Have you got a spooky horse?
"D-d-did you h-h-hear that?"Hi,Horse training can be a relatively mysterious subject to people who have not studied it. Even more mysterious is a behavioral problem a horse has that causes his owner stress and frustration. What many horse owners don't understand is often the handler, not the horse, is causing the problem. |
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For instance, a common problem people have is a horse being spooky. In layman's terms, that means a horse is nervous and afraid something is going to "get him". Thus, whenever the horse and owner go out together it's not usually a relaxing moment.
As a matter of fact, both horse and human are on edge.
So if we take the premise that the handler is causing the horse to spook, then we must ask, "How is the person causing this."
An uninformed horseperson may not be aware that perhaps he is tense and as stiff as a board with a white-knuckle hold on the reins or rope.
The horse can sense and feel this tenseness. When the horse is in the habit of feeling it then the horse's spookiness is also the rider's.
Imagine this. Two deathly scared kids are walking home at night. They both hear sounds and see things. One kid thinks he saw something and nervously asks, "D-d-d-did you see that?" Seconds later the other kid hears something and cries, "D-d-did you h-h-hear that?" Together they intensify each other's fears and their anxiety grows leaps and bounds.
So it is with the human and horse. Maybe not to that extent, but still it happens.
And since we are human and capable of reasoning, then we must be the one to interrupt the pattern of behavior. We must loosen up while with the horse. Relax. Have fun. Learn to watch the horse's signals that he has spotted something - and then talk to the horse and start giving him confidence.
Soon, the horse's demeanor will change and the result will be a more relaxed and fun horse to be around.
Whether you realise it or not, you are training the horse by handling him. The horse simply reacts to the stimuli he gets. If the stimuli is consistent, the horse's reaction will become a habit until changed. If the atmosphere is tense, the reaction will be fearful, and the result will be a spooky horse.
This is but one example of how we can actually be the reason the horse does or does not do something we ask of him. Although it's true that the human is not the cause 100% of the time, it's a good place to start investigating the problem because it's often where it begins.
Chill baby!
Cheski Brown
Abderry….Your Professional Equine Educators
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