Re: shying

["Jerry & Mary Fields" <fields@mesh.net>]

My horse benefited from John Lyons's method of making him trot circles,
passing the "monster" repeatedly, until he thought, "Oh, no, if I shy,
she'll make me do those stupid circles again!" (He was so funny! He did not
shy at a rattlesnake, a cottonmouth, or a biker. It was stuff like stumps,
fallen trees, different colored clumps of grass, and boulders! That gave me
a clue that it was voluntary.)
Mary
>> 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
>