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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 4:12 pm
I attended a clinic today. And the best part was that it was free, the stable owner told me I didn't have to pay because I chose to partner with a pony who really needed some serious work.
Anyway, it was great! Chas Frame came and we went over Frank Bell's 7-Step Safety System. I'm not one for natural horsemanship (after a bad incident at the stable with a supposed Parelli trainer who taught our campers to beat the horses and pinch their chestnuts, which resulted in one horse's monumental flip-out in which he went down and tore a suspensory) Chas was great. He even gave us free card with the steps on them, and told us not to waste our money on a "desensitization wand" and to go take an antenna off of a junkyard car. xd Which is sweet, because my sister's boyfriend is getting me two antennas for free--he works at a towing company that smashes dead cars.
We did a lot with desensitization. Which got me thinking, Jeze isn't exactly...bombproof. Actually, she spooks a lot. In particular, dogs and heavy wind really freak her out. She's also really herd-bound, which is a huge problem because I don't have anybody or another horse to ride her with. D=
I figure once I get my license in March and I get my "wand" I'll try to work on desensitizing her.
First- Any suggestions for desensitizing her to wind and dogs? I mean, I don't really have access to a good dog, and I can't exactly have wind in a controlled environment. I'm figuring if I try to just desensitize her to everything else I can think of that is controllable, that should at least help with the wind and dogs.
Second- She's insanely herd-bound. She's fine being the only horse inside the barn as long as she has food, but riding her alone is a whole new story. I mean, you can ride her alone, but she gets very nervous and spooks waaayyyy more often, and I'd love for her to be more comfortable with it. How do you suggest I could work on getting her over this, so that she can concentrate on me? Should I just take a lot of baby steps in an attempt to wean her off her friends?
Third- What sorts of totally insane little things I can get cheaply would you suggest for desensitization?
Any advice would be great. heart And by the way, I'm very cautious and I'd going to take things slowly and safely with as much supervision as I can get, so you needn't worry about my safety. I'm just looking for suggestions. 3nodding
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:56 pm
Yikes, good luck with the dogs and wind spooking. Really, the only advice I can think of is to take her around those things as much as you can. The same for being herd-bound. Some horses are more herd-bound than others, and in my experience they just need to get out on their own more often to get them used to it. Taking them for walks seems to help a lot, actually. It's good exercise for you, too. wink
For the third thing...plastic bags, milk jugs, anything that makes noise, anything brightly colored, anything that flaps in the wind. xd
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:54 pm
Thanks for the advice/suggestions. Walking with her will be no problem, there's plenty of places to walk to near there, and I enjoy walking. I'm hoping that once she's less spooky I can take her for walks down the long road the house and barn are on. It's next to deserted, it's more like a driveway than a road. My friend used to take her horse for walks down that road, and she took Jeze too, but Jeze was not comfortable with it at all. And I'm hoping Jeze could come to enjoy going for little walks, because I do enjoy them. heart
I'm thinking anything flappy- towels in the wind, trash bags, the like- would be good for her to get used to first. This one time a large white trash bag got stuck to a tree, and she was not happy about that one. xd The bag crinkley noise doesn't phase her--she thinks it's food and starts looking for it- but the flapping in the wind bothers her a lot. Maybe I can talk a friend into riding a bike around, too. I'm pretty sure Jeze's never even seen a bike, and I can foresee that being a problem. rofl
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:49 pm
Honestly, the best way that you can work with a very spooky, senstive horse is to build a really strong relationship of trust with them. That's supposedly the point of the Parelli stuff. Obviously, it doesn't always work out that way, and you get some bad eggs. The point is, do lots of ground work. Taking her on walks is a great idea. Don't just come out to the barn and work her, just hang out with her, play with her on the ground, take her out to graze. As for herd-bound, it's the same thing. Once you have a strong relationship with her, establish yourself as her herd, with you in the alpha position. The more random things that you think of to expose her to, the better she'll react around every new thing that you pull out. Some classic things that people use for despooking could include large blue tarps (you can walk over them, drap them over the horse, create a scary tunnel to walk through, etc. There is no end to what you can do with a scary blue tarp), plastic bags, milk jugs. For some more random things, try tossing a small, soft ball around her. Play catch with someone over her back. Make sure it's a really soft ball, One of those little fabric ones that squeezes up water is perfect. After she's comfortable with it flying around her, hit her with a few times as you're throwing it back and forth. Not like, peg her with it, but just let it bounce off her back, her hindquarters, her neck, her head... etc. This is our favorite training activity with the TR ponies. Other fun things to play with: toy lightsabers (you know, the ones that you fling them and they extend. Those things are so cool), plastic pom-pom type things, hula hoops (you can throw them, drape them over your horse's neck, tie them to the horse's tail...), small rings can be hung on their ears, beanie babies/small stuff animals can serve the same purpose as the balls, Anything that flashes, anything that squeaks, Big plastic blue barrels can be knocked over and rolled around the arena with horse in tow/while on the horse/at the horse. Another thing I'll do with young horses is tie a windbreaker jacket to the saddle horn or the front of an english saddle and ride around with it draping down one shoulder and hanging against their leg. You can also just drape it across the whithers, tie it to the back of the saddle, tie it to the bridle, etc.
I'm trying to remember what other torture we put our TR ponies through when we're prepping up for lessons every year... I remember with Chaco I put a small ring around each ear, a big ring around his poll, a hula-hoop around his neck, tied this inflatable thingy around his barrel, put giant star-shaped sunglasses on him, and tucked a purple-shiny pom-pom into the side of his halter, then led him around plucking the bow-string of our little toy bow (I couldn't find the arrows) and decided that we were traveling minstrels. Never once flinched, now THAT is a bombproof horse! Now, if he could only learn to stand still....
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:11 pm
Ooh, I like those suggestions. I have some plastic pom poms sitting around, and some hula hoops and probably an old tarp or two. I can probably find a light saber or something of the like cheap at a local family dollar. xd heart I don't have any windbreakers, but I think I have an old pair of swishy pants that I can mangle. I'm sure she won't like th sound of them. rofl
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