry my phone with me if im riding out somewhere alone or with a crowd.

She isnt really scared of a water hose, she likes baths except around her face and butt.


I can use the ground poles during the later training, i Used to have her standing or getting up on a wooden plank before but its been so long.

The voice commands are great and i will be using them for her training!

Keep em coming, i want her exposed to as much as i can that i can get cheap/free/borrowed/whatever...

[WhisperStables]

Have some kids ready to jump rope for ya. I have a horse who is deathly afraid of frogs. You'll need a new yappy puppy Soda cans to open, goes with the ice and drink thing. Christmass bells, Christmas lights have fun with that one Bubbles, foil, and lets not foget the evil hair dryer.

[Mav2007]

What about other farm animals? Cows, dogs, chickens....etc.
My horse spooks over tall weeds and tree branches hitting each other in the wind. One day for fun I stood under a tree, raised up my CA stick and tapped a branch, he spooked sideways and then it dawned on me, what if I'm riding and have to use my arm to get branches out of the way, my horse will bolt! So, I kept hitting the tree branches until he stopped acting scared.

[version1955]

I found out that desensitizing my horse in the corral doesn't "keep" if we're out in the middle of the field. So if I were you I'd use this stuff in as many different places as possible. And it already sounds like you know to start with low intensity and then build and never let her get upset just right before she starts to think its something to worry about.

The other thing I've been puzzling about is how to desensitize a horse to something that will happen all of a sudden, like a car horn. There are some really ignorant folks out here and they'll drive up behind you and lay on the horn

[Fancy's Mom]

She really hates dogs and my BO has 2 yapping ones..She has been around dogs before but HATES them..

She has also been pastured next to a cow pasture but she is really afraid of them i do know that..Not sure where i would find a cow to borrow..lol

The field i ride in well we have to pass another field (or walk through) and it is planted with wheat and she spooks/hesitant at that..

I can use my truck to honk the horn all of a sudden!

Moving the tree branches is a good one BUT i would have to take her next to the stallions pen to do that so not sure how well that will work..She isnt really spooky of that..

The christmas bells is good...I DID make my own homemade rhythm beads, would that work because i havent put them on her yet.I made it with small bells.

These are all super great ideas...I need to make a broken down list of what to do with each items or what to use that really affects her and slightly affects her and just disregard the ones that dont affect her at all..

Im bad at making those type lists..LOL.


The thing with her is she can see something everyday, say a trash can in one corner of the barn and IF you move it to the center she will spook at it cause its in the center and out of place..Why in the world would she do that and that she has seen it everyday..So weird!

I wont be working everything in the round pen with her...I have a great big field i can work with some stuff at or the pasture, yard, ect...I dont want her thinking she doesnt have to spook at in the round pen but can outside the round pen...Its not a saftey net..

[Mav2007]

I think if you work consistently with her, those jumpy spooky issues will start to resolve. In the CA videos he talks about the importance of desensitizing and sensitizing as well. If you only do one (desensitize), you get a deadhead, if you only do the other, you get a spookhead.

I also agree with Version about lessons in the round pen sometimes don't carry over. I think it's good to do stuff in the round pen, but then take it up a notch and move to a different pen/pasture and then move out into a field/trail.

Some breeds seem more inclined to random spook moments. In my limited breed boarding facility, I'd say the Arabs are the worst. They are very flighty. The QH are not so bad. The mares seem worse than the geldings.

[version1955]

Originally Posted by Fancy's Mom

I can use my truck to honk the horn all of a sudden!

I need to make a broken down list of what to do with each items or what to use that really affects her and slightly affects her and just disregard the ones that dont affect her at all..

The thing with her is she can see something everyday, say a trash can in one corner of the barn and IF you move it to the center she will spook at it cause its in the center and out of place..Why in the world would she do that and that she has seen it everyday..So weird!

I wont be working everything in the round pen with her...I have a great big field i can work with some stuff at or the pasture, yard, ect...I dont want her thinking she doesnt have to spook at in the round pen but can outside the round pen...Its not a saftey net..

