ridecamp@endurance.net: re: spooking horses

re: spooking horses

Teresa Van Hove (vanhove@unavco.ucar.edu)
Wed, 3 Sep 1997 10:57:22 +0700

Just have to jump in with my .02 on spooking horses. My gelding is NOT
spooky - will keep it together if I ride in a 20+ mph wind with tumbleweeds
and other jetsam whipping by; BUT he likes to startle - will jump 6 feet
sideways at some little piece of trash off to the side of the trail on
occassion. Stopping and making him look at the offending object is
counterproductive because he is not afraid of whatever it was - it amounts
to giving him a little break (nice reward) for jumping. Being an arabian
correcting him with a firm kick or swat does not tend to work well either,
so my current strategy is to ignore small starts and just keep him going
down the trail at whatever pace I was riding; if he JUMPS I double him
hard back and forth past the object several times (always turning towards it)
just to send a message that if he jumps at something he is going to have to
do some extra work while looking at it.

The spooking QH sounds like a nervous horse though, If I understand the
post correctly it is spooky only outside of its riding area. If possible
I would recommend to do a lot of circles, etc in an open area so that the
horse learns to think of the riders aids as its boundary instead of relying
on a fence. Then move to trail riding with a calm horse buddy along, and
try giving it extra contact (push it into the bit a little with your legs)
when it seems nervous of something - A lot of horses relax about scary
things if the rider takes charge in this way.

Cheers,
Teresa

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