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RE: [RC] [RC] Spooking/spin suggestions - Laurie Durgin

This is very similiar to the "spook in place" that Lohn lyons teaches.Using a variety of objects , he has the horse get it's relief by facing the object and not moving it's feet. Course you can't hit the horse with it---- If he teaches this on the horses back, he just relaxes and loosens the reins, then the horse reacts by trying to leave (turning anywhere past his knee) He picks up the opposite rein and makes the horse turn back towards the object looking at it and drops the reins and relaxes as long as the horse faces it.
He says the horse is part physical, mentle and emotional , and we are real good at training the physical and mental but not the emotional part of the horse. He says you can't get the horse"used to' everything they will encounter--- and that you can't teach them not to be afraid, but you can teach them what to do when afraid. Stand and face it.--Not run and bolt. Now in the beginnning you may have to take your horse out of overwhelming situations or where they are overfaced( like maybe the widler starts of a ride...) But by doing some work with things that may frighten them and getting them to face it.(you ,if you know how to properly use a round pen can do this) or even on a lunge line.) Or you can do it with a helper on the ground with things like umbrellas, plastic bags, pool toys are good, slickers etc.
I found it has helped mine, now if I do it more consistantly , think how good they's get....


From: "Nina Vasiliev" <rides4fun@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC]   Spooking/spin suggestions
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 19:50:19 -0700



My arab was a "spook without warning" kind of guy. I hit the ground many times before I even knew he had spooked. I broke my shoulder really badly once from a spook on the trail at a walk?

So, when I would work him in the arena, there would be times when he would be leery of one of the corners?so I stayed away from there so we could work safely. Then he became spooky with another corner?so I stayed away from there. I really didn?t want to get dumped and hurt. He was like that on the trail at times and so I avoided that part of the trail or really hung on tightly going through there. This didn?t happen all the time, but enough that I modified what we did based on his spookiness.

Then I was shown how to retrain a horse?s reaction to spooking. The spook is still there but it is safer for the rider. I trained him to react to scary things by putting his head down and holding still.

First step: I put him on a lead, and from the ground I took a lunge type whip and smacked the ground near him, never hitting him. I stood in a casual position, sometimes pretending not to look at him while I was causing this ruckus. (But I kept a close eye on him.) He moved all over trying to avoid the whip, while wondering what I was doing. (For really sensitive horses, start small, but enough to get an uncomfortable reaction. Hold their head close enough so they won?t spin and kick you, but loose enough so that they can react and try to avoid the stimulus.)

Once he sort of dropped his head, I IMMEDIATELY stopped. (For the horse that just squirms and never offers to drop his head, you might have to pull down on the lead rope and reward the instant he drops.) If he lifted his head up, I started again. TIMING is really important here. Then once he figured out that the way to avoid the scary stimulus was to drop his head, I waited until he dropped his head lower before I stopped. This is tricky, it?s easy to erase what he has learned if the timing is off. Once he would drop his head to the ground, he had passed step one.

Next lesson I reviewed the above, and he was quick to drop his head. So, I started swinging the lunge whip over my head and slapping it on each side of him whenever he lifted his head. I would slap on the left of him, then slap on the right without a pause. Scary stimulus continues when his head is up, peace when his head is down. I would stand there for 5 minutes waiting quietly as long as his head was dropped. When it became clear that he was not going to lift his head, I would stop the lesson. Or I would try another stimulus like slapping the whip against the metal barn wall, or flapping a plastic bag, or tarp against his side or neck, moving with him as he tried to avoid me. Again, the instant he dropped his head, everything stopped.

Next step: I would lunge him in the arena and work him hard. Once he looked like he would like to rest. I would walk him, still lunging him around me, to the area of the arena in which he usually spooked. If he was calm, he stopped and rested. If he got excited and silly, he would continue to lunge until he was calm enough to rest. Once stopped, if he spooked, instantly back to work on the circle. If he was calm and stood well, I would stand casually and let him rest for 5 minutes, then start the slapping game. If he dropped his head, I would IMMEDIATELY stop, praise him, and then put him away.

Last step: Once I felt safe enough, I would ride him in the "safe" part of the arena, and when it was time to rest, take him to the spooky area and stop. If he spooked or acted up, then back to work in the other part of the arena, then later we would try again to see if he would rest quietly in the spooky places. I would be sure not to slow down until we were at the spooky rest area. If he was quiet, I would get off and put him away.

I found that this work really translated to his being safer on the trails. He is braver and thinks things through, rather than being reactive. This took us some time. It?s not an instant fix, but it didn?t take months either. Instead of spooking every month or two, he now spooks every year or two and he spooks with his feet in place rather than the shoulder shattering spin of yester -year.

Hope this suggestion helps.

Nina Vasiliev

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