Horses don't think about things the way we do. For instance, if she always sees the trashcan in the same place and then its somewhere else, then that's a big problem, I mean, HOW DID IT GET THERE?? If that thing moves then I better be aware of it because it could come and get me! That's if you put a bucket that they see every day in the middle of the round pen, say, and you have a string tied to it and you pull on it and the thing moves, that is a problem! The horse has never seen a bucket move in its own before.

I'm going to do the car horn thing but I need another person. They'll honk the horn and I'll hold the leadrope. I have to be careful not to try to comfort the horse but simple stand there and act like its no big deal. Maybe start with a short toot and then work our way up. But not to make it too big of a noise too fast. I'm not trying to scare her, I want her to realize that she isn't hurt. That's what makes things like car horns difficult to do because its tough to start softly.

For whatever it's worth, one of my horses is perfectly fine and dandy with cars coming toward her, but gets totally surprised when they go behind her. So that's something too, have your horse get accustomed to things from all angles.

[Fancy's Mom]

I told my BO about some of the desensitizing things, she has one Paso that you absolutely cannot catch in pasture, so we are working with her in the round pen..She is 8 and has never been saddled..So we are going to work with her too..She is a really smart horse..


I just let Fancy run around the round pen silly..OH and we did two full laps of backing up (need to work on that a bit more).The lady who was going to train her for me started her out on the lunge line and just made her run wild around and around so Fancy thinks she has to to that, literally running as fast as she can..And when the lady made her whoa, she barely let Fancy stop and then jerked Fancy to her so when you tell Fancy whoa she starts walking to you and then stops, BUT i have worked with her ALOT on that matter...When i say whoa i want her to stand where she is and NOT come to me to stand..She is about i say 65% on that one..She has good days and bad BUT that training will come later, first desensitizing which really is an ongoing training session but i want her to get used to the BIG stuff first, such as really loud noises and White "signs" (poster board to mimick the signs).

Im working on making all the wrong things right, im tired of having to fight with her..I just want to relax on a trail and not worry about my horse wanting to run all the time or spooking at some unknown source....

*I do think she has a screw or too missing or loose!
LOL.

If someone can make up a chart/form/thingy or something: A training guideline book/check off list or something that would be awesome...Im really bad at figureing that kind of thing out..I wouldnt know where to begin.

[version1955]

You make the list and I'll see what I can do about the lesson plan, if that'll help. I think it might help both of us. And maybe if I can figure out how we'll post it for anyone else to have. Who knows, maybe it'll be useful?

I hear ya about saying "whoa" and then having them actually whoa there. Some people don't realize what they're training at the time, happens all of the time... well... to me anyway

[Fancy's Mom]

ok it will take me a little bit to come up with a list

[PaintsQH]

Is she afraid of cows? Wonder if there is a cattle ranch or something near by you could ride her. They have lots of spooky stuff like tractors and equipment and cows.
That or see if the hotties from the Army can fly over and jump out of a plane (with parachutes of course) That way you have something interesting to look at too. Im just kidding Woohooo would be fun though
Try to go after it rains too. My horses are dingbats. They will walk right through the water or a puddle if they want to but act like it will eat them when I want them to

[version1955]

I like the way you think PaintsQH. I'm thinking that a way to jumpstart the economy is for saddle clubs to hire those cute construction workers to help build arena equipment. It'll solve a three problems; put Americans back to work, get some cool stuff to play with and we can ride our horses in the arena while they're doing the work and in that way help desensitize our horses.

I may have to join a saddle club just in order to put this plan into action!

[Slim Pikkens]

Rather than working with enough despookers to fill a moving van, why not teach your horse to control it's spookiness?

[PaintsQH]

Originally Posted by Slim Pikkens

Rather than working with enough despookers to fill a moving van, why not teach your horse to control it's spookiness?

TWO moving vans Slim.... TWO
Gotta stuff enough hot dudes in there ya know

[gypsygirl3]

you dont want to teach your horse not to respond to spooky things/situations, you want to teach them the correct response. introduce them to a spooky object, once they relax take it away. then touch their body all over with it & if they dont like a certain area leave it touching them until they relax. then take the object away right away !!! this teaches them that freaking out does not get the object taken away, relaxing does.

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