OVERCOMING FEAR IN A GREEN HORSE

There are various approaches and techniques to help and teach a horse to overcome fear. For the purpose of this article I shall focus on one approach. There are other ways to approach it, which are directly opposite to this.

The principle which we apply here is to let the horse turn to you for protection and security. The technique we apply is to turn the horse loose in a round pen about 2 meter (6 feet) high and 50 feet (16 meters) in diameter. Spread 4 or 5 people evenly spaced around the outside of the pen, each with a tin or plastic bottle with a few stones in it, making as much noise as possible, while walking at a normal pace around the ring. These people walk at the same pace, thereby staying the same distance from each other.

Initially the horse will freak out. After 5 to 10 minutes it will be drenched with perspiration. No matter which way it turns, it runs into this awful noise.

In general it takes 15 to 20 minutes for the horse to decide it needs a companion, someone to bond with, who can offer security and protection against this “dangerous threat”. It will first start chewing and playing with its tongue and lips – a sign of willingness to co-operate and negotiate. Then it will select one of the group around the pen, staying close to and following that person. During this period all the people continue walking and shaking the bottles.

Once it becomes obvious that the horse has selected its companion, the selected person enters the pen, still shaking the bottle, but walking in circles towards the horse. At this stage you keep your gaze towards the ground, avoiding eye contact. Eye contact is seen as a sign that you want to chase the horse away from you (aggression). You also turn your shoulder towards the horse as you approach it. Turning your shoulder and lowering your gaze are signs that you are prepared to allow it into your area.

At this stage the horse will normally desire to stay close to you and see you as a form of security and protection against the “danger” on the outside.

You can now walk in circles, serpentines and in all directions, and it should follow you. This is also the time to let the rest of the company enter the pen slowly, moving around inside the pen while they continue to shake the bottles, moving closer all the time.

At this stage you should stand still in the middle of the pen, rubbing the horse all over its body, from the head to the hind quarters, over its back and croup, its ribs and belly, while the others keep on shaking the bottles more softly and walking around the horse. Pay lots of attention to carefully rubbing its most sensitive parts (and its most valuable): the eyes and ears. 

You have now bonded. The horse has selected you as leader and as its protection against the things it feared. It has also become accustomed to noise, and realizes

1. That noise will not hurt it, so it need not fear noise
2. That it can depend upon you when it feels insecured

 You can read the entire process from here up to where you put tack on, mount and hitch to a cart, and start riding or driving, in the complete horseman’s manual EASY HORSE.

Visit http://www.greenhorsetrainingbook.org/ 

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WHY HORSES SHY AND HOW TO APPROACH THEM

One of the areas in which horses are most often misunderstood, is in the area of shying.

      There are four reasons why horses shy: ·     

    

• Some horses (some bloodlines) are more prone to shying than others – it is a case of breeding and inherent disposition.       

• Too little work and too much energy feed cause excessive playfulness. This is often desirable in certain show horse breeds. Otherwise more work is an obvious solution.·         

• Horses might shy deliberately to get the upper hand over the rider – a case of being spoilt.

• Genuine fear of an object, which might have been caused by an inexperienced trainer.

It should be borne in mind that any foreign object looks scary to a horse. Bear in mind that it is a horse’s natural instinct to flee from danger to protect itself. It always makes good horse sense to give a horse enough time to familiarize itself with anything of which it is frightened. Let the horse get assurance that it is not going to get hurt. Never put pressure on the horse when it is frightened, unless you are sure  that it is only trying to belittle you. This you should be should be very sure of, and inexperienced riders should be very hesitant to force the horse towards the object it fears, since it is more likely than not to aggravate the situation. It can cause permanent distrust between horse and trainer.

Confidence between horse and trainer should be established ON DAY 1. Once a horse has confidence in its trainer, progress is unbelievably fast. As soon as the horse accepts the trainer as his leader, it will “lean on the trainer” for protection and guidance. One gets to a stage where the horse trusts the trainer to the extent where it will almost accept everything the trainer wants to do with it.

This is not done in the way one would establish a relationship with a human. A horse responds to certain techniques and has its own language, which is totally different to that of man. There are various ways (definite techniques) which accomplish this trust. This, and a very broad spectrum on horsemanship, are explained in detail in the very practical manual EASY HORSE. View its contents on http://www.greenhorsetrainingbook.org/contents/.

You can order this e-book online on http://www.greenhorsetrainingbook.org/order/

UNDERSTANDING THE WAY A HORSE THINKS

To me one of the surest signs of a lack of understanding of equine psychology, or the way a horse thinks, is “He will do as I tell him“, a sure sign of arrogance, but not of horsemanship, unless it is said by a true professional, who knows why he says it, and what to do. It is amazing that this attitude will mostly be found among amateurs with little or no experience, and who normally ruin most of the horses they get involved with.

It is just logical that a young horse which comes in for the first time, will be suspicious of EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING is new and strange to him. Even being stabled is a foreign experience.

So what does the inexperienced horseman do?

Instead of realizing the fear and uncertainty of this young horse, they try to overpower him, thereby causing more doubt and uncertainty. They (stupidly) expect him to accept and to familiarize himself with anything new within seconds. ANYTHING is a threat to this young horse. EVERYTHING is unfamiliar. He doesn’t know WHATEVER to expect from even the most common things. It is almost unthinkable that so many people will try to overcome this problem by trying to dominate the horse, instead of giving it time to investigate the object unfamiliar to him. Does he know what a harness, a saddle, a curry comb, a towel, a bridle, is, or, more importantly, what (harm) it can do to him? Can we expect him to know that we intend no harm? What goes on in his mind? In his natural state he has to either flee or defend himself against danger. To him these things are as scary as a ghost to us at midnight. Common sense - but is sense always so common?

So what does the ignorant, inexperienced (sometimes after involvement with horses for most of their lives, still “ignorant“), arrogant horseman do when the horse shies or gets uncomfortable? Shouting, even as bad as beating, even kicking. Such people are too stupid to realize that the horse is trying to defend himself against a danger which, in HIS mind, might injure or even kill him. So they prove his fears well grounded!!! And cause PERMANENT doubt and mistrust. It is about as sensible as, when a small boy has difficulty carrying a packet of flour, to add a packet of sugar to his load, instead of making the load lighter. Just as stupid!!!!

Someone once said: “All horses are horses; all men are not horsemen“. How true!!!!

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