Re: shying

[vanhove@unavco.ucar.edu (Teresa Van Hove)]

> 
> From: karen pasdon 
> my 7 year old arab has compete successfully in ctr's for the past 2 years.  
however, while training she can be a real problem with her spooking and 
shying.  she will spin incredibly fast,  scoot forward, or stop on a dime 
at many unknown monsters.  i am seeking advice on how to deal with this 
issue. thanks for taking the time to help out. >>>>>>>..

Karen,

Free advice may only be worth what your paying but here goes anyway.
It rather sounds to me like this horse is entertaining herself by
playing spooky horse.  If she is truly scared the Linda-Tellington-
Jones stuff of ground work with plastic is probably an excellent
remedy.  You teach the horse to follow a wand and then take them
through mazes of plastic on the ground and work up to leading them
under plastic held by helpers standing on buckets or bales or something.
I think the wand gives them a focus to follow forward while allowing you 
to remain safely to one side. Increases confidence of the horse. This work 
would probably help even with playful spooking, but if the spooking is just
play you may be able to skip the ground work and just make spooking
less fun by making your horse go back and forth, back and forth, .....
past the monsters until she is bored stiff a few times.  Some horses 
need to be made to work by asking them to trot back and forth past
the monster and do roll-backs to keep them moving, else they spook just
to take a break. 

Teresa