From: Ruth
We have recently bought a 14.1 14 year old mare who seems perfect in most ways but is very frightened of box vans and buses. The main problem is that when she's scared she turns round to try to flee which on country lanes is very worrying as neither myself or Molly has time to check if a car is behind us. It only takes a few minutes of struggling to bring her back under control (I use that term losely as though I can get her to turn back she then starts pacing backward) I have to act very quickly and therefore resort to the crop in order to make her move on and not bolt off which I think is the safer option when it happens so quickly. We've only had her a few weeks and need to get her over her fear as well as to have the control to stop her turning to flee (as in doing so she very narrowly misses the moving van or bus as she vears into the middle of the road to turn - she is fine with cars and small tractors.
We are thinking about asking our farming neighbours if we can take her into their yard and get her used to being around those sort of vehicles when they are stationary or perhaps feeding her by them. Then as she gets better around them, increasing it to them being turned on in that controlled situation or having them working whilst in the school. The other idea we've had is to use a martingale as the reason that I can't stop her turning is that she suddenly brings her head up and I can't get any contact on the reins.
Do you have any advice please on using a martingale for this purpose or how to get her over her fear? I could cope better if she chose to 'flee' by going straight on past the vehicle which would be safer and easier to maintain in control. She wears a snaffle bit.
Thanks very much.
I wouldn't advise using a martingale - the issue here seems to be fear, not fizziness or deliberate disobedience. A standing martingale won't give you more contact with your mare's mouth, as its purpose is only to prevent her throwing her head extremely high and breaking your nose. A running martingale, even properly adjusted, would probably not be appropriate for your mare, as these devices, when the reins are tightened, can cause both discomfort and great anxiety in some horses that cannot tolerate the feeling of being trapped and confined. The pressure and leverage that a running or German martingale can create will sometimes cause a frightened horse to rear or run backwards, and your mare has already shown a tendency to move rapidly backwards when she is afraid. As for bits, using a stronger, more severe bit will only make matters worse by teaching her to associate severe mouth pain with the fear that she's already experiencing. And, again, mouth pain can cause a horse to go straight up and fall over, or go backwards (perhaps into traffic) at speed... and as your mare already goes backwards when frightened, I shouldn't advise giving her another reason to do so.
There are four strategies I would suggest to help your mare - please feel free to mix and match, or - why not? - to use all four. ;-)
The first and best strategy is the one you've already thought of - letting her spend a month or two or three in a stable yard or farm yard where large machinery, vans, etc. are everyday sights, and where she can see for herself, unencumbered by a rider, that these vehicles aren't actually chasing her or attempting to harm her. Once she's grown accustomed to them in that safe environment, you could ride her - in that same environment - and allow her to walk up to and investigate parked vans, and then (with the driver's cooperation, of course) follow a MOVING vehicle and even "chase it" from the yard.
The second strategy - once your mare has come to terms with the presence of scary buses and vans in and near the yard - is to take her out on the road in the company of several other carefully-chosen horses and riders. Don't worry about imposing on your friends - most riders are glad to do one another these favours. After all, there's no telling when the newest, most spooky, most skittish, most actively tap-dancing horse in the group will be THEIRS! When that day comes, each rider will want the same favour and courtesy from YOU.
So, hack out in a group. If all of the other horses are utterly bored by, and completely indifferent to, buses and vans, your mare's instinct to flee from perceived predators, (already - we hope - considerably reduced by her time at the neighbour's yard), will be much less compelling, as there will be another basic natural instinct in play: the instinct to "stay with the herd" and "do as the herd does". If your mare is in the middle of the group of horses (that is, somewhere in the middle, not leading or bringing up the rear), and the other members of her "herd" are all plodding along calmly, ignoring the "scary" vehicles, whilst their riders chat, your mare may snort and her heart may pound, and she may take a step or two sideways, but she's unlikely to panic, run, or even stop moving forward. After ten or twenty or a hundred such experiences whilst hacking out, she will be able to build a HABIT of calm acceptance. "When in danger, stay with the herd!" is one of the most basic of all horse instincts. Make it work for you.
The third strategy is to teach your mare a signal that means "Calm down, relax, you're safe." Spend some time teaching her to drop her head in response to a tap on the neck (always tap the same area of her neck). Practice this until it becomes a habit, and then continue practicing it until it becomes an automatic response to the tap. You'll be able to use this in that split second BEFORE she would otherwise become nervous, stop, and throw her head up in the air. Use your signal, then immediately praise her for responding to it, and simultaneously remind her to go FORWARD (or perhaps forward and sideways - shoulder-in is an excellent distraction for most horses and riders).
The fourth strategy is related to the third (well, I suppose they're all related, really). Invest a small amount of money in a clicker and a book on clicker training (Alexandra Kurland's CLICKER TRAINING FOR YOUR HORSE is excellent, clear, and inexpensive). A clicker isn't magical or mystical, but it's a wonderful training tool for both you and your horse. Using the clicker, you can help your horse learn whilst keeping her calm, happy, and interested in learning. By allowing YOU to be absolutely clear with your perfectly-timed praise, the clicker will help you speed up your mare's learning curve - and whatever her history, she's unlikely to have been clicker-trained (because, alas, too few people appreciate the usefulness and sheer FUN of clicker training), so she will have no bad associations and no preconceived notions about what you are doing and why. It's a pleasant, entertaining way of helping her learn, and it will improve your own skills and your ability to observe and understand your mare. Please give it a try. When you're riding out, that "click" will be one more way to say "Everything is fine, be calm, be happy, you're doing the right thing, I'm pleased with you." Finally, please be very, very patient with her. Remember that she IS fourteen, and you don't know everything about her history or her expectations. It's possible that she's had a bad experience that left her afraid for a reason - a bus brushing her on its way past, people shouting and waving, perhaps even flinging things... It's quite natural for a horse (a timid prey animal whose instinctive defense is to run away) to be afraid of a predator or anything that behaves like a predator. By prey animal logic, anything that chases you is by definition a predator, whether it's a small dog nipping at your ankles, a group of curious heifers investigating you, a newspaper blowing against your legs, or a bus or van that just happens to be coming up behind you on the road.
I know of one wonderful mare that is perfectly calm about everything she sees on the road, with the single exception of a man - any man - wearing a blue jacket and riding a motorbike. Her owner just escaped serious injury when some lager lout, wearing his blue jacket and riding his motorbike - sped past them on the road and flung a beer bottle which exploded into fragments just under the mare's belly. Ten years on, the mare is still afraid of this particular combination, but now trusts her rider enough to stay steady and continue walking relatively calmly as the dreaded motorbike passes her. You've owned your mare for only a few weeks - give her the help, the time, and the consistent handling she needs, so that she can learn to trust you. Eventually, even if she never becomes indifferent to certain vehicles, she'll trust you enough to hold steady when HER personal nightmare vehicle goes by. In the meantime, here's one more thought: When in doubt, if you feel that your mare is about to bolt and you think you'd be safer with your own two feet on the ground, there's NO SHAME in dismounting and leading her.
Good luck, and stay safe!
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.