From: Marylee
Jessica,
I really need some input on this!! I have an 8 yr. old Missouri Foxtrotter. I have had some problems with him but now he is coming along nicely. Yesterday a friend and I were out on the trail getting ready to do a 25 mile ride. This was at a state park. Behind there were two people who were also riding out. We were in a wooded area and my horse couldn't see the other horses just hear them. They were traveling at an extended trot I think. Well, my horse bolted when he heard them. It was a very scary thing. I did get him stopped and turned him to face the "boogers".
I can tell you it scared me badly because it was so quick and so fast. He is a big stong horse and can really move when he wants to. He is not (normally) spooky horse but he does seem to have a problem with things coming up behind him. Obviously, I want to correct this. What suggestions do you have? Believe me all help will be greatly appreciated!!
When I was turning him and looking into his face I could tell that he was really scared. After he calmed down and I calmed down we continued with our ride and had a really great one. We passed other horses, saw wild pigs and scary tents and even though he looked (the worst was the very long eared mule) he didn't spook. So he isn't really what I consider a spooky horse (after having spent 15 years riding an arab mare, I feel I can make that statement).
Thank you very much. I really enjoy your newsletter.
Marylee
One of the most useful exercises for any riding horse is the one I call "leapfrog". This involves two, three, or more riders playing a passing game. Get a few friends to help you, and do this at walk and trot in an arena and then at walk, trot, and canter in a large field before you begin to practice on the trail.
It's a simple game. Walk in single file, separated by two horse-lengths. When everyone is walking calmy and maintaining a safe following distance, the last rider should pick up a trot pass all the other riders, take the lead, and come back to a walk. When everyone is walking again, the new last rider should pick up a trot, pass all the others, take the lead, and walk. Continue doing this until each rider and horse combination has had many opportunities to trot up to and past all the others. Then have everyone pick up a steady trot, still maintaining a safe following distance. The last rider will canter past the others, take the lead, and resume trotting. Continue doing this until, again, everyone has had the chance to take the lead several times.
Change the order of horses periodically, so that your horse isn't always following and being followed by the same horse. Create variations on the game by having everyone walk and then letting the last rider canter past the others, and by having the TWO last riders trot or canter past the others. The idea is to get your horse, as well as all the other horses, completely familiar with the idea of being passed by others without becoming agitated. Every horse in the group should be improved by this exercise, as they will all learn to go first, last, and in the middle, and to pass others and be passed by others without making a fuss.
If machinery passing your horse is also a problem, then in the field, or out on a familiar, quiet trail, you can enlist the help of other people (begin with family and friends) who have mountain bikes or ATVs. Playing the same "leapfrog" game will help your horse learn to accept being passed by scary motorized monsters. If he's very frightened, you can combine what you've already done (stopping and turning to face the "monster") with a more aggressive lesson: "chasing" the monster. Understand horse logic! The same horse that spooks at another horse trotting past is using horse logic: "Something is behind me, therefore it is chasing me, therefore it is dangerous and scary". Playing leapfrog, or the more aggressive "chasing" of another horse (or a bike or an ATV) makes good use of the same logic, but from a different perspective: "I am behind this and it is running away from me, therefore it is afraid of me, therefore I am not afraid of it".
If you get caught on the trail with a worried horse in need of a quick "refresher course", don't forget that you can approach someone with a suitable horse or vehicle and ask for help. There are a lot of very nice people out there, and it shouldn't be too hard to find one or two who will take a few minutes to let your horse sniff their vehicles or even drive slowly along the trail so that you and your horse can "chase" them.
In addition to the "leapfrog" exercise, which involves others, there's something you can do without any help from anyone. Teach your horse a signal that means "Everything is fine - relax". You can't teach your horse a "Don't" signal - "Don't panic," "Don't worry", "Don't be frightened" are simply not teachable. "Relax" is something that CAN be taught.
Here again, you're going to use horse logic - the same logic that tells a horse he's not afraid of something that's running away from him. In this case, the logic involves the horse's posture. A tense, frightened horse will have its head high and its attention (eyes and ears) focused on the object of its fear. A relaxed horse will be much more low-headed, and will have at least some of its attention focused on the rider. You can teach your horse to assume the posture of a relaxed horse, and in doing this, the horse will make itself much more relaxed.
Choose a signal that will be easy for you to give without getting out of position - in other words, don't teach him to respond to a tap of your fingers on his hip or his chest. ;-) I find that a good place for giving this sort of signal is halfway up the horse's neck, just under the mane. You can teach your horse to respond to being tapped here (I usually tap three times), or to some other signal like a long stroke down the side of the neck, beginning as high as possible (again, without you getting out of position) and ending on the shoulder. Either way, the idea is to teach your horse a specific CUE that will mean "Relax, drop your head and neck." Once you've taught the horse this cue, practice it (hundreds of times) until the response is instant and automatic. Then you'll have yet another useful tool in your trail-riding tool-kit: a cue that tells the horse "Everything is FINE, get into your "relaxed horse" position NOW."
Horses that learn to respond this way to your cue will typically respond to it even when there are exciting things going on around them. Once they've put themselves into the "calm, relaxed horse" position, it's easier for them to "make it so" by actually relaxing. It's as though they're running a little mental audiotape that keeps repeating "I'm relaxed, I'm FINE, my rider says I'm FINE, I guess maybe I could be FINE after all", and this simply drowns out their initial "Oh, no, what was that, I think I'm afraid!" tape. Having a "relax" cue isn't magic, it won't take every horse from totally terrified to utterly bored in two seconds, but it's a very useful tool. It helps both horse and rider relax and breathe, which then makes the scary situation seem less scary. Any tool that can give you enough time to sit up, breathe, and relax whilst your horse drops his head (even a little) and relaxes (even a little) is a good tool to have with you at all times.
Jessica
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